Comeback (1978) French Petite

Pete Walker’s The Comeback returned to his old Cool it Carol! era scriptwriter Murray Smith to predictable effect – the plot is over laden with derivative homages to Poe and Hammer psychodramas of the 60s.

It’s instructive to compare the use of Walker’s masked killer with ‘The Shape’ of John Carpenter’s Halloween made the very same year. The divide between a fading British horror sensibility and the soon-to-be revived American stalk and slash film couldn’t be more apparent. David McGillivray’s acid dialogue is sorely missed, and pop’s yesterday man Jack Jones fleeing a psycho-killer-in-drag doesn’t manage to rejuvenate the formula.

Artist: Sam Peffer

Condition: VERY FINE

Cast: Jack Jones, Pamela Stephenson, Walker’s muse Sheila Keith, Bill Owen, Richard Johnson, Holly Palance - Damien’s hanged nanny in The Omen (1976), Penny Irving and June Chadwick, who went on to Forbidden World (1982), The Last Horror Film (1982), This is Spinal Tap (1984) and the V TV Series (1984 – 1985).