Let's Scare Jessica to Death

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Let's Scare Jessica to Death

Directed by	John D. Hancock
Produced by	Charles B. Moss Jr.
Written by	John D. Hancock Lee Kalcheim
Starring	Zohra Lampert Barton Heyman Kevin O'Connor Gretchen Corbett Alan Manson Mariclare Costello
Music by	Orville Stoeber
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	August 6, 1971
Running time	89 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
IMDb profile

Let's Scare Jessica to Death was a 1971 low-budget horror film, directed by John D. Hancock, and starring Zohra Lampert in the title role.

1 Synopsis
2 Tone and Release
3 Production
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

In the film Jessica, her husband (Barton Heyman), and a friend (Kevin O'Connor) retreat to a Victorian farmhouse in an isolated part of rural Connecticut, after Jessica's release from an institution, following a nervous breakdown. Once there, the trio encounter an enigmatic hippie (Mariclaire Costello), and almost immediately, Jessica's madness resumes, though the viewer is never sure whether the subsequent turn of events are all in Jessica's mind, or whether something sinister is truly after her.

[edit] Tone and Release

The film was similar in tone to Rosemary's Baby and The Haunting, in that its story is told from the vantage point of a female protagonist, whose sanity and good judgment may or may not be in question, and also that its terror and "creepiness" came from a deft, well-crafted story, rather than excessive gore and violence. Also, like those films, the ending is intentionally vague, leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions.

Making little impact during its theatrical release, the film later became a staple of late night TV, where it became a cult favorite.

Zohra Lampert as Jessica in a still from Let's Scare Jessica to Death

[edit] Production

The film was shot in and around Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The village of Chester was used as was the Chester-Hadlyme Ferry crossing the Connecticut River. Chester was also the setting for the 1959 film, It Happened to Jane, starring Doris Day and Jack Lemmon.