The Comeback (1978 film)

Last updated

The Comeback
TromaComeback.jpg
Theatrical poster
Directed by Pete Walker
Written byMichael Sloan
Murray Smith
Produced byPete Walker
Starring Jack Jones
Pamela Stephenson
David Doyle
Bill Owen
Sheila Keith
Holly Palance
CinematographyPeter Jessop
Edited byAlan Brett
Music by Stanley Myers
Production
company
Pete Walker (Heritage)
Distributed byEnterprise Pictures (United Kingdom)
Lone Star Pictures (United States)
Release date
  • 16 June 1978 (1978-06-16)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Comeback (also known as The Day the Screaming Stopped or Encore) is a 1978 British psychological horror slasher film [1] directed and produced by Pete Walker and starring Jack Jones, Pamela Stephenson, and David Doyle. [2] Its plot follows a successful but dormant American singer who retreats to a remote manor in Surrey to record an album; there, he is followed by a psychopath—donning a hag mask—who murdered his ex-wife.

Contents

The film was first released in the United Kingdom on 16 June 1978 and was subsequently given a theatrical showing at the Barbican Centre in London as part of a Pete Walker retrospective in November 2014. [3]

Plot

Gail Cooper travels to her ex-husband Nick's apartment in London in order to remove some of its more valuable items. It soon becomes apparent that while Nick (a successful singer) isn't at home, someone is clearly there. The anonymous person watches Gail take a phone call from a reporter asking about the couple's divorce and inquiring as to when Nick will release his next album, as he's been on a six-year hiatus since marrying Gail. Just as Gail is about to leave, she is attacked by a killer wearing a hag mask and a lace shawl, who hacks her to death with a sickle.

Meanwhile, Nick arrives in London from New York, where he is attempting to record a new album to satisfy his manager Webster. Nick finds some solace in Webster's secretary Linda, with whom he shares a strong mutual attraction. After some debate, Nick moves into a manor in the Surrey countryside that is overseen by the housekeeper Mrs. B and the gardener Mr. B. Soon after his arrival Nick begins to experience strange phenomena that include visions of his ex-wife Gail. Nick is unaware of Gail's death, so he's confused by her appearance at the manor. Despite this, Nick begins to work on his album and further develop his romance with Linda. His psychological state is not helped when his associate Harry goes missing and Nick discovers that Linda was formerly dating Webster. One night Nick decides to investigate some of the strange noises he's heard and ends up finding Gail's severed, decomposing head. This puts Nick into a catatonic state and he is temporarily admitted to a hospital.

Nick and Linda eventually consummate their new relationship, only for Linda to disappear the following day. This nearly devastates Nick and he's instructed by his physician to take things slowly and to re-visit his apartment, as the physician believes that all of the unexplained phenomena have been a result of Nick's distress over the divorce and the stress of recording his album. Once at the apartment Nick notices that the apartment has been thoroughly cleaned with antiseptic and the carpeting replaced, which marks him as strange since he left the apartment clean upon his departure and gave no orders to have anything replaced. He returns to the English manor and discusses this with Mrs. B, who tells him not to worry about any of this.

However soon after Nick is attacked by the masked old woman. He flees and runs into Mrs. B, who reveals that the masked old woman is Mr. B and that they have killed Gail and Harry out of insanity and revenge. They're angry with Nick, as their only daughter had been obsessed with him and had committed suicide after he announced that he'd married Gail. The murders and supposedly supernatural occurrences were to be their way of getting even with him for everything and that their final act would be to kill Nick himself after slowly driving him insane. Mr. B then tries to kill Nick again, only for Nick to duck and for Mrs. B to accidentally take the fatal wound, which stops Mr. B from further attacking in favor of cradling his dead wife's body. Webster then arrives and upon seeing what happened, calls the police. Just before they arrive, Nick hears tapping in the walls and manages to locate Linda, who the Bs had entombed in the walls with the body of their dead daughter. The two go outside and as the police cart away Mr. B, Nick sees the ghost of Gail waving at him from one of the manor's windows, showing that some of the phenomena he'd experienced had been at least partially real.

