Overview: Julian (Johnny Pacar) enlists his friends to film a reenactment of the town's gruesome Harlan Diehl family murders for a school project. Enlisting outcast Quinn (Toby Hemingway), an employee at the local news station, to assist with video equipment and research, it's during Quinn's examination of raw video footage of the Diehl family farm that an evil spirit is unleashed with a menacing agenda.

DVD Verdict: In truth, this movie kicks off in gruesome, woman-bashing with blood thrown in style, so be very careful! And, if you're a fan of Christian Slater and buying this moie for his role, well, it's a very diluted affair and he is not the star.

OK, the gist is this - while a group of high school students are making a movie for a class they begin to uncover a dark secret involving the town's past. Indeed, it's whilst huffer Quinn (Toby Hemingway) is watching the original tapes of the original event, a mystery spirit comes out of the screen and affects him - badly. He then infects/kills the students involved in the making of the film one by one, all for reasons that come clearer as the film progresses.

Coming across as a secondhand 'The Ring' the blood and violence can be a bit nauseating, the script deliberate and multilayered sure, but at least the plot moves nicely from one unexpected turn of events to another. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.77:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

Behind-the-Scenes
Photo Gallery
HDNet: A Look At 'Playback'
Trailer