The perfect mood.Eeriness that bathes in a transient vampire lake of surreal dread, deliberately paced, and oozing with psychological macabre madness. That’s my best approximation of the very distinct tone set by Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, a title that conjures up thoughts of seedy relatives and the “let's bump her off to get her inheritance!" style of plot, which this is most certainly not. This is cosmic doom.A psychological post hippie horror jam about a recently institutionalized woman who has bizarre, nightmarish experiences after moving into a spooky Conneticut farmhouse (currently occupied by transient Vampire Emily) with a group of friends. Simple enough, layered with dark themes and some Carmilla vibes at play, LSJTD is an often overlooked, low budget 70’s regional horror gem that’s filled with that dreamy dread atmosphere I go nuts for, it almost feels like a American Gothic Eurohorror Phantasm directed by Mario Bava (if that makes any sense), bolstered with a perfect lead performance by Zohra Lampert, equal parts extremely confident and fragile once the facade begins to crack via creeping terror.Like the also underappreciated and moody Messiah of Evil, Lets Scare Jessica to Death does a masterful job at being a believable horror story that has all the haunting lyricism needed to keep its deliberate pacing interesting, luring the audience into Jessica's surreal nightmare scenario. Superb sound design, editing, creepy decrepit house setting, and score to die for totally make this essential 70’s cinema.An all timer for me, I’m so happy this eerie as hell movie exists—and exist it does... lurking just beneath the surface in the phantasmagorical lake of cult horror obscurity, waiting to be discovered by the fresh eyes of folks willing to dip their toes in and perhaps discover a new favorite.
One of the scariest parts of recovering from an intense mental health crisis is worrying that you’ll relapse. You’re out of the woods now, but can you trust your brain to balance serotonin for the long run? Friends and family members walking on egg shells, knowing that you were in the shit for no reason except for the fact that the chemicals short circuited and it could happen again. Any twinge of anxiety or worry or physical manifestation of panic makes you wonder if you really are “crazy” or if it’s just “normal anxiety” and god forbid you want to be a burden. You’ve lost control before, even if you were mentally aware of every spin of the spiral while it happened. Zohra Lampert’s portrayal of Jessica, a sweet and kind woman recovering from a nervous breakdown, balances this all so perfectly. Her smile plastered on her face to show “I’m ok!”, her mind racing, almost fighting itself at times, to stay in control, the constant worry that people are worried about her ability to handle any off situation. She’s trying so hard, she’s being so brave, but this time, there is something wrong. Chilling, thick, and dreamlike. Intensely hypnotic, but lucid all at once. You know Jessica is in danger, you see it happening, but you begin to doubt yourself as well. You wonder if you’re trusting in an unreliable narrator, surely this strange woman couldn’t be a vampire. Right?———FOLK HORROR | My Hooptober List
I love these slow, surreal, downbeat 70’s horror jams and this is one of my favorites, if not the favorite. The location is beautiful and haunting and there are some genuinely terrifying scenes of a ghost girl lurking just below the surface of a lake. The title of the movie is awesome but also kinda misleading because it implies some type of evil plot against someone and nothing of the sort happens. Instead, we get one hell of a mood movie with a spooky blend of supernatural and psychological horror that I never get tired of watching.Zohra Lampert’s performance as Jessica is one of the most overlooked in movie history. She completely nails the complexity of a vulnerable person struggling with mental illness to be accepted amongst her peers. There are times when I can relate so deeply to her, like how she loves to trace graveyard tombstones. That may not be specifically something I’m into, but I totally connect with getting great joy out of things others don’t understand.This has yet to receive the bluray treatment is so desperately needs, but I have no doubt that it will and believe me, it deserves all of the love and recognition.
