Genre: Psychological Horror, Supernatural
Director: John D. Hancock
Cast: Zohra Lampert, Barton Heyman, Kevin O’Connor, Gretchen Corbett, Mariclare Costello
A cult classic of early ’70s horror, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death is an eerie, slow-burning descent into madness and paranoia. The film follows Jessica (Zohra Lampert), a fragile woman recently released from a mental institution, who retreats to a secluded farmhouse in rural Connecticut with her husband and a friend. Hoping for peace and recovery, Jessica instead becomes haunted by strange visions, whispers in the dark, and the unsettling presence of a mysterious drifter who may—or may not—be a vampire.
What makes the film linger long after its runtime is its ambiguity. Is Jessica experiencing a genuine supernatural threat, or are her fears the unraveling threads of her own unstable mind? Director John D. Hancock keeps the audience deliberately off-balance with dreamlike visuals, haunting sound design, and Lampert’s remarkable performance, which embodies both fragility and terror.
Though initially overlooked on release, the film has since earned a reputation as one of the most unsettling psychological horror films of its era. Its quiet dread, unnerving atmosphere, and refusal to offer clear answers give it a timeless, haunting quality.
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death remains a masterclass in mood-driven horror, where fear seeps in not through jump scares, but through whispers, shadows, and the unnerving sense that reality itself may be slipping away.
