To me, this movie is perfection.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

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.

A recently institutionalized woman (Zohra Lampert) has bizarre experiences after moving into a supposedly haunted country farmhouse and fears she may be losing her sanity once again.In 2006, the Chicago Film Critics Association pronounced "Let's Scare Jessica to Death" the 87th scariest film ever made. In the 2010s, Time Out conducted a poll with several authors, directors, actors and critics who have worked within the horror genre to vote for their top horror films. "Jessica" placed at number 86 on their top 100 list. And in 2016, Rue Morgue magazine gave the film a cover story with in-depth coverage from Kim Newman and an extensive interview with director John Hancock.This being said, I figure it was high time I saw it for myself. And it really is a great film. Some aspects really suggest a late 60s or early 70s aesthetic (the impromptu jam session in particular) but this does not hurt the aging of the film in any way. In fact, it sort of helps put it in an older time, as there is something about the setting that suggests an era even earlier then the time of filming.The scares are achieved by a slower building of tension and an atmosphere of dread. We don't have a lot of blood and guts (though there is some), and the scares aren't generally cheap "jump" or "bus" scares.Does a good version exist? The one I saw was good, but a bit rough. Warner Archive does not seem to put in much effort to clean up their films.

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.