1971 Directed by John D. Hancock
Newly released from a mental ward, Jessica hopes to return to life the way it was before her nervous breakdown. But when Jessica moves to a country house with her husband and a close friend, she finds a mysterious girl living in there who may or may not be a vampire. Jessica's terror and paranoia resurface as evil forces surround her, making her wonder: Are the visions real or is she slipping back into madness?
The Secret Beneath the Lake, 레츠 스케어 제시카 투 데스, Säikäyttäkäämme Jessica hengiltä, Låt oss skrämma livet av Jessica, I Jessica tha pethanei apo tromo, Lasciate che Jessica muoia, As Escarpas do Medo, Напугать Джессику до смерти, It Drinks Hippie Blood, What Killed Sam Dorker?, Na smrt prestrasena, Asustemos a Jessica hasta morir, Grauen um Jessica, La maldición de los Bishop, La morte corre incontro a Jessica, 제시카 죽도록 겁주기, Przestraszmy Jessice na Śmierć, Sonhos Alucinantes, 吓死杰西卡
USAPG-13
USA
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…
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…
very moody and achingly lonely little end-of-an-era folk horror vampire(?) movie. zohra lampert makes you feel every psychological stab of pain she's experiencing.
76
A woman under the influence. Slow as molasses rotting hippie haunted-house show. Truly one of a kind.
I love how un-afraid Jessica is for most of this movie, marching up the steps after an intruder and defiantly insisting on hearing the antique dealer's ghost story with a crooked smile on her face. Zohra Lampert's performance is remarkably restrained, full of weird little grace notes, giving this somewhat silly story a psychological gravity. That soundtrack too!
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…
There's a genuine pulse in this nearly 50-year-old piece of celluloid. It breathes...it exists...it's ready and waiting for you. (Can't you hear the faint calls?)
The title character is attempting to segue back into a 'normal' life with her husband after spending time in a psych ward due to a nervous breakdown. The couple, along with a family friend, move into a remote home in a small community to restart their lives working an apple orchard. Upon arriving, they locate a vagabond young woman who was staying the night in the thought to be abandoned house, and she's welcomed to stay with the group. It's not long before Jessica's emotional disorder and reoccurring visions have her (and those around her)…
Feels like something you catch late at night on TV at your grandparents' house, about thirty minutes in and you either get scared and turn it right off or watch to the end if you're cool. Really difficult vibe to capture but it never once falters. Really special lead performance. "Is she actually cRaZy!?" is one of the hardest notes in the world for an actor to land and so for Zohra Lampert to not only nail it but to make it this compelling is something else. She never resorts to tics or Jared Leto style "mom! Look! I'm acting! Mom! Over here! I'm acting! See?" swings, she's just insanely present and nobody else is really matching her so you feel trapped with her in her own mind. Beautiful.
Really love that it shows how unfun and selfish most hippies were at their core. Obvious take on them now but in 1971 this must've been ground-breaking.
Eerie post hippy transient vampire nightmare jam. Soaked in surreal dread, deliberately paced, a perfect post Romero offering filled with haze and mounting atmosphere that thickens by the minute a la Messiah of Evil. Absolutely overlooked and without question, an Essential.
I love this movie.
Fascinating atmospheric horror that feels so ahead of it's time. Ahead of most horror films made in America at the time, very much in the vein euro gothic horror. The closest i could think in terms of mood and framing will be Mario Bava. It's an effective slowburn horror tale that plays tricks with the audience, in a clever way. Never showing any contempt for the viewer. It's one of those few movies that truly feels that it fell from another dimension. Deserves a criterion BR pronto.
Zorha Lampert’s dedication to the titular role brings so much soul to Jessica. Even though the screenplay is not at its best, Lampert elevates her character’s emotional depth by showing her anxiety and abuse through genuine mannerisms and facial expressions. For the other areas the film tries to tackle, it falls flat in comparison; however, it’s still an enjoyable cult classic. It’s overall wacky but in an engaging way. Likewise, the film’s vibrant synth score has yet to be matched.
