 Decemberdike
December 8th
The Comeback (1978)
Pete Walker's film stars Jack Jones as an American singer who who retreats to a remote manor in Surrey to record an album; there, he is followed by a psychopath wearing a hag mask who murdered his ex-wife.
Whilst not top level Pete Walker,The Comeback has much to recommend it. The film has a nice ghostly atmosphere as Jones is haunted as the cries of his dead wife echo round the old mansion, and there are a couple of graphic murder sequences that book end the film. You can't have Pete Walker without Sheila Keith who co-stars here, in as you can guess, truly sinister mode along with Bill Owen as her hubby and fellow house keeper. Keith is one of those actresses who even when playing nice seems like she's going to stick a knife in your chest. Not so much typecast as born for roles like this.
The films final shot takes us out of the films slasher movie beginnings and suggests that the supernatural was also at work. This was Walker's last pure horror film and the cracks were beginning to show, although enjoyable there are long sequences where not an awful lot happens other than recording studio chatter, but the grisly murders and finale will ensure it stays in the memory.
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