Let’s Scare Jessica To Death (1971) Full Review

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Transcript

00:00hey guys welcome back to another cult movie review i hope you're all doing well in today's

00:20video i'm going to be taking a look at the 1971 psychological drama let's scare jessica

00:29to death now i randomly came across this movie a few months back when i was doing some online

00:36shopping for some new 4k releases the company vinegar syndrome had just put out a new transfer

00:44of this film and yeah it caught my attention uh so i thought i'd uh you know check it out

00:52before we get into the review guys if you like what i do here on the channel please consider

00:58subscribing all the support is greatly appreciated so let's scare jessica to death

01:05was a 1971 horror movie that was written and directed by the filmmaker john d hancock now this

01:13also marked his feature film debut distributed by paramount pictures in august 1971 this low budget

01:23movie was actually produced for just over 250 a thousand dollars and once you kind of watch the

01:31movie and you know take that into account it's actually quite impressive what the filmmakers were

01:37able to achieve narrative wise the movie followed a woman called jessica who was played by actress

01:45zora lambert a woman who had just overcame a mental breakdown and was in the early stages of recovery

01:53seeking a new start in life jessica her husband duncan and their friend woody all decided to up sticks

02:02and move to a country house in connecticut while jessica was indeed hopeful about starting this

02:10new chapter in her life at the back of her mind she was still hesitant about her own mental health

02:19and well-being she felt better and she was back to her old self yet deep down she was unsure and scared

02:29that she could possibly relapse at some stage so the group arrived all happy and jovial but very quickly

02:37when they entered the house they realized that someone else was inside the group chased after the

02:44individual searching all the rooms and eventually they found a squatter called emily who was played by

02:50actress mary claire costello emily was this laid-back bohemian type a hippie basically who had told the

03:01guys that she was only staying there because she had nowhere else to stay she needed a place to crash

03:07and this big house all by itself well to her it seemed like a waste so she started squatting

03:14inside it was a sorry state of affairs for emily who now had nowhere else to go but jessica took pity

03:22on her and allowed her to stay the night a really nice gesture showing jessica's caring nature now

03:30while we needed this plot point to move the story along when i was watching this movie i couldn't help

03:38but think that in that situation nowadays yeah a group wouldn't allow a squatter to stay the night

03:46i mean you don't know who the person is they're a stranger they could be dangerous but uh of course

03:52this was filmed in the early 70s where times were a lot different back then after a few days had passed

03:59emily integrated with the rest of the group and yeah i mean she got along with everyone she fitted in

04:07nicely and eventually she was offered to stay by jessica it seemed like the perfect solution i mean

04:14emily had nowhere else to go so of course she was very grateful but this was the part in the story where

04:21jessica's mental health started to decline you see jessica started having these strange visions

04:28thinking that she could see someone you know from a distance but when she went closer it led to nothing

04:35she was seeing things that supposedly weren't there and at one point she even felt someone in the water

04:43touching her when she went to swim in the lake she was adamant that someone touched her leg

04:49but of course no one was there and so duncan her husband tried to or did his best to reassure his

04:57wife that it was just her mind playing tricks what she thought was happening wasn't these visions

05:05these hallucinations it was all in her mind and duncan suggested that you know she try her best to

05:12basically snap out of it jessica of course wanted to believe her husband and she tried her best to

05:20you know go along and pretend that everything was fine but these loud voices in her head they just

05:26wouldn't go away they were getting louder and louder and it was getting harder for her to ignore them

05:32she wanted to live a normal life she didn't want to have these hallucinations these visions these voices

05:40in her head and yeah she tried her best but ultimately she was second guessing herself

05:47because deep down she knew that what she was seeing was actually real to add to the confusion

05:54jessica would go on to discover that the country house that she was living in with her husband

06:00was previously owned by a family called the bishops we learned that abigail bishop the daughter

06:08in the family had a tragic accident and died in the lake and subsequently legend has it that she

06:16turned into a vampire and stalked the area all of it sounded pretty far-fetched but what was really

06:24strange was that a photo of abigail was later found upstairs in the attic by jessica and it's safe to

06:32say that abigail closely resembled that of emily of course once you see that you have to ask the

06:40question is that just a coincidence or is there some sort of secret connection between emily and the bishop

06:49family so one of the most impressive aspects of this movie was that the filmmakers were able to blend

06:58themes of mental health into a conventional horror mystery we saw this story play out from jessica's

07:08perspective as she tried her best to not lose her grip on reality she suffered from these hallucinations

07:16which prompted jessica to second guess herself to question whether what she was seeing was actually

07:25real or whether she had basically relapsed and i will say that by giving jessica the character such an

07:33important backstory it does actually set her apart from the usual female horror protagonists

07:41in other words it felt a lot more significant to have a mentally ill woman you know trying to navigate

07:50through this whole haunted house haunted town horror trope it actually forced the audience to

07:58question whether jessica's hallucinations were real or just manifestations from her mental illness

08:07there can be no denying that this film certainly had something to say and i really do appreciate the

08:13the fact that the filmmakers brought such an important theme to the forefront mental health and you know

08:22depression ptsd all of that wasn't really in the public consciousness back in the 1970s so the fact that

08:32these filmmakers you know were trying to add a new dimension to the horror genre you know full credit to

08:38them it's also worth noting that the film script went through many changes in pre-production thanks to

08:46the filmmaker john d hancock the film was originally conceived to be this monster movie you know involving

08:55some hippie teenagers that get killed by this monster in a lake hancock then came on board saw what was going

09:05on and decided to you know basically scrap that idea completely and starts again he drastically changed

