The Age of Commercialism

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Pop star Jack Jones, the man best known for belting out the 'Love Boat' theme song, does reasonably well here basically because he doesn't have to stretch himself all that much. He plays a pop star named Nick Cooper, who's been out of the limelight for six years and is now launching a comeback. He retires to an isolated country mansion, also occupied by the gregarious Mrs. B (Pete Walker favourite Sheila Keith) and her husband (Bill Owen). Nick begins to be plagued by hideous visions of his dead wife Gail (Holly Palance) and other disconcerting sights and sounds. Could he be losing his mind?Not bad slasher type film from cult favourite Walker certainly has its moments. Fans will be more or less satisfied with the resulting bloodletting every time there's a murder set piece. However, these are few and far between, in a story (concocted by Murray Smith) that is overly plodding, and rather trite. For the most part, this story is just not that engaging. One might get their hopes up early on due to a particular killing, but the balance of the film doesn't measure up. Walker has done better in this genre, with efforts such as "Frightmare" and even "Schizo".The excellent international cast gives it some curiosity value. Jones is kind of bland as a leading man, but isn't unlikable, at least. The lovely Pamela Stephenson ("Superman III", 'Saturday Night Live') is an appealing leading lady, and David Doyle ('Charlie's Angels') is quite fun in his role. June Chadwick ("This is Spinal Tap", "Forbidden World") plays a nurse and Penny Irving ("House of Whipcord", 'Are You Being Served') an aspiring singer. If you're watching this to see Richard Johnson ("The Haunting" '63, "Zombi 2"), be warned that he doesn't show up until the film is three quarters of the way through, and even then it's only for a few minutes. Palance, the daughter of Jack P. who will go down in history as the nanny who hanged herself in "The Omen" '76, is stuck in a very thankless role.Entertaining stuff, but overall not one of the directors' better films.Six out of 10.

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.

Jack Jones, the seventies MOR crooner, doesn't disgrace himself with his central performance in this memorably demented chiller. Jones plays a pop singer attempting to record a new album in the surroundings of an apparently haunted country retreat, but he's distracted by the creepy staff (Sheila Keith and Bill Owen), his smarmy, secretly cross-dressing manager, the brutal murders of his ex-wife and trusted colleague, and a burgeoning relationship with groupie Pamela Stephenson. Whilst not as gory as FRIGHTMARE nor as fast-paced or compelling as HOUSE OF WHIPCORD, THE COMEBACK has more than enough touches of eye-popping kinkiness, blood-spattered madness and hallucinatory menace to keep discerning genre fans entertained. Just be warned that Jones's music on the soundtrack isn't his best (it sounds like a particularly wayward Scott Walker solo album), and if you're expecting another nonthreatening pop star movie vehicle, you'd do better to avoid this completely.

True, this is rather more pedestrian than Walker's infamous horror trilogy and this clearly would have benefited from a McGillivray script. This is much more one dimensional and at times rather plodding with the fabulous Sheila Keith unfortunately sidelined. However, this is nothing like as bad as has been made out, has vigorous kills a most eerie atmosphere and decent performances from both Jack Jones and Pamela Stevenson, not to mention a restrained but most effective one from the aforementioned Ms Keith. Keeps you guessing but by the end there is nobody else it could be. Despite comments I have seen elsewhere, both leads do disrobe even if the flesh is carefully shot. Enjoyable.