On paper, Christian Slater has a pretty decent filmography. Since he appeared in his first movie in 1982, Christian Slater would go on to star in some very notable flicks. His career hit its biggest spike with one of the best teen movies ever made, Heathers.
From there, he starred in a Star Trek movie, True Romance, and Interview with the Vampire. He also appeared in one of the best comedy movies, Austin Powers, in the famous “I’m going to go across the street and get you some orange sherbet” scene. (Famous to us, anyway.)
Slater has continued to work in the industry, making new movies and appearing in various projects. But the name recognition of his work has dwindled over the years, and you’ll likely struggle to remember the last major picture he’s starred in over the past decade. Unfortunately, the box office figures from some of his work has also dipped, most notably with the 2012 ghost movie, Playback.
Playback is about a high school student who decides to make a movie about an old town crime story, in which a young man murdered his entire family and was shot by police. The ordeal was caught on camera, and when one of the student’s friends watches the footage, he becomes possessed by the ghost of the killer through the screen.
Weird, right? Well, there’s plenty of other bizarre plot points in this movie. For one, Christian Slater plays a perverted police officer who pays a news station worker to record young teenage girls. Plus, it turns out that the original killer was a descendant of the man who invented cinematography, Louis Le Prince. (We’re not sure our father, the inventor of cinematography, would be too pleased to hear about this.)
So even if you haven’t seen the movie already, there might already be red flags popping up in your mind to signify that maybe this didn’t go down in history as one of the best horror movies ever made. And, of course, the box office figures of the time definitely reflected that.
When the movie was released in 2012, it ended up making $264 in theaters. Actually, it only ended up playing in a single theater, for one week only. In that regard, it was 2012’s lowest earning movie. Astonishingly, it made most of that intake – $252 – on the opening night, and made up the additional $12 across the remainder of the week.
If you’re looking for a better version of the ‘scary videotape’ trope, you’d be better off watching thriller movie masterpiece The Ring, Unfriended, or The Blair Witch Project.
These days, you can rent Playback on Amazon Prime, if you so wish. (And if you don’t have an account on the streaming service, you can sign up for one here.) You might has well — the movie may have only sold 44 theater tickets, but perhaps we can help bump its streaming figures up all these years later. For Slater.
For all the new movies that’ll fulfill your horror needs, check out our guides to the Five Nights at Freddy’s release date and Saw X release date. You can also read our Talk to Me review, to learn more about the best pick for scares we’ve seen in a while. You can also learn how to watch the Conjuring movies in order, perfect for your next movie night.
Next, check out our list of the best movies of all time, the best monster movies, and best zombie movies. You can also find out how to be a final girl in 2023, just in case you need a little guidance.