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.

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.

I had not seen this movie since the early 1980's (shortly after it came out and hit the cable networks) until this past week. Unlike many movies and TV shows that I remember as being "great" and then upon seeing them again after 30 years realizing that they were not as great as I thought they had been, "The Comeback" did NOT disappoint! Jack Jones, for some reason, looked and sounded and...for the most part...acted like Robert Redford! I kept hearing Robert as Jack talked throughout the whole movie! And aside from the one moment of "could have done without that and it would have been just as gruesome" gore at the beginning when Gail is killed (some fake limbs fly off), the movie held up REALLY well. If you have never seen this great little thriller, you need to.

The Comeback starts off looking promising, with a brutal death scene by a mask wearing killer. The mask itself is pretty cool too, and looks almost identical to the one used in the 1990's slasher film "Granny". From then on the film is mostly boring. We get a few more deaths, which again are good, but there's not enough of them. The reason the deaths are so good is because they are frenzied and bloody. The story behind the film is actually rather interesting and would have worked very well had it not been so boring for the most part. I would avoid this unless you're a die-hard collector - there's not enough here to even make it an average slasher flick.