''Jack's Back'' is a 1988 American mystery

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

written and directed by Rowdy Herrington in his directorial debut. It stars

James Spader James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960; ) is an American actor. He is known for often portraying eccentric and morally ambiguous characters. He began his career in critically acclaimed independent films before transitioning into television, f ...

in dual roles,

Cynthia Gibb Cynthia Gibb (born December 14, 1963) is an American actress and former model who has starred in film and on television. She began her career as a cast member on the musical television drama '' Fame'', based on the movie of the same name. She ...

, Jim Haynie,

Robert Picardo Robert Alphonse Picardo (born October 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the Doctor on '' Star Trek: Voyager''. He also appeared as Richard Woolsey in the ''Stargate'' franchise, the Cowboy in '' Innerspace'', Coach ...

, Rod Loomis, and Rex Ryon. It follows a

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

who celebrates

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

's 100th anniversary by committing similar murders. The film began a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States on May 6, 1988. It received mixed reviews from critics, while Spader's performance was praised and earned him a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actor.

Plot

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, a young

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

named John Wesford becomes a suspect when a series of

copycat killings is committed. John and another young doctor, Jack Pendler, are at the scene of the latest crime in the series; they know each other because they both work for the same medical unit, reporting to the abusive Dr. Sidney Tannerson. Pendler seems to realize that John's testimony will likely lead to his being arrested as the killer, and in an ambiguously staged scene, murders him, staging the scene to resemble a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. The police quickly name John as the copycat killer and hypothesize that he killed himself out of guilt. To the surprise of everybody involved, John's

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

brother, Rick, appears and claims to know his brother did not kill himself because he has seen visions of the true killer. In flashbacks, the viewer sees that Rick saw Pendler killing his brother. The police humor Rick, but only because his existence calls into question the eyewitness testimony that had put the identical-looking John at the scene of the crime, and Rick's suspicious knowledge of the crime scene makes him an attractive suspect himself. Under scrutiny by the police, Rick allies himself with another of his brother's colleagues, Dr. Chris Moscari, and carries out his own investigation. He successfully identifies, tracks down and confronts Pendler, who attacks him and is arrested. Pendler is in some regards an excellent suspect — physical evidence puts him at the scene of the final murder. But in other regards he is a terrible one, not matching known characteristics or habits of the killer. Rick continues to dream about John's murder and asks the police psychologist to hypnotize him to clarify these visions. In the refined vision he again sees Pendler attack his brother, but also notices that Pendler's shoes do not match those worn by the copycat killer and that Dr. Tannerson had been at the scene. He intuits that Tannerson will next attack Chris and speeds to her house, attracting a string of police cars with his reckless driving. Chris survives and Rick avenges his brother's death by killing Tannerson, who (it is implied) had manipulated Pendler into murdering the unfortunate twin.

Cast

Release

Theatrical

''Jack's Back'' premiered in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on May 6, 1988, and was released in

and other

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

locations on May 13, 1988. The film opened in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

on June 3, 1988.

Home media

UK-based distributor Slam Dunk Media released the film on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in May 2007 in 1.33:1 full frame format. It is the only DVD release to date in that area. It was available on Netflix video streaming service in SD widescreen format. Scream Factory released the film in fall 2015 for the first time on

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

in the US, and also included a DVD in the package knowing that the film had never made it to the format in North America.

Reception

Critical response

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and stated, "It's not a great movie, but it's the kind of film that makes you curious about what Harrington will do next." Ebert particularly praised Spader's performance, writing that "But apart from the pleasures of the plot, what makes ''Jack's Back'' worth seeing is the work of Spader, a young actor who I believe has as much promise as anyone of his generation." Odie Henderson opined, "''Jack's Back'' maintains a giddy storyteller's glee from beginning to end, painting itself into corner after corner, only to escape every time. It works because of its stubborn belief in all aspects of the pulpy yarn it spins. There's real charm in its compulsive desire to tie its preposterous loose ends, no matter how complicated the knots become." On the other hand, Caryn James of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave the film a negative review and wrote that it "is so dull it leaves you plenty of time to marvel at how a plot can be this rickety, how a production can look this shabby, and how the first-time writer and director Rowdy Herrington could borrow a story with so relentless a grip on our imaginations and in no time at all declaw it." Michael Wilmington of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called the film "a psychological shocker that carves up the Jack the Ripper legend in convoluted but predictable ways" and wrote that "Herrington gets stuck in his triple-twists, stock characters, chases and movie-movie plotting." Wilmington also stated, "But beyond Spader's performance, the only really interesting thing about ''Jack's Back'' is the lighting."

Accolades

Soundtrack and film's title

Originally the director wanted to call the film ''Red Rain'' and have the song of the same name by Peter Gabriel playing as the opening credits theme. However the budget didn't allow for licensing the song, and so instead Paul Saax was brought on board to co-write a new theme "Red Harvest". The movie name was changed to ''Jack's Back'' as a result.

References

External links

* {{Jack the Ripper media 1988 films 1988 directorial debut films 1988 crime thriller films 1988 horror films 1988 independent films 1980s American films 1980s English-language films 1980s horror thriller films 1980s mystery thriller films 1980s psychological thriller films 1980s serial killer films 1980s slasher films American crime thriller films American horror thriller films American independent films American mystery thriller films American psychological thriller films American serial killer films American slasher films American murder mystery films Films about Jack the Ripper Films about physicians Films about twin brothers Films directed by Rowdy Herrington Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles English-language horror thriller films English-language independent films English-language crime thriller films English-language mystery thriller films