First Trailer For Horror Movie Playback, Starring Christian Slater

Playback trailer still dying guy
(Image credit: Magnet Releasing)

Back in 2002, American audiences were introduced to The Ring. The movie was about a cursed videotape, and if you watched it you would die in seven days. It was a simple concept executed well and has since become a modern pop culture staple. Now we have Playback, a new thriller from director Michael Nickles that seems to try and match some of what The Ring had going for it, but in a much more convoluted way. The film stars Christian Slater, Ambyr Childers, Toby Hemingway, and Alessandra Torresani, and now the first trailer has arrived online.

Check it out below and in HD over on Apple.

The trailer starts off well, with the classic "murder in the past" setup, but I honestly have no idea what's going on past that point. My best guess is that a teen watches the murders videotapes and then somehow becomes possessed, gets magic powers and can use television screens to kill people? Or he can control anyone that steps in front of his camera lens, but it only works if they are looking right at it? One can only hope that the full cut does a better job explaining what the hell is going on in the 95 minute final cut than this two minute spot.

Look for Playback when it arrives in theaters on March 9th.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.