The Comeback is set in London & starts as pop star Nick Cooper (Jack Jones) arrives by plane from the US, after a six year break from the music industry Nick is planning a big comeback album which he intends to write & record while staying in England. Recently divorced from his wife Gail (Holly Palance) she is also in London visiting their old penthouse where she is brutally murdered & left to rot, Nick's agent Webster Jones (David Doyle) thinks it would be a good idea for Nick to work on the album in the peace of the English countryside & rents a large estate house for him to stay in. The owner's are away & only the servants Mr (Bill Owen) & Mrs. B (Sheila Keith) will be there, the first night as Nick tries to sleep he hears the sobbing of a child but cannot locate where it is coming from & each subsequent night he hears crying & sees decomposing corpses although no-one believes his story & he is considered mad. However Gail's body is real & there is a killer on the loose who wants to torment Nick & those around him...
Also known under the titles Encore & The Day the Screaming Stopped this British production was produced & directed by Pete Walker who was a minor figure in the anglo horror cycle of the 70's, The Comeback is far from his best film & while it has potential & a few good moments overall there's not much to recommend. The script could have a great little horror mystery but main problem with it is that it's so slow with large stretches where next to nothing happens. At almost 100 minutes long The Comeback just drags & gets a bit boring at times, The Comeback isn't a total disaster though as it has a terrific opening sequence involving a brutal murder & it's a shame the rest of the film doesn't come close to matching this scene. I will say that the script manages to include some really creepy & weird character's to keep us guessing like Mr B who talks to trees, the agent Webster Jones who is shown dressing up in women's clothes for no apparent reason, Nick's right hand man the sleazy Harry who is a real slimy piece of work & likes to discuss women's nipples with them mere moments after meeting them & then there's Linda who sends out all sorts of mixed messages you never know what she wants or where she's coming from. Everyone in the cast just seems to have a screw loose! Walker lays it on a bit thick but the bizarre character's is the only thing The Comeback has going for it. The twist ending is really rather silly & doesn't make much sense if you think about it, why not just kill Linda? The killer's plan required so many coincidences that it's hard to take seriously.
Since The Comeback is a film about a pop star it's no surprise that director Walker cast a pop star in the lead, Jack Jones was apparently one of the most popular vocalists of the 60's although to be honest I had never heard of the guy before watching The Comeback. I guess his claim to fame would be that he sang the theme tune to the classic TV series The Love Boat (1977-1986) & Walker can't resist having him sing a few lines here & it's very dated & a bit cringe worthy. Apparently according to Walker he initially offered the lead to Bryan Ferry while he offered the role of Linda to Melanie Griffith, image how different The Comeback would have been if both those casting choices had stuck. Despite the very bloody start The Comeback isn't that gory otherwise, there's one more killing at almost the hour mark & a few shots of decomposing bodies but little else. There isn't even any proper nudity.
Shot on a low budget on location here in the UK this has decent production values even if it does look a little dated. The acting is alright, some of the performances are a little heavy handed but that adds to the weirdness. Walker regular Sheila Keith puts in another over the top performance.
The Comeback could have been a great little murder mystery horror slasher if it had not been so slow & the script had thrown in a couple more murders to make the first forty fives minutes less tedious. A half decent effort that tries but ultimately I can't really recommend it, average at best.
Also known under the titles Encore & The Day the Screaming Stopped this British production was produced & directed by Pete Walker who was a minor figure in the anglo horror cycle of the 70's, The Comeback is far from his best film & while it has potential & a few good moments overall there's not much to recommend. The script could have a great little horror mystery but main problem with it is that it's so slow with large stretches where next to nothing happens. At almost 100 minutes long The Comeback just drags & gets a bit boring at times, The Comeback isn't a total disaster though as it has a terrific opening sequence involving a brutal murder & it's a shame the rest of the film doesn't come close to matching this scene. I will say that the script manages to include some really creepy & weird character's to keep us guessing like Mr B who talks to trees, the agent Webster Jones who is shown dressing up in women's clothes for no apparent reason, Nick's right hand man the sleazy Harry who is a real slimy piece of work & likes to discuss women's nipples with them mere moments after meeting them & then there's Linda who sends out all sorts of mixed messages you never know what she wants or where she's coming from. Everyone in the cast just seems to have a screw loose! Walker lays it on a bit thick but the bizarre character's is the only thing The Comeback has going for it. The twist ending is really rather silly & doesn't make much sense if you think about it, why not just kill Linda? The killer's plan required so many coincidences that it's hard to take seriously.
Since The Comeback is a film about a pop star it's no surprise that director Walker cast a pop star in the lead, Jack Jones was apparently one of the most popular vocalists of the 60's although to be honest I had never heard of the guy before watching The Comeback. I guess his claim to fame would be that he sang the theme tune to the classic TV series The Love Boat (1977-1986) & Walker can't resist having him sing a few lines here & it's very dated & a bit cringe worthy. Apparently according to Walker he initially offered the lead to Bryan Ferry while he offered the role of Linda to Melanie Griffith, image how different The Comeback would have been if both those casting choices had stuck. Despite the very bloody start The Comeback isn't that gory otherwise, there's one more killing at almost the hour mark & a few shots of decomposing bodies but little else. There isn't even any proper nudity.
Shot on a low budget on location here in the UK this has decent production values even if it does look a little dated. The acting is alright, some of the performances are a little heavy handed but that adds to the weirdness. Walker regular Sheila Keith puts in another over the top performance.
The Comeback could have been a great little murder mystery horror slasher if it had not been so slow & the script had thrown in a couple more murders to make the first forty fives minutes less tedious. A half decent effort that tries but ultimately I can't really recommend it, average at best.