Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)

Touches You

Did you people see the same film I saw?

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

If you can ignore the basic and sometimes crappy production values, you can expect a surprising good movie. This is a B movie after it shows in some of the dialogue. Don't let that distract you.At times very slow moving and some would say quite boring to the point where a lot of people would turn it off.......DON'T. The last 30 minutes of so makes up for the whole movie and for me made it worth watching to the end.Really good performances from Zohra Lampert and Mariclare Costello, neither of whom I had never heard of until I watched this. The rest of the actors are a bit wooden, but that could easily be blamed on the script and dialogue.The really great thing about this movie is that the ending is completely open to interpretation. Did it all happen or was it all the imagination of a really messed up mind?If you don't mind old movies with low production values this is one worth watching.An easy 7/10 for me, well worth the 90 minutes.

I first saw this movie as an "ABC Movie Of The Week" back in 1973 or so...making me seven-years-old or so. I saw this back in the days when there were about all of 'seven channels' to choose from and at least 'one' of the local television stations always showed a good movie at night.I really like this movie - then, and, now!I remember thinking how pretty Jessica (Zohra Lampert) is in this movie. Now, after seeing it again as an adult (an adult older than she is in this movie), I still think that Jessica is pretty...but, I also see how innocent she looks in her 'natural' beauty; much like Karen Carpenter and Brooke Adams - women who need "NO" make-up to make-up good looks...their beauty is ALL NATURAL!!Then, there's the husband in this movie who believes that "Emily" is attractive!?!? Yes! She is...but, if you have a wife who looks and acts like Jessica...Emily is "NOTHING!" This 'husband' also doesn't support his wife, Jessica, when she tells him things that are happening (no wonder he got bitch-slapped by a little girl in "The Exorcist"); and, (seems to be guided by a succubus in this movie), what a little weasel...ha-ha-ha! :DEven wildlife took part in this movie - a 'mouse' is hired to play a 'mole'...a 'blind' mouse as Jessica says!?!? :DBut, on the serious side, when the 'mole' ends-up dead and Jessica shows the others, they look at her as if 'she's' crazy!?!? I think that the legal system 'learns details' from creative stories like 'this' and 'turns-it-all-around' in court to 'fit' whomever they choose to appear guilty of whatever crime they choose! :(Stephen King likes this movie, and, he used that same 'photograph-of-a-present-person-who-lived-too-long-ago' in "The Shining" (1980). I "PERSONALLY" love that 'old-terrible-history-photograph(s)' element entering into a horror story...i.e. "Rosemary's Baby" (1968); "Ghost Story" (1981); and, "The Others" (2001)...to name a few!MY MOVIE RANT ABOUT THIS HAPPENING IN REAL LIFE -This movie was made at a time when people still somewhat 'trusted-in-and-upon-one-another'...hence, Jessica tolerating all of this by allowing 'demon-girl' to live with them.Near the end of this movie (an event that I didn't catch as a child), I thought that 'Woody' would foil the evil plan by putting his head to work by thinking even a little bit. He did a lot of thinking, except...it was with the wrong head, and, it got him killed!Jessica seemed to have escaped all of this evil, but, to whom, and, to where? Will this 'whom' believe her...a person recently in an insane asylum; and, who just recently lost a husband and a friend to violent deaths?Even if Jessica talks of the 'female-friend' whom they found in the house and invited to live/stay with them, will anyone believe her or search for her? Probably not! Will the townspeople give credibility to her story? Certainly not!THIS is what makes this story so messed-up and creepy...and, why a court would/will use elements from such a thing to discredit people who 'really' saw 'real' things if demons and such exist (I, personally, don't believe in ghosts and devils as 'I've' never seen any).This story is not only creepy as a horror movie...it's dangerous as a believable story to others who'd put Jessica away...for telling the truth!?!?* Devil's Advocate - I sometimes wonder how many so-called 'psychos' have been put-away because of their God-and-Devil stories...but, also, how many of them were actually telling the truth if God and Devil 'really' do exist!?!?* In contrast - I also wonder why churches are SO VERY CONVINCED that there exists a God and Devil...but, when people do so-called psycho-things for religious reasons...these devout clergy don't come out in numbers to defend these people who claim to see what their church(es) preach is real!?!?CURIOUS! This is what is called a 'paradox!' Look that up! It's also called hypocrisy!ANSWER! The Church is a "BUSINESS" like any other; and, they 'ONLY DO' what is in their best interest...GAIN POPULARITY and MAKE MONEY for further advancement and power...as does a politician, or...even a simple kids' show like "The Teletubbies!" Even the NRA does this..."We want to protect your gun-rights," but, more importantly, we want your MONEY; and, if you ask us for help, we'll ignore you...with a big smile!" SEE THAT SMILE-> :D We're laughing at you...out-loud! :DIn this movie, if "Jessica" had a gun...LEGALLY...and, put it to good-use by destroying that vampire/ghost...her husband; her friend; her doctor; and, most everyone else would have turned-upon her and sent her back to the mental hospital, despite her saving their lives!What if these 'crazy people' are 'God's chosen people,' the ones who see the world and demons for what it really is...and, the rest of us who can't see any of that are the ones who are really crazy by God's standards?I love horror movies, and, I love to figure them into real-life and try to see what other things may or may not come out of them. What would 'you' do if someone whom you know, love, and, trust, came to you talking about demons, vampires, and, devils? Would you believe them? I ask myself that every time I see a movie (or, read a book) like this...and, my answer is always - 'I don't know!'

Zohra Lamphert plays Jessica, a troubled woman just released from an asylum, who re-locates to Connecticut with her husband and their good friend on a secluded lake front house, only to find a mysterious young woman named Emily living there. Rather than call the police, they befriend her, which starts a chain of events that threaten to drive poor Jessica truly insane...Director John Hancock imbues this film with palpable atmosphere, truly eerie and unique, with an unsettling music score to emphasize the creepiness. Is Jessica imaging the increasingly bizarre happenings, or is this sinister evil really occurring? Zohra Lamphert is outstanding and entirely believable bringing this poor tormented woman to life. Ending will haunt the viewer forever.An unheralded gem of a film.

The lurid title could easily side-track you from what is essentially an extremely frightening exploration of a woman's descent into madness. You can read it, of course, in a material sense as the title suggests; but everything in this film has the potential to signify something else entirely, and its this ambiguity that makes this film so macabre and interesting. Everything, from the killing of the 'mole' to the conclusion where Jessica is trapped in the middle of a lake on a barely floating boat, could be signifying or at least implying something else. Classic metaphors for the human consciousness are bodies of water; being trapped in one or drowning metaphors for madness. The films ambivalent set of monsters, from a strange set of undead elderly villagers to sexually promiscuous vampires, threaten Jessica and her sanity. The fact that there is no ultimate explanation for the strange set of phenomena that take place is also demonstrative of the horrific and inexplicable quality of psychotic behaviour for those suffering from schizophrenia (for those of us that have had the misfortune to experience it) or the side-effects of drugs. This film is really worth seeing