Jack's Back

Jack's Back
Jack's Back
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rowdy Herrington
Written by	Rowdy Herrington
Produced by	Cassian Elwes ; Tim Moore
Starring	James Spader ; Cynthia Gibb ; Robert Picardo
Cinematography	Shelly Johnson
Edited by	Harry B. Miller III
Music by	Danny Di Paola
Production; company	Cinema Group
Distributed by	Palisades Entertainment
Release date	May 6, 1988;
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$492,519 (USA)

Jack's Back is a 1988 crime thriller horror film^[1] written and directed by Rowdy Herrington and starring James Spader and Cynthia Gibb.

Plot[]

A young doctor in Los Angeles becomes a suspect when a series of Jack the Ripper copycat killings is committed. However, when the doctor himself is murdered, his identical twin brother claims to have seen visions of the true killer.

Cast and characters[]

James Spader as John/Rick Wesford
Cynthia Gibb as Chris Moscari
Jim Haynie as Sgt. Gabriel
Robert Picardo as Dr. Carlos Battera
Rod Loomis as Dr. Sidney Tannerson
Rex Ryon as Jack Pendler
Chris Mulkey as Scott Morofsky
Mario Machado as Anchorman
as Denise Johnson

Reception[]

The film got a negative review in The New York Times, which read in part "Jack's Back, which opens today at the Cine 1 and other theaters, 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."^[2]

Conversely, both Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert gave it a thumbs up with Siskel declaring that it was a most impressive debut for Rowdy Herrington, as it was for Spader and Gibb.^[3] Jack's Back has a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 7 critics.^[4]

Home media[]

UK-based distributor Slam Dunk Media released the film on DVD 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.^[5] Scream Factory released the film in fall 2015 for the first time on Blu-ray Disc 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.^[6]

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.^[7]