The Comeback (1978)

Absolutely the worst movie.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's been six years since Nick Cooper has recorded an album. He left the UK behind for Los Angeles and his wife, but now, divorce has landed him back home and back behind the mic. Retiring to the English countryside to record what he hopes will be his return to the limelight, he finds himself haunted by screams and visions of death.Pete Walker's filmography is filled with sex and murder and little, if any, subtext. From House of Whipchord and Frightmare to Schizo and House of the Long Shadows, which united Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and John Carradine, his films are quickly made and easily digested.The opening of the film has Gail Cooper (Holly Palance, daughter of Jack and the doomed nanny from The Omen) is going through her ex-husband's London apartment one more time. She's not bitter, but almost wistful, remembering their love. Nick isn't home, but she isn't alone. Someone is there, watching her answer a reporter about her upcoming divorce and field questions about her husband's comeback. Moments after she finishes a phone call, someone in an old lady mask kills her in graphic detail, even chopping her hand off. As graphic as this scene is, it gets worse as we return to the scene of the crime multiple times as the camera watches her decompose. And this is one of Walker's restrained movies!Gail's ex-husband Nick (Jack Jones) has no idea that any of this has happened. He's just trying to get through the recording sessions and make his manager Webster (David Doyle, TV's Charlie's Angels) happy. He's moved into the Surrey countryside where Mr. and Mrs. B (Bill Owen and Sheila Keith, who appeared in four of Walker's films) take care of his every need. Yet all is not well. At night, he hears screaming and sees visions of his ex-wife's decaying face. At least he's hooking up with Webster's secretary Linda (Pamela Stephenson, an SNL cast member for season 10 of the show, which was the year Lorne Michaels came back, as well as Superman III).Nick has all sorts of shady people around him, including his right-hand man from the old days, Harry. At one point, Nick ran with a druggy crowd, but now tries to avoid everything, even cigarettes. After discovering that Webster and Linda used to be a couple and the disappearance of Harry, Nick goes crazy. He searches for the voice in the house and only finds Gail's severed head, which sends him into a catatonic state. He's admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and they put him into five days of medical sleep (which sounds wonderful).Nick and Linda finally have sex, but she disappears the next day. This makes Nick even crazier and we start to wonder who is behind all of this. There's a red herring thrown when we discover Webster likes to dress up as an old woman. He also paid off Gail and got her to divorce our hero.When Nick goes back to his old apartment, he learns that it's been cleaned and all the carpeting has been replaced.As Mrs. B tells him not to worry, the old woman attacks. He ducks an axe blow and the old woman is killed, revealing the killer as her husband! It turns out that their beloved daughter was an obsessed fan who committed suicide once Nick married Gail. All of this psychological torture has been their attempt to drive him to suicide.Webster and the police arrive, just as Nick discovers that Linda has been walled inside the house, along with the body of the B's dead daughter, who is clutching a photo of Nick as her body lies in state within a shrine to the singer.As the police arrest Mr. B, Nick looks to the window of the house and sees his ex-wife waving goodbye to him. It seems that all of the psychological turmoil he had been put through wasn't all in his head or in the hands of his would-be murderers.Initially, Walker wanted Bryan Ferry from Roxy Music to play the lead, but Jack Jones chose this as his film debut. A legitimate pop singer who performed nightly concerts while acting daily in this film, he's probably best known for singing the Love Boat theme song. He's had a long career with several Grammy awards and acting roles to his name, including Top Secret and American Hustle.He's really great in this film, a rare example of a man in peril. This British giallo-style shocker is centered by his performance, as his sanity slowly slips. Also, he has the most chest hair I've ever seen on a man, a veritable forest of fluff that freaked out my wife.

