let's scare jessica to death

Director: john d. hancock

Actor: zohra lampert,barton heyman,kevin o'connor,gretchen corbett

Data Published: Fri Aug 27 1971

Genres: Drama,Horror,Mystery

Key Words: cult film,1970s,farmhouse,lake,vampire

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067341/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Scare_Jessica_to_Death

Description: Let's Scare Jessica to Death is a movie starring Zohra Lampert, Barton Heyman, and Kevin O'Connor. A recently institutionalized woman has bizarre experiences after moving into a supposedly haunted country farmhouse and fears she may...

Plot: Jessica has been released from a mental institution to the care of her husband, Duncan, who has given up his job as string bassist for the New York Philharmonic and purchased a rundown farmhouse in Connecticut. When Jessica, Duncan, and their hippie friend Woody arrive, they are surprised to find a mysterious drifter, Emily, already living there. When Emily offers to move on, Jessica invites her to dine with them and stay the night. The following day, Jessica, seeing how attracted Woody is to Emily, asks Duncan to invite her to stay indefinitely. Jessica begins hearing voices and sees a mysterious blonde girl looking at her from a distance before disappearing. Later, Jessica is grabbed by someone under the water in the cove while she is swimming. Jessica is afraid to talk about these things with Duncan or Woody, for fear that they'll think she's relapsing. She also becomes aware that Duncan seems to be attracted to Emily, and that the men in nearby town, all of whom are bandaged in some way, are hostile towards them. Duncan and Jessica decide to sell antiques found in the house at a local shop, one of which is a silver-framed portrait of the house's former owners, the Bishop family—father, mother, and daughter Abigail. The antique dealer, Sam Dorker, tells them the story of how Abigail drowned in 1880 just before her wedding day. Legend says that she's still alive, roving the island as a vampire. Jessica finds the story fascinating, but Duncan, afraid that hearing about such things will upset his wife, cuts Dorker short. Later, as Jessica prepares to make a headstone rubbing on Abigail Bishop's grave, she notices the blonde girl beckoning her to follow. The girl leads Jessica to a cliff, at the bottom of which lies Dorker's bloodied body. By the time Jessica finds Duncan, however, the body is gone. Jessica and Duncan spot the blonde girl standing on the cliff above them, causing Duncan to give chase. When the girl is caught and questioned by the couple, she remains silent and runs off when Emily approaches. That night, Duncan tells Jessica that she needs to return to New York to resume her psychiatric treatment. Jessica forces him to sleep on the couch, where he is seduced by Emily. The next day, Jessica finds the portrait of the Bishop family, which she and Duncan had sold to Dorker the previous day, back in the attic; she observes that Abigail Bishop, as seen on the photo, bears a striking resemblance to Emily. Jessica agrees to go with Emily to swim in the cove. While swimming, Emily vanishes from sight; Jessica hears Emily's voice in her head, and watches as Emily emerges from the lake in a wedding gown. Emily attempts to bite her neck, but Jessica flees, locking herself in her bedroom in the house. Hours pass, and Jessica leaves to hitch a ride into town. Woody, who has been working in the orchard, returns to the house, where Emily bites his neck. When Jessica gets into town, she sees Duncan's car and asks about his whereabouts, but no one will speak to her; she then encounters Sam Dorker, and terrified, runs back to the house. She collapses in orchard, and later is found by Duncan, who takes her home. In their bedroom, the couple go to lie down; Jessica notices a cut on Duncan's neck, and Emily then enters the room brandishing a knife, with the townsmen following behind her. Jessica flees, the house, knocking over Duncan's bass case, which contains the corpse of the mute blonde woman. Jessica runs through the orchard and comes across Woody's corpse, his throat slashed. At daybreak Jessica makes it to the ferry and tries to board, but the ferryman refuses to let her on. She jumps into a nearby rowboat and paddles out into the lake. When a hand reaches into the boat from the water, she stabs the person in the back several times with a long pick. As the body floats away, she sees that it is Duncan. From the shore, Emily and the townsmen watch her. "I sit here, and I can't believe that it happened," Jessica says to herself in voice over, "and yet I have to believe it. Nightmares or dreams? Madness or sanity? I don't know which is which."