LET`S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH

Director: John D. Hancock
1971

After an extended hospitalization for a nervous breakdown, Jessica and her husband, Duncan leave the hustle and bustle of New York for a quaint New England farm. Accompanied by their pal, Woody, the trio are greeted at their new home by a mysterious girl who has been squatting there. Jessica takes a liking to the girl and invites her to stay, but, soon, she begins to suspect that the stranger has her designs set on Duncan. Things get worse as Jessica discovers the local lore surrounding the home she and her husband purchased, involving the mysterious drowning, vampirism, and disappearances. As Jessica begins to see and hear things, she fears she may be losing her mind, or, worse yet, that the local tales about the house are true.

Filled with the gritty, creepy atmosphere that seems to permeate most low-budget 70's flicks, Let's Scare Jessica to Death is an absolute freak-out. From the opening scene, I knew I was in for an unnerving experience, as Zohra Lampert's Jessica sees what appears to be an apparition, and we hear Jessica's inner-voice calming her down, telling her "Don't tell them what you've seen, because they won't believe you", and "Just act like nothing happened". The haunting, fragile beauty of Lampert, whose performance here is as heartbreaking as it is terrifying, scared me the moment I saw her on the screen. She just seems like such a broken soul that it's almost difficult to watch, and the moment she extends the welcome to Mariclare Costello's uber-creepy Emily, we know Jessica's in for a world of trouble.

There is an intense psychological element to this film that is predominant throughout. We know from the offset that Jessica is mentally unstable. Just because she's been released does not mean she has been entirely cured. So, when these strange and horrific things start happening, we don't really know whether they're real of fabricated within the constraints of her own mind. That adds a whole new level of uncertainty to the film.