Playback

PLAYBACK

Netflix Summary: "Harlan Diehl slaughtered his family, capturing the deed on video. When students learning about the case watch the tape, they unleash a powerful evil."

Open OCT 21 1994

Video tape shots of random nonsense while flies buzz. The white static has mumbling over it, we pull back yet retain tape static/breaks. A bloody hand grabs a labeled tape. Walks upstairs. Dog barks. Static is annoying.

Nice crappy truck. Blood from dead body leaks down it. A person screams inside the house and we walk in to see a random person crawling and begging "For my baby." Static shows a doggie. Hi doggie. Woman is killed.

In bathroom, another dead woman. We cut out to show the person holding the camera, yet we still have these annoying edits/cuts.

Zoom in on the baby that stops crying when the killer arrive. Baby looks worried and we cut out to the earlier TV. This young man slams his hand on the TV. Baby waves at camera. Hi baby.

Light comes out of the camera as the person shoves their hand into the TV. Cop sirens bring things back to reality. This is Harlan running around, by the way. The cops signal his cue to run for it.

Dedicated Momma tries to stop him but he knocks her down and runs outside. The cops arrive. Pull guns. "WHO ELSE IS IN THE HOUSE?!" Yeah, good first question.

"PUT THE BABY DOWN!" There you go.Puts baby down by camera. Hands up. Dedicated Momma runs out and stabs him, but he chucks her off the porch. "PUT THE KNIFE DOWN!"

He dives off the porch with the knife, getting shot twice, and stabs the DM in the chest as the baby cries. Well...that could've been avoided.

Baby cries in slow motion as more cops arrive late. Irritating cut reverses things as we cut back to the static TV. Well, then. Black and white video of people walking. Close ups of the baby.

PLAYBACK.

IPhone. Dead body in a car with happy peppy music to let you know this is a recreation. A group of college students trying to recreate the the murders.

"This was a rehearsal." "That was take 12."

"Hide your face. You're playing the dad and you look like a teenager." "I am a teenager." Teen then requests a beer. Whooo. Party, amirite?!

So, Peppy music continues into take 13 and I already hate everyone in the daggone cast. This should go great. Split shot of him recording along with what he's recording. The pizza arrives mid shot, ruining the scene.

Cut to class with babbling teacher about journalism. Newspaper clips all over the back wall. "Yay Pizza!" girl is apparently a teacher's pet.

Cut to soccer! Uh...okay.Yay Pizza did a half hour presentation on bridges. Turns out this forced horror movie is for a project. Creepy van appears. This guy owns the camera he was using. "Can I invite him to the party?" "Too old and creepy."

The guy is quiet, shy, and wearing black. Main Guy babbles about the shoot and invites the guy to the party. He says no until a specific girl is mentioned. I have no clue who that is.

Asks Creepy to look into Harlan, but Creepy doesn't know about him. I think we're supposed to believe he's the baby...but it's probably main guy. First ten minute guess.

Creepy be smoking. Goes to the TV station. "What happened to that equipment." *Flips bird* Out, Creepy is a rebel. In to a dark basement we go.

Old computers everywhere...but who cares, it's time for a shot of the girls talking. It's a locker room so, someone is obviously recording it. This gets us our R-Level nudity for the film. This goes on during a discussion of how one girl is having a birthday, explaining the party. I swear one topless girl smiled at the camera.

Zoom out to show...HI CREEPY! And he recorded it. Cool story, bro. Gets a reminder text and finds some Harlan video.

Reporter gives cliche report on it. "A family of four...murdered!" "How could something like this happen...and WHY?"  Phone call immediately after report. Wow, this guy is really pushy about his real footage. "In an hour."

CUT TO PARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTAY. People are immediately tackled into the pool to indicate PARTY! And PARTY MOOOOOONING. And Birthday Girl is Brianna. Now I know. He boyfriend got her a vibrator...as predicted.

Stupid jokes. Women profess that there are 4 different kinds of orgasms. We get this drug out longer than it should be. OH YES. OH NO. OH GOD. OH NATE!" Get it, cause that's his name and she always fakes it. GET IT.

Back to Creepy. He finds the raw murder footage.Watches it. It's static-y because screw you movie. The killer wakes up and dives at the camera at the end. It breaks the tape. Uh...okay.

Back to Party. Blonde Girl and Some Guy make out. Turns out Boyfriend did get the gift Brianna wanted, but she's too mad for him to stop and get them. It's tickets to a concert.