09:12the script from being this you know paint by numbers lackluster story into a very significant psychological

09:22horror obviously the director wanted to move away from gore and blood and all that kind of stuff

09:30and focus in more on the mysterious aspects of the narrative i thought hancock did a great job he really

09:38did and uh yeah i mean all those changes it was the right call it was the right decision he took the

09:45project in a new direction and yeah he should be commended for it as for the performances i thought

09:53zora lambert did a wonderful job in the lead role playing jessica you know the actress

10:00has this natural likability about her so you know seeing her on screen it was very easy for us the

10:08audience to feel sympathy for her character she really carried the film you know she really did it would

10:16not have worked without her and honestly given what the role required i actually thought it was perfect

10:24casting i also really liked jessica's narration that was inserted throughout the film as it gave us

10:32an idea of how the character was feeling at the time it was like she was having these conversations

10:41you know in her head continually you know second guessing herself and you know ultimately it was a

10:49a story device but it worked very effectively as for actor barton hayman who played duncan jessica's

11:00husband i thought overall he was pretty solid acting alongside zora lambert the two had some very good

11:08on-screen chemistry which ultimately made their relationship feel very authentic with that said

11:16i have to say that uh i wasn't really a fan of the actual character of duncan as for me you know

11:27throughout the film his wife was struggling with her mental health and a lot of the time you know

11:33duncan was pretty dismissive he didn't he wasn't as caring as i thought he would be or should be

11:41and so uh yeah ultimately he kind of came off as uh somewhat mean-spirited also um when i was watching

11:50this film and i saw barton hayman i was like i know that guy where have i seen this guy before

11:57and yeah i watched the whole film and it didn't come to me so i decided to uh you know go online and

12:02check his filmography of course he's in the exorcist it was a small part so um yeah blink and you'll miss

12:12him but yeah he's in the exorcist that's where i know him from as for actress mary claire costello

12:21i thought she was very good in the role as emily playing the seductive vampire emily preyed on her

12:30housemates and subsequently inverted the traditional gender roles with her seducing men her main highlight

12:40of course had to be the scene where we saw emily slowly rise up you know from the lake and look

12:47directly at jessica it really was a perfect moment you know no sound just a camera lingering on emily

12:57as she slowly exited the lake revealing her true self the wet red hair the pale complexion the victorian

13:08gown i mean it was all there and you know it was quite scary but also visually stunning at the same

13:16time before we get to dislikes i also want to talk about the amazing soundtrack that was produced by

13:25composer orville stober this was not your standard 70s horror soundtrack that you may expect from a

13:37low-budget horror film you know this was far far more clearly a lot of attention and effort had gone

13:44in to this music it really was a unique soundscape with stober using electronic drums and all these just

13:55real kind of strange sounds that perfectly suited this mysterious kind of aesthetic the film was going

14:01for i've watched so many 70s horror films where the score is so meh you know it's so mid it has no

14:12kind of identity for itself whereas with let's scare jessica to death that soundtrack you know it had its own

14:21identity you know it really felt like almost like a character within the story itself yeah this was a

14:28far more interesting soundtrack and i just have to give it to stober for you know his involvement and

14:35his efforts because yeah i mean i think if you listen to the soundtrack now to some it may not be

14:43you know whatever but taking into account that this was a soundtrack from the early 70s

14:50and the composer was you know experimenting with all different types of you know sounds

14:55overall it was really really impressive and so dislikes for let's get jessica to death from 1971.

15:06so when it comes to my dislikes to be honest there really wasn't anything or like a major negative that

15:14stuck out to me now if i was clutching at straws i guess i wasn't all that fond of the slow pace there were

15:26some scenes that you know kind of dragged on a little bit too much and yeah could have been trimmed

15:33it was what it was i mean going into this movie i knew i expected a slow pace given this was you know

15:43a film from the early 70s a lot of films at that time in that era that was kind of just the the way it

15:50was so yeah um it didn't ruin it for me my enjoyment my overall experience but um of course there definitely

16:00could have been some some room for improvement i also thought that the story could have used a few

16:07more characters inserted you know throughout but i think the production's you know limited budget

16:17likely came into play of course the more actors that you include the more salaries you have to pay so

16:26so clearly you know the filmmakers were limited in what they could do but that said from watching

16:33the finished movie i was really impressed and so ratings for let's scare jessica to death from 1971

16:44i'm going to be rating this movie a solid five out of ten let's scare jessica to death from 1971

16:53really was an intriguing horror film that delved into themes that weren't traditionally seen in the

17:00genre at the time it was a combination of vampire folklore mixed in with mental illness and it was all

17:09done in quite a meaningful way as i mentioned actress zora lambert was brilliant playing jessica you know she

17:18was able to convey her character's mental fragility but do it in a way that didn't feel like a caricature

17:27she really was a tour de force in this film and without her talent and ability this film definitely would

17:36have suffered also the director john d hancock certainly deserves some praise for coming into the production

17:44completely changing it up and uh actually improving on the story making it quite compelling in an era of

17:52gory spectacle this film's mysterious low-key nature definitely sets it apart and makes it a unique entry

18:01in the horror genre if you've seen let's scare jessica to death from 1971 then please let me know your

18:09thoughts and memories in the comment section below for all those who haven't this is a recommendation

18:16from me i think for horror fans it's a must watch especially if you're a fan of 70s horror and well

18:26that's all from me today guys i do hope you've enjoyed this review of let's scare jessica to death

18:32of course i'll be back next week with another cult movie review if you guys like what i do here and

18:39you haven't subscribed yet please do consider it all the support is greatly appreciated and of course take care

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