Playback 2012

On October 21, 1994, a brutal night unfolds when Harlan Diehl murders his family at their farmhouse and is shot by the police as he kills his sister. The tragedy leaves behind eerie video footage—recorded by Harlan himself—and the surviving baby, who remains alive through the carnage. Fast forward fifteen years to Marshall, Michigan, where a driven high school student named Julian Miller [Johnny Pacar] isn’t afraid to chase forgotten local legends for a journalism assignment. He chooses the Harlan Diehl case, bucking his mother Anne Miller’s wishes, and drafts his girlfriend Riley Ambyr Childers as his project partner. Together they gather camera gear and archive footage from Quinn Toby Hemingway, a former video-store coworker who now catalogs material for the local news station. To add drama to the project, Julian invites his fun-loving friends to participate: DeeDee Baker Jennifer Missoni, Nate Jonathan Keltz, and Brianna Baker (an associate of the group) to reenact the fateful night, turning the real tragedy into a provocative, albeit grisly, slasher-style film.

One night, Quinn revisits footage from the aftermath of the Diehl killings. He watches Harlan, still alive after being shot, and the scene cuts between old footage and present events, triggering a sinister possession that threads through the film as a result of video playback. In a darker twist, Quinn becomes entangled with a power beyond him: a malevolent force that begins to use him as a conduit to manipulate others. This possession intensifies as Quinn is drawn into criminal schemes, including the disturbing setup of spy cameras to secretly record teenage girls, coordinated by Officer Frank Lyons [Christian Slater], a perverse cop who leverages Quinn’s abilities to feed his own vendetta. Brianna is among the first to fall under this influence, as possession begins to blur the lines between documentary and nightmare. The body count starts to rise as killing erupts first within the newsroom and then extends into the circle of Julian’s circle.

As the mystery deepens, Julian and Riley uncover a chilling backstory: Harlan, whose early life was defined by foster homes after the deaths of his own parents, is tied to a historic figure in cinema, Louis Le Prince, the inventor of cinematography. They also learn that Harlan is connected to a hidden lineage—he is a link in a chain that stretches from the Diehl family to the baby who vanished from the original reports. In the mix of old legends and new murders, Julian’s coworker Wylie [Daryl Mitchell] reveals a legendary rumor that Le Prince could “steal souls” by filming him in history’s iconic image, the Roundhay Garden Scene, and that a demon-spirit could pass through a bloodline from father to son through captured footage. This eerie legend helps explain the Diehl case, adding a supernatural current to the film project.

The danger escalates as Nate is killed by Brianna, now under Quinn’s malign influence. When Frank Lyons investigates Nate’s disappearance, Quinn retaliates by killing Brianna, and DeeDee is soon possessed by Quinn through a spy camera she discovers. The situation spirals further when Quinn abducts Riley and eliminates Frank and DeeDee, while Julian seeks guidance from a retired newscaster, Chris Safford, about the Diehl case. The puzzle pieces begin to fit as Julian learns that Harlan and his sister—an adoptive family tragedy—were involved in a rape and the conception of a baby, which was then adopted by Anne Miller, Julian’s mother. This revelation implicates Julian as Harlan’s child, a shocking twist unearthed through the tapes Quinn has acquired, including footage of Anne taking the baby.

Quinn eventually seizes Julian, restraining him and Riley within the Diehl house. Just as Quinn readies to possess Julian via his own camera, a blackout plunges the house into darkness, altering the balance of power. Riley uses the distraction to free herself and aid Julian, and they escape the basement with a shaken Anne arriving to help. A confrontation erupts, culminating in Anne firing on Quinn, who is left teetering on the edge of the unknown and the power of the footage he wields. The next morning, the town wakes to a police report outlining a fresh wave of murders as Julian and Riley process what happened. Then, an ominous video message appears for Julian, and Quinn—through the very recording that started it all—seizes control once more, setting up a final, unsettling possibility that the cycle may begin again.