Creepy fixes the tape back to when Killer lunges at the camera. "RAWR!!!!!" Somehow this allows the killer to possess Creepy or some such nonsense. Cryptic mumbling. Head shaking. THOSE IRRITATING CUTS.

Creepy ends the scene, eyes wide, unmoving. Maybe he's just dead. Back at the scene of the murders...uh...nothing. Cut to a police car being pulled up to. Hey, it's Deputy Christian Slater.
He buys the lockerroom footage off Creepy. Oh, wonderful. PLUS SIDE, I GUESS
CREEPY was possessed.

Back to Party. "Top Horror Film, go!" "The Ring!" "Scream!" "Freaky Friday!" I hate you all. Freaky Friday is a 'horror movie' cause she turns into her mother. HA HA HA....

Creepy arrives to the party.He steals a sticky bow off a package and puts on his gift. Gives it to Brianna. She opens and finds...Blu-Ray player. She's insanely rude to him and walks off. Screw you, lady.

Creepy wanders off. "How do you know that guy again?" asks a person who heard the earlier conversation. Creepy huffs some stuff in the bathroom while odd drug taking music blares.

Lies down on...Brianna's bed? Daggone those freaking edits. Stuffed animals. He steals some sunglasses. Colors change. We get extreme close ups of teddy bears...he stabs one.

Hey, Deputy Slater. Get you some high school cam nudity. Pauses. This is apparently Michigan if his shirt is to be believed. He creepily pauses on Teacher's Pet/YAY Pizza girl. Implied masturbation.

KEG STAND!

Stabbed bear! He put a camera in the bear. Oh, for some extra profit, I suppose. Points it at the bed and heads out. It's a creep move, but to heck with Brianna.

Creep talks to Movie Guy. "mumble mumble flash drive." "Do you think you could  put a word in for me down at the station." Movie Guy wants to make movies.

Creep informs him that "I don't make anything...I archive footage from 20 years  ago. I sit there and look at nothin." And away Creep walks to his creepy van. Pulls up his Bear Camera.

Cut to next day. "Tell me about your project!" Movie Guy tells his mom about the Harlan Diehl project. Momma no approve. "It's not cool. It was a tragedy." He implies his mother doesn't help him and almost walks off without his phone. Yeah, right.

Back to blondie. Movie Guy's gal, I have figured. A shadow-y figure spies on her. She hears something. It ends up being...uh...someone stabbing her.

She runs and screams and is eventually killed at the door...and it's the movie. Nate complains about the shakey. Nate is supposed to be representing me as the "hates shakey cam" guy. Sure, Nate. I'll root for you.

Station Manager finds Creep's messy video area. "I'm not cleaning this up!" He starts to clean it up. Creep arrives. Thuds on the soundtrack. Creep throws a wire around the Manager's neck, but a strangling is too weak for this movie so he just shoves him eye first onto a pipe and a stupid brain effect happens.

Movie Guy discovers Harlan was adopted. I don't care. They recognize the farm house so you know that this is going to lead to them trying to film there and the majority of them dying.

Movie Guy and Blondie head out. His mother apparently lied and said the original house was leveled. Why this wouldn't actually happen is confounding.

They arrive. "Why would my mom lie about it? We could've been shooting here the whole time." We're reminding of the adoption thing. Cut back to the opening jump stab. "We gotta go inside." Shut up, Movie Guy.

Inside. "Maybe this isn't a good idea." Hilarious. He's more concerned with footage. They find the bathroom. The movie obvious cuts back to the earlier scene cause we're short minded apparently.

Hear a noise. Go to investigate. Cut to Creep driving his van. Upstairs they go. "This is a baby's room!" "Reports never said anything about a baby." They decide to leave and Movie Guy's Mom appears for a jump scare. She tracked his cell. "So I can protect you." He can take care of himself. Blah Blah.

Creep be creepin in his van. Fast drive...well...Van fast. Arrives at the house. Everyone else is gone.

Back to the daggone school. Researching Harlan's real family. Turns out the Great Great Grandpa was a filmmaker. The film he made was "First by anybody" cause Edison 'no.' The opening black and white old time footage was this film. Meh.

"There has to be a record of [the baby]." Nate and Brianna are getting ready to skip and go to the concert. Guess she finally stopped being mad. Dude lost his cell again. Who is this guy? Yeah, at the house. Creep finds it.

Creep says he found the phone at "home." Sigh. Lanterns.Downstairs. Yeah nothing more exciting. He coughs up some blood. Blondie apparently is Movie Guy's chauffer. Creep arrives and hands off the phone. The point of this is awkwardness. Great stuff. Fantastic.

