Nick is a famous singer who has not sung in 6 years because his wife got his career off track and they got divorced, then immediately she’s murdered by the killer from the Canadian movie Curtains, back in time from 1983, while Nick’s on a plane going to England so he couldn’t have done it.

And now we have a big cast of suspects: producer Webster who thinks that Nick’s ex-wife Gail was getting in the way of his career, Nick’s right hand man Harry who’s just creepy and possibly a sex offender, Linda, Webster’s secretary who wants Nick for herself, and of course the creepy servants who come with the house that Webster has rented for Nick They’re like straight from Central Casting, whatever that is.

Okay this is a fun who done it and a nasty Peter Walker horror movie but it’s wrapped in what looks like a late seventies BFI artful movie. Except that the artiness doesn’t really go anywhere. There’s Gail at the beginning and as soon as she goes inside her old apartment there is a film like a vaseline on the lens effect filter over the image. Later when we first meet Harry who is a suspect, and Gail has been murdered, Harry says that he “knows a lot of things” and cigarette smoke blows into the frame from somebody who’s not even in the shot. Walker is trying to do what would normally convey that Harry’s got secrets, that Harry’s mysterious and something’s being covered up.

Then there’s this beautiful scene where you see a wheel on the top of the elevator with the cable going around the wheel and Nick’s music starts playing and you think that looks like a reel to reel tape and then they immediately cut to a reel to real tape. There’s another moment when Nick’s producer Webster is remembering a conversation he had with Gail (even though there’s anothrr woman in front of him talking to him) he’s thinking about a frustrating conversation with Gail and he’s seeing that lens, that filmy filter lens over the shot again in his memory.

So we have all this symbolism and there’s even a moment where Linda, who is Nick’s new girlfriend, he tells her about one of the elements that’s happened that’s trying to drive him crazy…and she thinks he’s dreaming and says “well what is the symbolism of this?” And Nick’s like it’s f****** there there’s no symbolism! He was exactly right. And I’m just like Linda, thinking what is the symbolism of all this.

Even the title The Comeback. I’m thinking okay what’s coming back something else is coming back besides Nick’s career but even though there’s a great story here or who done it: who has killed Gail, who is trying to drive Nick crazy, are there ghosts, oh and why is Webster sitting alone in his house putting on makeup and listening to creepy music from the 1930s? 

Okay so all of the interesting things that aren’t the literal mystery they don’t go anywhere! There’s no reason for the film on the lens, there’s no reason for the cigarette smoke, the wheel and cable that turn into a reel to reel tape, the comeback doesn’t mean anything other than that Nick’s trying to stage a comeback. And Webster’s makeup is just him wanting to feel pretty while listening to some tunes.

So why make the movie so much more interesting than just a whodunit and then have the interesting parts not actually be clues? The killer was immediately the biggest suspect as soon as you saw them because of how creepy they were and you don’t know their motive but you wouldn’t be surprised on any day if you saw this person killing someone! 

So that’s my question: what is the point of putting a bunch of interesting symbolism in your film that doesn’t go anywhere when your film is already interesting as a straight whodunit? Is Peter Walker inept, or clever for pairing arty farty visuals with a straightforward “crazy person did it all cause they’re crazy”? They’re crazy, Nick’s crazy, Webster’s crazy, I’m crazy…we’re all crazy! I’m gping to wait til you sleep to cry. Goodnight!