Let's Scare Jessica to Death

Infobox Film
name = Let's Scare Jessica to Death


writer = John D. Hancock
Lee Kalcheim
starring = Zohra Lampert
Barton Heyman
Kevin O'Connor
Gretchen Corbett
Alan Manson
Mariclare Costello
director = John D. Hancock
producer = Charles B. Moss Jr.
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = August 6, 1971
runtime = 89 min.
language = English
country = USA
budget = | music = Orville Stoeber |, Walter Sear awards =
imdb_id = 0067341

"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.

ynopsis

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 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 Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The village of Chester was used as was the Chester-Hadlyme Ferry crossing the Connecticut River.

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.
* Gretchen Corbett, who played the mute girl in white, had a recurring role throughout much of the '70s on "The Rockford Files", playing Jim Rockford's attorney and erstwhile girlfriend, Beth Davenport.
* Though never a "household name", Barton Heyman appeared in a large number of films during the 1960s, '70s and '80s. He had a supporting role in another famous horror film frim the early '70s, "The Exorcist", playing a psychiatrist. His final film role before his death was in "Dead Man Walking", where he played a prison guard and, as Sean Penn was led to the execution chamber, uttered the title lines.

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

*imdb title|id=0067341|title=Let's Scare Jessica to Death