Cut to Blondie dropping Movie Guy off. He mocks her earlier Freaky Friday answer and then heads in to a movie store. His boss is a handicapped black man. Apparently, he knows of Louis De Prince (Harlan's relative)...and implies he was the devil. "Louis" = Lucifer. De Prince...of Darkness. Oy. Just...OY.

Creep loads a TV into his van. It comes on and is static-y. He watches, we don't Back to Boss implying that Louis De Prince filming "The exact movement of a person." implying he used this to steal souls. Louis's son...Adolph. Louis shot the movie to steal his son's soul and replace it with his own, possessing one generation of a time, becoming stronger...I feel so stupid just writing this.

Boss randomly pulls out the DVD of Louid De Prince in a place full of thousands. YEAH. SURE.

Hi Brianna. Looksl ike Blu-Ray cam is watching you. "Look at the camera" says a caller. She sees it. Creep slams his hand on the static screen and she screams and jump cuts around.

"And they all died after the filming." "Yeah, that's why the legend is legendary." Boss is now done with exposition so the scene ends.

Creep honks on a horn at night. Out comes Deputy Slater. "This is my house!" "I got the Baker girl. Camera in her bedroom." Deputy Slater is pumped. "I need something from a police file...the Harland Diehl files." This catches Slater offguard. He wants the raw-footage taken by Diehl. Tells a lie about a client wanting to see the sister naked. "Are you trying to strong arm me?!" "I'm motivating you." Slater tries to power trip, but possessed Creep don't care.

Meanwhile, Nate goes to pick up Brianna. She's gone dark-acting. He assumes she is mad because he was late. In the car, she pukes up some blood. He reacts by laughing. Best boyfriend ever. She elbows him in the face. Takes out his CD, breaks it, and stabs him. Bashes his head against the steering wheel until he's dead. Well, okay, then. Thankfully, I was lying when I said I'd care about him.

Next day. Deputy Slater enjoys himself a cigarette. The LT wants to see him. It's Movie Guy's Mom. DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN. She asks if he knows Nate. Sends him to look for the dead teen. "Want me to help an old lady across the street on my way back?" She implies he has a bad reputation.

Movie Guy and Blondie talk to Yay Pizza. I give the worst names. Deputy Slater calls over Yay Pizza to ask about Nate...and oggle since she's his favorite girl Hangs onto her hand a second too long. "You're a good girl, aren't ya?" She admits to being in the choir. Slater reveals he used to be in the choir. She awkwardly waits for him to get to the point. He asks about Nate. "He's my sister's boyfriend." There you go. "Do you have a boyfriend?" Back off track.

Meanwhile Creep is downstairs at the one house.

YP calls the cop creepy to Movie Guy and Blondie. Movie Guy assures YP that "I'm sure she's fine." and we immediately cut to Brianna getting her throat cut.

Deputy Slater calls Creep and agrees to get the tape for bedroom footage. By the way, Creep has placed Brianna by the toliet in the farm house. The part she was playing in Movie guy's...eh...movie.

Next day. Yay Pizza gets up and notices Bear Camera. Stares at it. Creep smacks the TV so I guess that steals her soul. Meanwhile, Movie Guy's project is due and isn't done. We don't care.

Deputy Slater is watching a video. Fast forwards. Looking for "the tape." Movie Guy is looking for the Cliche Newsman from earlier. Deputy Slater watches another video. It's Dedicated Momma. He's interrupted before nudity. Doorbell leads to...Yay Pizza girl.

"Hi." "Hi." Yay is monotone so you know something is wrong with her. The Yay has left her spirit. Deputy Slater lets her inside. Lets it slip he's divorced. Slater acts nice. Tries to avoid staring. Frank Lions? Meh, Deputy Slater is better. "I know you watch me." so here we go.

"I don't mind." I don't think Deputy Slater is long for this movie. "How much do you pay him?" He plays dumb. Bad audio dub occurs.

Meanwhile, Creep van be creepin'. Following Blondie. Lies to her about having equipment for Movie guy...or does he. I don't know.

Back to Deputy Slater's. She seduces him in horribly monotoned ways. She points the camera at him and we get THOSE IRRITATING JUMP CUTS.

Back to Blondie. He tricks her into the van and tackles her. Meanwhile, Movie Guy is still tracking Cliche Newsman.

Deputy Slater reveals why Christian Slater took this role (you know, besides the paycheck) as the young attractive girl grinds on him. And....the boob shot is interrupted. Phone call. It's Creep. "She's going home. She does what I tell her to do." Slater wants her to stay...Creep wants the tapes.

