# Let's Scare Jessica to Death
*Let's Scare Jessica to Death* is a 1971 American psychological horror film directed by [John Hancock](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-hancock), in which a woman recently released from a psychiatric hospital moves to a [Connecticut](https://www.edgepedia.org/connecticut) farmhouse with her husband and a friend and begins to experience events that may be supernatural or may be signs of returning madness. It was the first feature-length film for both Hancock and producer Charles B. Moss Jr., and it was produced by The Jessica Company and distributed by [Paramount Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount-pictures).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | New York opening 27 August 1971; Los Angeles opening 1 September 1971[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography) |
| Runtime and format | 89 minutes, 35 mm color (DeLuxe), mono sound, English[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography) |
| Lead cast | Zohra Lampert (Jessica), Barton Heyman (Duncan), Kevin O'Connor (Woody), Mariclare Costello (Emily)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography) |
| Writers | Credited as Ralph Rose and Norman Jonas; pseudonyms of John Hancock and Lee Kalcheim[2](https://eofftv.com/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-1971/) |
| Budget | $180,000[3](https://bloody-disgusting.com/db/film/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-1971) |
| Filming locations | Chester, Essex, and Old Saybrook, Connecticut[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography) |
| Reception | 50% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (14 reviews) and 50% from audiences; a Metascore of 58[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lets_scare_jessica_to_death) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/lets-scare-jessica-to-death/critic-reviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Jessica (Zohra Lampert) leaves a mental hospital after a nervous breakdown and travels with her husband Duncan (Barton Heyman) and their friend Woody (Kevin O'Connor) to a Connecticut farmhouse and orchard that Duncan has bought with their life savings; Duncan, formerly a bassist with the Philharmonic, intends to begin a new life there. On the way, Jessica sees an ethereal girl near a cemetery and hears whispering voices, but she says nothing, fearing the others will conclude her madness has returned.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography)
At the one-hundred-year-old Bishop family farmhouse they find a squatter, Emily (Mariclare Costello), and invite her to stay. Jessica notices Duncan's attraction to Emily, hears sounds during a séance that the men do not, and sees a pale body surface beneath her while she swims. An antiques dealer tells the couple that the farm's former owners were the Bishops and that their daughter Abigail drowned just before her wedding; local legend holds that she did not die but became a vampire who hunts fresh victims.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lets_scare_jessica_to_death) The elderly townspeople are hostile and mysteriously bandaged, and Jessica cannot tell whether the threats around her are real or products of her own mind.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lets_scare_jessica_to_death)
## Production
Hancock received the original screenplay under the title *It Drinks Hippie Blood*, which he described as "a parody of a scary movie," and he steered the film in a subtler direction.[6](https://www.dailyherald.com/20171012/lifestyle/death-director-john-d-hancock-scared-himself-writing-movie/) The screen credits went to the pseudonyms [Ralph Rose](https://www.edgepedia.org/ralph-rose) (John Hancock) and Norman Jonas (Lee Kalcheim).[2](https://eofftv.com/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-1971/) The film was shot on location in Chester, Essex, and Old Saybrook, Connecticut, with cinematography by Bob Baldwin and a score by Orville Stoeber that included electronic music by Walter Sear and the song "Stay Forever My Love."[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography) • [2](https://eofftv.com/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-1971/)
Lampert was a stage and television actress Hancock knew and admired; he cast her for the vulnerability he saw in her work, which had included [Elia Kazan](https://www.edgepedia.org/elia-kazan)'s *Splendor in the Grass* (1961).[7](https://videoscopemag.com/interview_jhancock.php) • [8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/443271/lets-scare-jessica-to-death) Hancock later recalled that Paramount gave the film a wide release with a substantial advertising campaign, and that it "opened very big" and "played everywhere."[7](https://videoscopemag.com/interview_jhancock.php)
## Style and themes
The film's central device is Jessica's voice-over narration, in which she describes her fear that her madness will return; the voices she hears in her head are heard by the audience throughout the film as well.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography) Critics have read the narration not as storytelling but as Jessica's inner monologue, woven together with the voices in her head, deepening the gap between reality and her fractured psyche.[9](https://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-dvdr) The character of Emily was inspired by [Sheridan Le Fanu](https://www.edgepedia.org/sheridan-le-fanu)'s vampire story "Carmilla."[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/443271/lets-scare-jessica-to-death)
