Let's Scare Jessica to Death

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

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

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 mental institution, following a nervous breakdown. Once there, the trio encounter an enigmatic hippie (Mariclare 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.

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 its emphasis on story and atmosphere rather than excessive gore and violence. Also, like those films, the ending is intentionally vague, leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions. The plot itself seems to be loosely modeled after the 1872 vampire novella, Carmilla.

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

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.

Trivia

• Though Zohra Lampert remains a well-respected stage, film and television actress -- she won an Emmy for her guest appearance on a 1975 episode of Kojak -- she almost solely played supporting and "character" roles; Jessica was her only leading film role.
• Mariclare Costello was a familiar face on television during the 1970s. Among other roles, she had a recurring role as school teacher Miss Hunter on The Waltons.
• Co-screenwriter Lee Kalcheim, who was also a writer on the sitcom All In The Family, originally wrote the movie as a comedy. Director Hancock then rewrote it as a straight horror movie.

Video and DVD releases

The film was released in VHS in the late 1980s. It was rereleased on DVD in 2006, though fans of the film were disappointed that the budget DVD release contained no special features or "extras".

External links

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Friday February 01, 2008 at 08:35:05 PST (GMT -0800)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation