I have gone through many phases in my appreciation of horror. I was a wimp when I was very young, then I became bold and daring in my teens and early twenties, now I am a fraidy-cat. Really I am terrible. I have learned to avoid creepy movies because I have become so sensitive. So, why am I participating in a creepy movie write off? Uh, I’m stupid? Well, I’m not going to let stupidity stand in the way of a good write off, so here goes.

I saw the movie Let’s Scare Jessica to Death sometime back in my wimpy stage of movie watching. I remember it as terrifying. Seriously, I had nightmares. So, while I was dating my husband I decided to show him this really scary movie. Hmm. It wasn’t nearly as frightening as I remembered. Oh, it still scared me because by then I was a fraidy-cat, but it was not exactly terrifying. The interesting thing is that the creepiness of this film is more in what is implied than anything else. There is little violence, but it manages to bring the bulk of its chills through subtlety more than anything else.

This movie was made in 1971 and it is far from slick. In some ways it reminds me a little bit of The Blair Witch Project in that most of the horror is implied and there are very few special effects of any kind. It is tight and claustrophobic, yet it is set in a rural environment. The cast is not full of glamour pusses and our heroine is far from a classic beauty. In fact, the film, directed by John D. Hancock, is performed by relatively obscure actors, all of whom look like they could live in your town (depending upon where your town is located).

Jessica (Zohra Lampert) has recently been released from a psychiatric hospital. Hoping to start a new life, Jessica, her husband Duncan (Barton Heyman), and their friend Woody (Kevin O'Connor), are moving with her from Manhattan to a rural Connecticut farmhouse they've just bought. Their mode of transportation happens to be a hearse and along the way Jessica insists on stopping at a cemetery to make some tracings of headstones, which she will later hang in her bedroom. Clearly this is not your average yuppie bunch of people.

We know that Jessica is in for serious problems because she sees a young woman in the cemetery, who vanishes, and rather than remarking on this, she keeps it to herself believing her husband and friend will think she’s hallucinating. Did I forget to mention that we often get to hear her inner dialog? We also get to hear the voices in her head, but I am getting ahead of myself. They finally arrive in town to get some supplies and they are met by a bunch of older, rather hostile men. Jessica finds their hostility unsettling and notices they all have wounds which are bandaged. I noticed there isn’t a woman anywhere in sight.

When they finally arrive at their huge remote farmhouse Jessica sees a woman on the porch who disappears. Again she decides to keep this to herself. Fortunately when they are inside the house Duncan also sees the woman and tracks her down. It turns out that the woman is a drifter named Emily (Mariclare Costello). Jessica is concerned for her and invites her to spend the night. Right then you know she is making a huge mistake. Oh sure the woman seems harmless, but these are New Yorkers - they should know better.

Well, Emily is an attractive woman. Jessica can see that Duncan likes her. Woody likes her too. After an evening of playing music and calling upon the dead (I told you they weren’t average yuppies) it is off to bed.

The characters in this film show incredibly bad judgment with great frequency. I think this is true of most horror films. Who the heck would be checking to see what was the noise behind the door in the old abandoned house where you strongly suspect there is a maniac lurking? I digress. Speaking of maniacs, I kind of like the fact that the mentally ill character in this movie is not the villain, but the heroine, instead.

During the course of the rest of the film, we find out that the old farm house is rumored to be haunted by the vampire ghost of Abigail Bishop, who drowned in the lake by the farmhouse in 1880. Jessica, in her fabulously bad run of judgment, invites Emily to stay with her indefinitely. Surprise, surprise! Jessica stumbles across a photo of Abigail Bishop, and she is the spitting image of Emily!

Well, you can probably figure out where this is all going. Why are those townsfolk all bandaged? What happens when you allow a sexy young woman to stay in the same house with you and your husband? Who is going to believe anything you have to say when you are recovering from a mental illness and start talking about bodies and ghosts and vampires? You get the idea. I won’t spoil the ending for you, but it is mighty unsettling.

I find that, despite a few clichés, there is a lot of freshness and originality to this film. Most of the really scary stuff happens in broad daylight. There is virtually no blood in this vampire movie. Instead of a sexy male vampire, we have a sexy female vampire. It is entirely possible to interpret this film as a study of Jessica’s homicidal decent into madness. Not too shabby.

As I already mentioned, the cast is relatively unknown, but they perform their roles remarkably well. Zohra Lampert is especially good, portraying a fragile, disturbed woman with depth and believability.

By the way, when this film was released it was rated "GP" which translates into PG-13 by today's standards.

On the whole, I find the film engrossing and suitably creepy, however some people might find it to be too low key and slow moving. If you can’t hold your attention on anything that isn’t bloody, naked, exploding, or full of special effects you are going to hate this movie. It is horror for the subtle palette.

This has been an entry in the Creepy Movie Write Off hosted by Arielssong. Please visit the other fine Epinions Writers listed below who are participating in this write off.

Bluehawq
MaryTara
Mattels
Matthew7
Mnehr
Lambchops
MrsNormanMaine
JoeCooper
Kurt_Messick
Laura10801
BijouBabe
MaggsMomm
Artbyjude
Shadow8
Psychovant
Vemartin
Sleeper54
Jeremy1456
GinaHill
Tiffy0380
Prophet3
Saintdonagh
Anderclayton
Tbthorn
Kld718
Arielssong


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older