[Turner Classic Movies](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-classic-movies) places the film in the tradition of the atmospheric thrillers of Val Lewton and the low-budget mood piece *Carnival of Souls* (1962), calling it "gothic Americana," a rural ghost story set in the present but tied to a haunted past. It appeared amid the early-1970s turn toward graphic violence in horror, and stood apart from that trend.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/443271/lets-scare-jessica-to-death) Later critics have emphasized its psychological reading: the horror rests on the gaslighting of a vulnerable woman and the disintegration of a mind and a marriage, with the vampire elements nearly redundant beside the depiction of depression.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/lets-scare-jessica-to-death/critic-reviews/) • [10](https://www.the-solute.com/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-and-how-access-affects-genre-history/)
## Reception and availability
Contemporary reviews were mixed. Roger Greenspun of *The New York Times* praised the film's sense of place along the [Connecticut River](https://www.edgepedia.org/connecticut-river) but wrote that within half an hour it "ceases to make sense." *Time* dismissed the cast apart from Lampert's "subtle and knowledgeable performance."[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/443271/lets-scare-jessica-to-death) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/lets-scare-jessica-to-death/critic-reviews/) Later assessments have been warmer about the film's mood and Lampert's performance while often faulting its narrative clarity; on Rotten Tomatoes it holds 50% from both critics and audiences, and its Metascore of 58 falls in the "mixed or average" band.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lets_scare_jessica_to_death) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/lets-scare-jessica-to-death/critic-reviews/)
For years the film was difficult to see. After weathering its mixed reception it gained a cult following, but it had one VHS release in 1984 and then spent much of the next two decades out of print, a scarcity that some critics argue affected its standing in horror history. It later reached DVD and Blu-ray and streaming services, and in 2020 it appeared in a Criterion Channel collection of 1970s horror alongside *The Texas Chain Saw Massacre* and *The Wicker Man*.[10](https://www.the-solute.com/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-and-how-access-affects-genre-history/) Its electronic score predates the synthesizer score of [John Carpenter](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-carpenter)'s *Halloween* (1978) by seven years, a connection director Alex Ross Perry drew on the podcast *Blank Check* while discussing the origins of Carpenter's film.[10](https://www.the-solute.com/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-and-how-access-affects-genre-history/)
In 2001, Paramount Pictures began plans for a remake with [Robert Evans](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-evans) as producer and Teddy Tenenbaum rewriting the script; as of 2006 the production had not been made.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography)
## Ratings
The Motion Picture Association rating has changed over the film's life: the American Film Institute Catalog records the original rating as GP, while current listings show PG-13 on Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix and PG on [JustWatch](https://www.edgepedia.org/justwatch).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lets_scare_jessica_to_death) • [11](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-secret-beneath-the-lake) • [12](https://www.netflix.com/title/70051996)
## References
1. [Let's Scare Jessica to Death, AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54350-LETS-SCARE-JESSICA-TO-DEATH?cxt=filmography)
2. [Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971), EOFFTV](https://eofftv.com/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-1971/)
3. [Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971), Bloody Disgusting Film Database](https://bloody-disgusting.com/db/film/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-1971)
4. [Let's Scare Jessica to Death, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lets_scare_jessica_to_death)
5. [Let's Scare Jessica to Death critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/lets-scare-jessica-to-death/critic-reviews/)
6. ['Death' director John D. Hancock scared himself writing movie, Daily Herald](https://www.dailyherald.com/20171012/lifestyle/death-director-john-d-hancock-scared-himself-writing-movie/)
7. [John Hancock interview, The Phantom of the Movies' VideoScope](https://videoscopemag.com/interview_jhancock.php)
8. [Let's Scare Jessica to Death by Jeff Stafford, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/443271/lets-scare-jessica-to-death)
9. [Let's Scare Jessica to Death (MOD DVD Review), The Digital Bits](https://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-dvdr)
10. [Let's Scare Jessica to Death and How Access Affects Genre History, The Solute](https://www.the-solute.com/lets-scare-jessica-to-death-and-how-access-affects-genre-history/)
11. [Let's Scare Jessica to Death streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-secret-beneath-the-lake)
12. [Let's Scare Jessica to Death, Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/title/70051996)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Vampire and werewolf films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license