Cast

Production

Filming locations

The film was shot on location in London, Sussex and Surrey, England. Nick's manor in the film was Foxwarren Park, Wisley, Surrey.

Music

The film was the last of five Pete Walker films with music composed and conducted by Stanley Myers.

Release

Critical response

Critical reception has been mixed. [4] Time Out panned the film, writing "Not even its brace of transvestite red herrings can help the story stand on its own feet." [5] DVD Verdict and Twitch Film both gave mixed reviews for the film, [6] and DVD Verdict wrote that "It's by no means a terrible film, just a soft one. There are too few jolts and too few kills. On top of that, the reveal is so out-of-left-field, it feels like a cheat." [7] In contrast, HorrorNews.net and Steve Chibnall both praised the film, [8] with Chibnall writing in the book British Horror Cinema that "The Comeback contains Walker's most accomplished exercises in suspense, but the film's tongue is more firmly in its cheek than ever before." [9]

Legacy

The Comeback is considered to be more conventional than some of Walker's earlier works and has been credited along with Walker's Schizo as "foreshadowing the development of the slasher movie of the 1980s." [10]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<i>Alice, Sweet Alice</i> 1976 American slasher film by Alfred Sole

Alice, Sweet Alice is a 1976 American psychological slasher film co-written and directed by Alfred Sole, and starring Linda Miller, Paula Sheppard, and Brooke Shields in her film debut. Set in 1961 New Jersey, the film focuses on a troubled adolescent girl who becomes a suspect in the brutal murder of her younger sister at her First Communion, as well as in a series of unsolved stabbings that follow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Spinell</span> American actor (1936–1989)

Joe Spinell was an American character actor who appeared in films in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as various stage productions on and off Broadway. He played supporting roles in film including The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), Rocky (1976), Rocky II (1979), Taxi Driver (1976), Sorcerer (1977) and Cruising (1980).

Pete Walker is an English film director, writer, and producer, specializing in horror and sexploitation films, frequently combining the two.

<i>When a Killer Calls</i> 2006 American film

When a Killer Calls is a 2006 direct-to-DVD horror film directed by Peter Mervis and starring Sarah Hall, Mark Irvingsen, Robert Buckley, Derek Osedach, and Rebekah Kochan. It was distributed by B movie company The Asylum. The film was released in February 2006, to coincide with the theatrical release of the 2006 remake of When a Stranger Calls, which this film is a mockbuster of.

<i>Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street</i> (1936 film) 1936 British film

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1936 British drama film produced and directed by George King, and written by Frederick Hayward, H. F. Maltby, and George Dibdin-Pitt. The film features actor Tod Slaughter as the barber Sweeney Todd.

<i>The Toolbox Murders</i> 1978 American slasher film

The Toolbox Murders is a 1978 American slasher film directed by Dennis Donnelly, from a screenplay by Neva Friedenn, Robert Easter, and Anne Kindberg. Starring Cameron Mitchell, Pamelyn Ferdin, and Wesley Eure. It follows a series of violent murders centered around a Los Angeles apartment complex, followed by the kidnapping and disappearance of a teenage girl who resides there. The film was marketed as being a dramatization of true events, though no source can confirm this. It was briefly banned in the early 1980s in the United Kingdom during the "video nasty" panic.

<i>The Tell-Tale Heart</i> (1960 film) 1960 British film

The Tell-Tale Heart is a 1960 British horror film directed by Ernest Morris produced by the Danzigers. The screenplay by Brian Clemens and Eldon Howard is a loose adaptation of the 1843 short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. The film was released in England in December 1960, and in the U.S. in February 1962 as The Hidden Room of 1,000 Horrors.

<i>Rec</i> (film) 2007 film by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza

Rec is a 2007 Spanish found footage horror film co-written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The film stars Manuela Velasco as a reporter who, with her cameraman, accompany a group of firefighters on an emergency call to an apartment building to discover an infection spreading inside, with the building being sealed up and all occupants ordered to follow a strict quarantine.