Blondie is tied up in the van, by the way. Creep walks into Deputy Slater's home and the camera records him walking up and shooting him in the head. Well, that's a payday, Christian. Yay smiles. That was some crappy CGI blood.

Creep takes the tapes. Shoots the girl. Leaves them both. Blondie somehow senses who was shot.

Hey, Movie Guy is...still looking for Cliche Newsman. are you serious? Creep locks and loads the camera. We fast forward through the opening scene briefly.

Movie Guy finds Newsman. He's in a wheelchair.Asks about Harlan. "That was my last big story." Baby discussion. "I tried to follow up on that...I did some digging..."

Creep is still fast forwarding. We stop at the baby.

Newsman is babbling. "Something triggered...something or somebody. And they was that baby." Something about Harlan being against the baby being adopted out to another couple. Harlan apparently raped his adopted sister. Ta-da. And no one knows what happened to the baby. "Someone said that he was adopted by an officer on the scene." Of course, it's Movie Guy's mom revealing "that" twist.

So, Movie Guy looks for anyone to share this with, but his mom isn't home. Eventually the Creepmobile arrives. But it's empty when Movie Guy walks up to it. Knocks from the inside. He investigates. Finds Blondie. Gets jumped. Her POV shot blurs to indicate he's passing out. Wait, what?

Cut to CAMERA VIEW WITH CAMERA CUTS. Anyway, Movie Guy is Duct-taped all over and it's a setup to take his soul. "HELP MEEEEEEEEEE!" Okay, he's awake. Smack the TV and be done with it.

Nope, Creep turns his attention to Blondie first. "This is destiny and you get to be apart of it." He kisses her. By the way, he seems to be decaying. Or he has herpes. "He needs you...I need you."

Meanwhile, Cop Mom calls for her son. Creep answers. "He's busy right now." At least you didn't go with tied up. He hangs up on her. Movie Guy tries to bite his duct tape...and instantly gives up. Creep touches the TV screen. "Be patient my son." Let's get on with this.

TV screen statics to the touch. Blondie wide eyes. The Camera starts to emit a...I don't know. Movie Guy stares at it. Creep bleeds from the nose. Hand warps. POWER DIES. Wait...what?

Lantern's up. Blondie still wide eyed. Almsot instantly escapes after he leaves. Creep generators up...or some such nonsense. She goes upstairs. Manages to get him free. They run. Creep turns the TV on to find out they're gone.

Find Nate's dead body in the car...cause movie role. Run off cause obviously the car won't run. Sigh. They run. She falls because cliche. Creep cameras. I guess using nightvision. They bump into a wheel, making it turn so he'll know he's on the right path.

CORN FIELD! Well...okay. Creep babbles about "useless flesh" and being tired of using human bodies. Cause he's the devil or something.

No, seriously, Corn Field. Is this a neighboring farm? Or did someone crow a giant crop of corn on the abandoned farm. If so...go to that person's house for help.

Cop Mom arrives. Movie Guy goes to warn her, but Blondie stops him. Yeah, who wants to deal with a mother in law with a gun, am I right? Cop Mom finds Nate.

She goes to call it in and Creep goes after her. Movie Guy takes off after him. Must be a neighboring farm, cause it takes a few seconds to get there. We get Red/Nightvision to let us know where Creep is. Movie Guy calls out for his mother, allowing the proper amount of distraction for Creep to gun her down. Good job, dummy.

Creep tackles Movie Guy. Starts winning a hand-to-hand fight. Blondie cracks Creep with a weapon. Essentially this fight is Creep no-selling worse than John Cena. Head butts Movie guy. Takes his camera back. Goes to soul steal...but the battery goes dead. Sure, why not. Takes out the IPhone. Uses it to record.
We're getting desperate here.

Movie Guy bug eyes when waking and starts to black eye out...but Cop Mom rallies to shoot Creep with an entire clip cause she has a lot of momma grizzly in her or something. Blondie helps her.

Creep wakes up. Lifts the phone to face himself. We get the old-time footage. But one of the walking men disappears. Then Movie Guy wakes up. Bruised from the last night's activities. His mom in a hospital bed. Blondie just chillin.

TV Report declares it a copy-cat situation at the farm house. It's a recreate of the other scene where you wait for Creep to pounce up out of the stretcher, but instead Movie Guy gets a video message of Creep staring at him, which will apparently do the job...or something. I don't know. Movie ends.

Okay...that was...yep.

Score: 1 out of 5. An evil in technology film that is paint-by-numbers and not really that good for the most part.  Pretty much all to say on it.