After having unleashed no less than FOUR genuine cult-shockers upon the British horror market in collaboration with David McGillivray ("House of Whipcord", "Frightmare", "House of Mortal Sin" and "Schizo"),Pete Walker falls back on the writing skills of Murray Smith, with whom he made his very first horror film ("Die Screaming Marianne") as well as a couple of light-headed sex-comedies. Smith's imagination isn't as offensive or twisted as McGillivray's, and thus "The Comeback" is an overall politically correct horror effort. That DOESN'T mean it's bad or unmemorable, mind you! The story's subject matter is fairly original, the character drawings are morbidly eccentric and Walker masterfully alters long scenes of suspense with some of the grossest killings in 70's cinema I've ever seen. Real life singer Jack Jones stars as crooner Nick Cooper, working hard on making a comeback after he divorced his dominating wife Gail. His former record producer still believes in his qualities and even arranged for Nick to live in a large mansion, complete with two loyal – albeit oddly behaving – servants at his disposal. Troubles appear when the rotting corpse of Nick's ex-wife, who has been violently murdered in their former penthouse, begins to haunt him at night along with petrifying sobbing sounds of a small child. It soon begins to look like someone intends to boycott Nick's new career and even hurt him personally. Despite most of the red herrings and sub plots being implausible and far-fetched, the whodunit-element of "The Comeback" keeps you alert and interested up until the satisfying denouement (that I didn't see coming, I may add). The faster the ending approached, I began to fear that Murray Smith would make the same mistake as he did in "Die Screaming Marianne" – loose control and drown in all the deceptive plot twists -, but experienced director Walker neatly fits everything back together during the shlocky finale. He also makes great use of terrifically sinister set pieces, like the creepy penthouse and the totally uncanny rooms in the mansion. The film contains multiple homage references to classic films (although some people tend to call them rip-offs),such as "Psycho" and "Citizen Kane" and I wondrously even loved the corny song called "Traces of a long forgotten tune". The acting is adequate, although Sheila Keith's performance is a cut above the rest as usual. "The Comeback" was one of Pete Walker's last achievements, followed by only two more movies. His work may very well be an acquired taste, but I definitely consider him to be among the most talented horror filmmakers that were active in Europe.

THE COMEBACK (1978) is a later and slightly lesser horror outing from Pete Walker, a bit stodgy in the middle section but still with plenty to offer for horror fans. This is the closest he came to a slasher, with Jack Jones essentially playing himself: a washed-up American singer in Britain, trying to 'come back' via a new album, but assailed by visions of a decaying corpse and a masked killer who appears to be someone very close to him.

The film has a good beginning and end, and although there are only a couple of murders there are lots of lingering shots of rotting flesh and the like which makes it pretty strong stuff. Walker used expired hospital blood in this one which adds to the realism. Jones is a bit of a dull hero and his budding romance with Pamela Stephenson doesn't really go anywhere apart from padding the running time, but there's fun support from lots of mysterious characters including the obligatory Sheila Keith as the housemaid and LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE's Compo himself, Bill Owen, as her handyman husband.

A singer (Jack Jones) holes up at a sinister estate to write new songs for his act. The ghost of his murdered wife (Holly Palance) begins to haunt him, then the person who actually killed her shows up at the mansion.

How did this title wind up in the hands of Troma? Granted, over the years a number of decent films (many of them horror) have found their way into Troma's catalog, but this one is strong enough that it could easily have been picked up by MGM or Warner or someone with a little more respect.

I am not familiar with Jack Jones' singing or acting career. I only know he performed the "Love Boat" theme and was the third husband of Jill St. John. I think he did a great job here as the lead, and makes a believable everyman. Another reviewer said he looks like Robert Redford. I guess I can see it, but let us not get carried away!

As for Pete Walker, who was ignored and unappreciated in his day, this is probably among his best work. On top of the decent plot, we have gore, blood and rotting corpses... everything you want from a horror film.