<i>Strange Behavior</i> 1981 slasher film

Strange Behavior is a 1981 slasher film written, directed and co-produced by Michael Laughlin, co-written with Bill Condon, and starring Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher and Dan Shor. Its plot follows a series of bizarre murders being perpetrated against teenagers in a small Midwestern town, at the same time that the local university is engaging in covert mind control experiments on the youth.

<i>Frightmare</i> (1974 film) 1974 British film by Pete Walker

Frightmare is a 1974 British horror slasher film directed and produced by Pete Walker, written by David McGillivray and starring Rupert Davies and Sheila Keith. The story focuses around Dorothy and Edmund Yates, who have recently been released from a mental asylum, and is one of Pete Walker's most notable films.

<i>Killers Moon</i> 1978 British horror film directed by Alan Birkinshaw

Killer's Moon is a 1978 British slasher film written and directed by Alan Birkinshaw, with uncredited dialogue written by his novelist sister, Fay Weldon, and starring Anthony Forrest, Tom Marshall, Jane Hayden, JoAnne Good, Nigel Gregory, David Jackson, and Lisa Vanderpump. It follows a group of schoolgirls on a choir trip who are terrorized by four escaped psychiatric patients on LSD while staying in a remote hotel in the Lake District.

<i>Exposé</i> (film) 1976 British thriller film by James Kenelm Clarke

Exposé is a 1976 British psychological horror thriller film that was referred to as a video nasty during the 1980s. It was directed by James Kenelm Clarke, partly financed by Paul Raymond and stars Udo Kier, Linda Hayden and 1970s sex symbol Fiona Richmond.

<i>Symptoms</i> (film) 1974 film

Symptoms is a 1974 British psychological horror film directed by José Ramón Larraz and starring Angela Pleasence, Peter Vaughan, and Lorna Heilbron. The film, based on a story by Thomas Owen, follows a woman who goes to stay with a friend at her family remote English manor where all is not as it seems. The film had its premiere at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival as the first official British entry. The film was released under the alternate title The Blood Virgin.

<i>No Trace</i> (1950 film) 1950 British film

No Trace is a 1950 British second feature crime film directed by John Gilling and starring Hugh Sinclair, Dinah Sheridan and John Laurie. A crime writer murders a blackmailer, and is then asked to help solve the case by the police.

<i>House of Mortal Sin</i> 1976 British film by Pete Walker

House of Mortal Sin is a 1976 British horror slasher film directed and produced by Pete Walker. It was scripted by David McGillivray from a story by Walker. Its plot concerns a deranged priest who takes it upon himself to punish his parishioners for their moral transgressions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British horror cinema</span>

British horror cinema is a sub-category of horror films made by British studios. Horror films began in Britain with silent films in the early 20th century. Some of the most successful British horror films were made by Hammer Film Productions around the 1960s. A distinguishing feature of British horror cinema from its foundations in the 1910s until the end of Hammer's prolific output in the genre in the 1970s was storylines based on, or referring to, the gothic literature of the 19th century.

References

  1. Armstrong 2003, p. 80.
  2. "The Comeback". British Film Institute . Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  3. Zimmerman, Samuel. "London: Cigarette Burns Celebrates Pete Walker at the Barbican". Fangoria. Archived from the original on 28 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  4. Jane, Ian. "The Pete Walker Collection (review)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  5. "The Comeback". Time Out London. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  6. Hurtado, Jay. "Now on Blu-ray: Redemption Films: Good, Bad, & Ugly: THE PETE WALKER COLLECTION, OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES, ZOMBIE LAKE". Twitch Film. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  7. Lorber, Kino. "The Pete Walker Collection (review)". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  8. DiVincenzo, Alex (3 December 2012). "Film Review: The Comeback (1978)". HorrorNews.net. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  9. Chibnall & Petley 2001, pp. 169–70.
  10. Shail 2007, p. 209.
  11. "Sitges Film Festival Index (p 23)" (PDF). Sitges Film Festival. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.

Works cited