In a move Director Pete Walker describes as 'making a rod for his own back', 'The Comeback' swaps genders for the usual 'woman in peril' motif of many of his films by making singer/songwriter Nick Cooper (Jack Jones, very effective in a role for which power-crooner Bryan Ferry was also considered) the victim of nefarious goings-on.Cooper secludes himself in a mansion in order to write a follow-up to his last successful album, released six years before, after which his career was put on hold because he wished to concentrate on his then new wife. Sheila Keith is sublime as the sinister house-keeper Mrs B, whose superficial old-school pleasantries seem to mask something infinitely more sinister – the kind of role that Keith excels at. Whilst this is happening, Cooper's ex-wife has been murdered in their marital apartment and is caked in a riot of the brightest blood you ever did see – and that is where she remains for a vast chunk of the running time.Cooper has an unfortunate ability to surround himself with unpleasant types. Or red-herrings. Apart from his selfish ex, there's sleazy right-hand man Harry, his cross-dressing manager Webster (Charlie's Angels' David Doyle) as well as Mr and Mrs B. The exception to this unpleasantness is Webster's beautiful secretary Linda (comedienne, sex therapist and future Mrs Billy Connolly Pamela Stephenson), who instigates a relationship with Cooper.The killings continue at a leisurely pace, by someone in a shawl and a mask, which could mean Webster. Increasingly it seems as if Mrs B might have something to do with it. As in many Pete Walker films, she represents the respectable (but frequently psychotic!) older generation disgusted with the lapsed morals of the young (if 40 – Jack Jones' age at the time - is considered young). Equally, Cooper hears a young girl sobbing at night, and Linda could be responsible for that. He also suffers what he believes are several gruesome hallucinations.The film comes across as a television thriller with horror overtones, and is played very well by its cast (including Bill Owen, and 'House of Whipcord's Penny Irving). The revelation at the end, (SPOILER) is that Mr and Mrs B had a daughter who worshipped Nick Cooper's music, and killed herself when he got married, and it is them and their madness that were responsible for everything that had happened.Cooper is understandably shocked, but relieved he wasn't going mad after all, but as he leaves the mansion at the end, he turns to see the dead daughter at the window.

I had recently viewed this along with another Pete Walker movie, not knowing that they were both directed by the same person, and well I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by this, as I have only viewed one of his movie's "The Flesh And Blood Show" which I didn't enjoy, but this one I did. The storyline I found particularly interesting, a singer Nick Cooper travels back to England to work on his new album, where soon as he arrives strange things begin to happen, like strange noises heard in the night at the creepy mansion at which he is staying and people start getting butchered. It seems as if someone is out to get him but who could it possibly be."The Comeback" is a very decent horror movie, which I really enjoyed, the suspense and tension is there along with interesting characters and various red herrings shown throughout. Although there could have been a few more murders to pad out the running time, but when they do come they are done very well and pretty brutal and the gore effects are very nicely done.The acting is also rather good the lead Jack Jones did really well and his cheesy singing is also a highlight and quite funny. Pamela Stephenson is very beautiful in this role and plays a rather laid back performance wise. David Doyle plays the selfish manager very well and his bizarre cross dressing scene was really strange and Shelia Keith gives an outstanding performance as the sinister housekeeper especially towards the end.All in all "The Comeback " is an enjoyable British slasher which could have done with a few more murders but otherwise a really good mystery and a highlight in director Pete Walkers back catalogue.

Pete Walker has something of a cult following; and that isn't surprising considering films such as House of Whipcord and House of Mortal Sin, but he's a very hit and miss director; evidenced by misses such as Die Screaming Marianne and House of Long Shadows, and while The Comeback is not as bad as Pete Walker at his worst and certainly has it's moments; it's not the British cult director at his best either, unfortunately. The plot will be fairly familiar to anyone who is a horror fan as its basis has been seen in many films previously, and focuses on a man who is haunted by his dead lover. Nick Cooper is a pop star who has fallen out of public favour. His wife was violently murdered in the couple's penthouse, and Nick has gone to live in a picturesque mansion complete with a pair of odd servants. Trouble starts when Nick stars seeing his dead wife, and despite everyone believing him insane; the visions continue and the troubled pop star begins to suspect that someone is trying to meddle with his life...The main problem with this film is that for large amounts of time; it is really rather boring. Pete Walker takes time to build his characters and the situation; which is all well and good, but with this film he takes too long over it and the plot actually suffers as a result. The lead role is taken by American singer Jack Jones who is actually not too bad in the lead role despite not actually being an actor; although I have to admit that I wasn't surprised to find that he hasn't been in many other films. The rest of the cast isn't particularly memorable, although Pete Walker regular Sheila Keith has a small but pivotal role. The film does contain a few decent set pieces including a fairly graphic murder and a very well worked, although rather silly, final revelation. Walker does manage to create something of a mysterious atmosphere for the film; although it does unfortunately feel just a bit cheap. Overall, The Comeback is not a great horror film; but it's not too bad and Pete Walker certainly has done worse. Walker's fans will find something to like.