Let's Scare Jessica to Death is a 1971 American psychological horror film co-written and directed by John Hancock in his directorial debut, and starring Zohra Lampert, Barton Heyman, Kevin O'Connor, Gretchen Corbett, and Mariclare Costello. The film depicts the nightmarish experiences of a psychologically fragile woman who comes to believe that another strange, mysterious young woman she has let into her home may actually be a vampire.
Initially conceived by writer Lee Kalcheim as a satirical horror film about a group of hippies preyed upon by a monster in a lake, the screenplay was significantly reworked after director Hancock signed on to the project. Hancock took certain elements from Kalcheim's script, but opted to write a straightforward horror film set at a remote farmhouse. Inspired by Henry James' novella The Turn of the Screw and Robert Wise's film The Haunting (1963), Hancock wanted to center the screenplay on a protagonist whose credibility interpreting events could be questioned by the audience so they could use their imagination. Filming of Let's Scare Jessica to Death took place in various towns and villages in Connecticut, largely in Middlesex County.
Though completed without a distributor, Let's Scare Jessica to Death was purchased by Paramount Pictures, who gave it a wide release in the United States on August 27, 1971, and heavily marketed it as a vampire film. It received mixed reviews from critics at the time, with some praising its atmosphere but criticizing the performances as inconsistent and offering varying responses to the screenplay's ambiguous nature. Though criticism of the film has been divided, it went on to attain a cult following, and some film scholars have drawn comparisons to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's novel Carmilla (1871).
In 2006, the Chicago Film Critics Association pronounced Let's Scare Jessica to Death one of the scariest films ever made, and in 2012, it was ranked in the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound poll as the 849th greatest film of all time. The film was scarcely available in home media formats for several decades, available only on Betamax and VHS until 2006, when Paramount issued a DVD version. A Blu-ray was released by Scream Factory in January 2020, followed by a 4K UHD Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome in 2025.
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 outside of the city. When Jessica, Duncan, and their hippie friend Woody arrive, they are surprised to find a mysterious drifter, Emily, squatting in the home. 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 young blonde woman 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 will think she is relapsing. She also becomes aware that Duncan seems to be attracted to Emily, and that the men in the nearby town, all of whom are bandaged in some way, are hostile toward 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 antiques dealer, Sam Dorker, tells them the story of how Abigail drowned in 1880 just before her wedding day. Legend claims that she is 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 woman beckoning her to follow. The woman 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 woman standing on the cliff above them, causing Duncan to give chase. When the woman is caught and questioned by the couple, she remains silent and quickly flees 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 before reemerging from the water in a Victorian wedding gown. Emily attempts to bite Jessica's 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 questions the locals regarding his whereabouts, but no one will speak to her. She observes that the townspeople all bear scars on their necks or wrists. When she notices Sam Dorker amongst them, she flees back toward the house in terror. She collapses in the 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, also bearing a scar on his neck, 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 pole hook. As the body floats away, Jessica sees that it is Duncan. In voiceover narration, Jessica laments her inability to discern between madness and sanity. From the shore, Emily and the townsmen watch her.
Cast Zohra Lampert as Jessica Barton Heyman as Duncan Kevin O'Connor as Woody Gretchen Corbett as The Girl Alan Manson as Sam Dorker Mariclare Costello as Emily
Production Development
According to Lee Kalcheim, the original script for the film was far different from the completed film. Purchased by producer Charles B. Moss, Kalcheim's original screenplay, entitled "It Drinks Hippie Blood", followed a group of hippies camping on a cove who are attacked by a creature that lives in the water. Kalcheim described his screenplay as a satire: "John [Hancock] turned-the-screw so to speak, making it a serious, darker theme. The simplicity of the film worked perfectly to create a scary mood."
Hancock agreed to direct the film only as long as he was allowed to redraft the screenplay, and proceeded to rework Kalcheim's original script in both tone and thematic content, but retained certain elements at the request of the producers; the mute girl, played by Gretchen Corbett, for example, was a character from Kalcheim's original script that Moss requested Hancock retain in his redraft. The scene in which the group attempt a séance was also requested to be kept in the film by both Kalcheim and the producers. Hancock stated that "the scenes didn't make much sense to me, but the Mosses felt they would be particularly enjoyable and scary. I trusted their instincts because they had a concrete experience of audiences." Kalcheim is credited as a co-writer on the film under the pseudonym Norman Jonas. Certain elements of the film were drawn from Hancock's own life, such as the apple orchard settings and farmhouse, as he had grown up on an apple orchard, as well as Norman's career as a bassist, as Hancock's father was a professional double-bass player.
In writing the role of Jessica, Hancock sought to create a filmic equivalent to the unreliable narrator in literary fiction. Jessica was partly influenced by the governess in Henry James's novella The Turn of the Screw, as well as the character of Eleanor Lance in Robert Wise's film The Haunting (1963). The theme of evil pervading the protagonist's mind was central: "I was alarmed by the notion that you can't defeat or defuse evil—it forever lives inside and all around us—so I worked that fear inside the story," said Hancock.
Casting
Hancock, who had worked as a theater director prior, cast the film largely through his connections within the New York theater community, and the majority of the cast consisted of actors with whom Hancock had worked in stage productions. Auditions for the parts were held in the B.S. Moss Offices on Broadway in New York City. Actress Zohra Lampert was cast in the lead role of Jessica, the titular character who finds herself questioning her sanity. She was approached by Hancock, her former boyfriend, while performing in a Broadway production of Mother Courage and Her Children with Anne Bancroft. "I accepted, trusting his judgment," Lampert recalled. "I have a great fondness for John Hancock, and enjoyed working with him very much." Lampert "got lost in her character" as the script resonated with her, and she spent much of her time between takes remaining in character. Hancock recalled of her casting: "I knew she would be perfect for the lead role. Zohra could play the fragility of the character, but she could also authentically convey the fear and the terror."
Mariclare Costello, an actress who had worked as a casting director on Hancock's stage production of The Freaking Out of Stephanie Blake (1967), was cast opposite Lampert as the mysterious hippie, Emily. Hancock was specifically taken by Costello's physical features, which included bright red hair and a pale complexion, which he felt was befitting of the vampiric Emily. Barton Heyman and Kevin O'Connor were given the roles of Jessica's husband Duncan, and the couple's friend Woody, respectively; Hancock had worked with Heyman and O'Connor previously, as they had appeared in his 1967–1968 stage production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Heyman had been Hancock's first choice in the role of Duncan. Alan Mason, who portrayed the doomed antique dealer Sam Dorker, had also acted in several of Hancock's plays. Gretchen Corbett, also an established New York-based stage actress from Portland, Oregon, was cast as the mysterious mute girl whom Jessica encounters, and was the only performer in the principal cast to have not worked with Hancock prior.
In preparation, both Lampert and Costello worked with acting coach Mira Rostova for their respective roles in the film. To prepare the performers for the tone he hoped to accomplish, Hancock screened several films by Alfred Hitchcock to the cast prior to filming.
Filming
Let's Scare Jessica to Death was filmed over a period of 26 days in the fall of 1970, in various towns in Connecticut; the production budget was $250,000. Principal photography began in November of that year in Old Saybrook. The exteriors of the house were shot at a farmhouse in Old Saybrook known over the years as Fairview Farm and the Piontkowski House, while the E. E. Dickinson Mansion, located in the village of Essex, was used for the interior shots of the home. While shooting, the cast and crew used multiple rooms in the expansive mansion for dressing rooms and a headquarters for the film company.