Playback

2012

Playback is an unremarkable straight-to-vid horror film about en evil spirit who can transfer his soul into other people's bodies through films and videos.  This IMDb comment gives an accurate account of the plot and adds a reasonable overview to which I have nothing to add. It is a technically competent and well-acted movie which really isn't worth watching.

To me the most interesting question raised by this movie is this: why is Christian Slater playing minor, incidental characters in straight-to-vid movies? I had previously seen him play leading roles in some non-theatrical films in the past two years, but this is the first time I've seen him pop up in an unimportant role, one which was so utterly irrelevant to the main plot that it seems to have been added as an afterthought. Slater is good in this film as a nervous pedophile, a basically decent man, but one who has an indecent obsession with watching young girls undress. Actually, he's been good in every role I've seen him in since his exile to video land, and that encompassed a wide variety of characters.

So if he is still a competent performer, why has he been relegated to such marginal status in the industry?

Your guess is as good as mine. Is he unreliable? Is he uninsurable? Did he screw the teenage daughter of a studio head? Did he take a shit on Steven Spielberg's doorstep? Beats me. But he seems to be the new Eric Roberts, and I don't know why.


Anyway ...

Almost all the nudity comes during a bloody scene featuring Jana Veldheer.

The only other titties to be seen were supplied by a random extra who looks like Snooki.