Charles T
I hadn't seen this film in decades, but a rewatch showed it still packed an over-the-top punch.
Jack Jones is pop singer Nick Cooper, who has been on a six year hiatus from recording at the insistence of his wife Gail (Holly Palance). The couple has just divorced, and Nick decides to go back to recording for music executive Webster (David Doyle). Gail? Oh, Gail is savagely murdered in the estranged couple's London penthouse by a killer with a small scythe and sporting an old woman mask, and no one is around to find her body. Nick is put up in an English country house where the servants Mr. and Mrs. B (Bill Owen and Pete Walker regular Sheila Keith) are taking care of the estate while it's owners are on a year-long cruise. The Bs are an odd couple, but Nick takes to the house's isolation and starts recording. Nick also takes to Linda (Pamela Stephenson), Webster's secretary. The two begin seeing each other, as Gail's body decomposes in the penthouse, almost getting discovered on a couple of occasions. Red herring suspects in the murder increase with the introduction of Harry (Peter Turner), Nick's creepy go-fer. Nick begins having nightmares, and the hallucinations turn real as someone wants to either drive him insane, or kill him off themselves.
Although I had not seen this in many years, some scenes still stuck with me: the murders are gory, a surprising cast member's character is a cross-dresser, and there is an instance of tree vandalism. What I didn't remember is how good a job Jones does despite some convenient filmmaking cheats. When Nick sees a gory sight, he runs away from it or hides, giving the body or body part a chance to disappear. Jones plays his role well, sporting a nice delivery whether singing or reacting to the craziness around him. Stephenson, Doyle, and Johnson provide ample support. Sheila Keith is always good in these roles, but I dare you to shake her similarity to Robin Williams' Mrs. Doubtfire. Now that I have mentioned it, that is going to be all you think about when she is onscreen. Walker is known for his crazed exploitation (I saw "House of Whipcord"), and he is given ample opportunity here. The description I have read about the film, that Nick's ex-wife haunts him, isn't really true, although there is a supernatural element tossed into this glossy slasher flick, which will remind you of everything from "Curtains" to any other slasher film of the late 1970's and early 1980's. The story does drag a bit in the third act, and I probably would have figured out, and remembered, the climax if I had thought about it a little more. Horror fans will want to seek it out, some parts of this have to be seen to be believed.
(R)- Strong physical violence, gore, some profanity, brief nudity, some sexual content, sexual references, some adult situations, alcohol and tobacco use
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
10/27/24
Full Review
anthony p
Jack Jones plays a 1970s popstar who returns to the UK after a 6 year hiatus in the US with wife not to be Gail.
On returning to the UK he learns of his impending divorce from Gail who is about to suffer a grisly end!
Who is the murderer?
Is it Jacks creepy agent?
Could it be the old couple who are housekeepers at the Surrey mansion where Jack is holed up writing material for a comeback album?
Inspired casting includes Pete Walker regular Sheila Keith as housekeeper Mrs. B and Bill Owen as Mr. B. Owen better known to UK television audiences as Compo off Last of the Summer Wine.
Pete Walker is well known in my reviews as the seventies exploitation horror director and he doesn't disappoint in this little known film that probably last had a TV showing in the 1980s.
Oh I almost forgot. A vintage 1976 white Lotus Esprit also has prominent screen time!
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Okay, this is not a great movie, but it is darn fun and a nice novelty of having Jack Jones playing a singer. Pete Walker is one of the best directors of English Giallo and Sheila Keith is one of the creepiest actresses of all time. I think Robin Williams stole Mrs. Doubtfire from her performance in this spooky shocker.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Incredibly slow but the ending is fantastic. The definition of b-movie horror.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
http://www.clevelandmovieblog.com/2013/10/31-days-of-halloween-2013-comeback.html
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
Full Review
eric b
With its artificially bright lighting and prominent use of "Love Boat" singer Jack Jones and David Doyle (then riding high on "Charlie's Angels"), "The Comeback" feels like made-for-TV hokum. Jones plays an unlikely superstar singer (since when did '70s easy-listening acts sell six million copies?) whose return from a long hiatus is hampered when someone starts killing people in his inner circle. Suspects are set up with unsubtle calculation (one red herring is particularly ridiculous) and then killed off. Holly Palance has an especially thankless role as Jones' ex-wife who is brutally murdered at the start and then has her corpse repeatedly turn up in more and more mutilated form.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
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