Have you ever been curious about what defines quintessential horror from the paradigm-shifting motion picture era of the early 1970's. Watch the '71 low budget trip flick "Let's Scare Jessica to Death" and you needn't wonder any longer.Sparse funding does not a feeble film make in this case. The acting is actually okay, with Zohra Lampert as the deeply troubled title character faring the best here. Her embodiment of a fragile former mental patient petrified that she's losing it all over again is both challenging and poignant.There are a lot of paths this super weird story appears to be leading us down at various points in the movie. The way it all ends up may leave you joining me in asking this clarifying question regarding the ominous title, "Are we talkin' corpse or killer?"No, that's NOT a spoiler.

Released in 1971, "Let's Scare Jessica to Death" chronicles events after the title character (Zohra Lampert) gets out of a mental institution and moves into an old house on coastal Connecticut with her husband (Barton Heyman) and a friend (Kevin O'Connor). There they discover a hippie-like squatter named Emily (Mariclare Costello) whom they eventually invite to stay because they all get along. Jessica starts to hear voices as they catch wind of rumors of a drowning victim from 90 years earlier who's now a ghost or maybe even a vampire. Are the increasingly crazy happenings real or all in Jessica's mind? This is a realistic mystery/horror movie in the mold of 1967's "The Shuttered Room" and 1962's "Carnival of Souls." I mean 'realistic' in the sense that the tone is believable. It's a low-key, haunting slow-burner, so if you want over-the-top, cartoony horror, look elsewhere.Zohra Lampert is effective as the mentally unstable protagonist. The way the movie constantly looks into her thought-life and the uncertainties thereof is reminiscent of 1968's "Rachel, Rachel." The theme is the hypnotic power of a woman, in this case a potentially evil woman. Reflect on Jessica's situation at the end. If she dares to speak out, who would believe her story? The drowning victim from the 19th century was named Abigail. I bet this was where King Diamond got the name for his notable 1987 horror-metal concept album.The movie runs 98 minutes and was in Connecticut, USA (Essex, Chester, East Haddam & Old Saybrook).GRADE: B

I was born in 1976 and my mother told me that she named me after a movie entitled "Lets scare Jessica to Death". Sure enough, it exists, so I will watch it. Now I feel like it's sort of creepy that I was named after this movie. It's a horror movie. Strange. It's the first time my mom heard the name Jessica. Is that strange? My dilemma is if I SHOULD or should NOT watch it because I don't want to feel bad I was named after this. It's always been a little bit creepy to be honest; but now after reading the summary, it seems super creepy. I need all the responses I can get. Please be nice-I know its corny, but I'm truly not sure if I should leave it alone or see it.

This movie... This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in all of my life. The soundtrack is just ridiculous. The effects are terrible, the shots are awful, the acting is mediocre at best; but when you add all of it together; it's just so awful that it's good. It's a shame that this is now out of print (at least that's all I could gather at this point). However, Netflix does have a DVD copy of this film that is available to rent by mail, but they do not currently have the option of instantly streaming the film. There is a free (and full) edition of Let's Scare Jessica to Death posted on YouTube, which has been up for close to a couple of years now and has not had any issues. My suggestion: watch it on YouTube if you aren't willing to pay anywhere from $25 to $75+ on the DVD copy (most copies that are readily available are used anyway). I've been looking just about everywhere for the soundtrack to this. There was never any official soundtrack released. However, there are several download links available for the scores that have been directly cut out of the actual movie. Link to movie (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOWhNcK-4cs Link to score (unofficial): http://www.mediafire.com/?kqp07q4akpvl3x8