Taglines: Something is after Jessica. Something very cold, very wet… and very dead…
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death movie storyline. After a stint in a psychiatric facility Jessica, her husband and a friend move to remote farm they have recently purchased. There they find a young woman by the name of Emily living in the house and they invite her to stay. When Jessica goes for a swim in the lake, she sees a body just below the water’s surface.
When they go into the village to sell some old furniture, they learn that a woman by the name of Abigail Bishop drowned in the lake and her body was never found. Local folklore has that Abigail is now a vampire roaming the countryside. A mute blond girl leads her to the body of a dead man but the body is not there when Jessica goes for help. Jessica and those around begin to wonder if she is losing her mind.
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death is a 1971 American horror film co-written and directed by John Hancock in his directorial debut, and starring Zohra Lampert, Barton Heyman, Gretchen Corbett, and Mariclare Costello. The film depicts the nightmarish experiences of a psychologically fragile woman who comes to believe that another strange, mysterious young woman she has let into her home may actually be a vampire.
Initially conceived by writer Lee Kalcheim as a satirical horror film about a group of hippies preyed upon by a monster in a lake, the screenplay was significantly reworked after director Hancock signed on to the project. Hancock took certain elements from Kalcheim’s script, but opted to write a straightforward horror film set at a remote farmhouse.
Inspired by the psychological implications of Henry James’ novella The Turn of the Screw and Robert Wise’s film The Haunting (1963), Hancock wanted to center the screenplay on a protagonist whose credibility interpreting events could be questioned by the audience so they could use their imagination. Filming of Let’s Scare Jessica to Death took place in various towns and villages in Connecticut, largely in Middlesex County.
Though completed without a distributor, the film was purchased by Paramount Pictures, who gave it a wide release in the United States in late August 1971. The film received middling reviews from critics at the time, with some remarking the atmosphere and performances, while others criticized the sparse and ambiguous narrative.
Though criticism of the film has been divided, it went on to attain a cult following, and some film scholars have drawn comparisons to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novel Carmilla (1871). In 2006, the Chicago Film Critics Association pronounced Let’s Scare Jessica to Death one of the scariest films ever made. The film was difficult to obtain on home media formats for several decades, available only on VHS until 2006, when Paramount issued a DVD version. A Blu-ray was released by Scream Factory in January 2020.
Filmed without a distributor and produced independently (under The Jessica Company), Let’s Scare Jessica to Death was sold to Paramount Pictures in early 1971. Frank Yablans, then an executive at Paramount, devised the film’s title as they felt Hancock’s working title, which was simply Jessica, was not commercially viable. Paramount gave the film a wide theatrical release in the United States.
It premiered in New York City on August 27, 1971,[a] and opened in Los Angeles, California the following week, on September 1, 1971. Fake plastic vampire fangs were given to patrons at some cinemas in promotion of the film, while a horse-drawn hearse and coffins were parked in front of Manhattan’s Criterion Theatre during the film’s opening week. During its opening week of August 27–September 1 at the Criterion, the film grossed a total of $47,651.
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
Directed by: John Hancock
Starring: Zohra Lampert, Barton Heyman, Kevin O’Connor, Gretchen Corbett, Mariclare Costello
Screenplay by: John Hancock, Lee Kalcheim
Cinematography by: Robert M. Baldwin
Film Editing by: Murray Solomon
Costume Design by: Mariette Pinchart
Set Decoration by: Norman Kenneson
Music by: Orville Stoeber
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: August 27, 1971
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