Let’s bore Chuck to tears!
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
Directed By: John D. Hancock (Weeds)
The Prologue
The 1971 film, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death is a film a lot of folks talk about. It’s popped up on many all-time horror movie lists. It’s also credited as being one of horror legend Stephen King’s favorite horror films. That my friends is a lot of hype. So for a film to come nowhere near living up to that sorta hype just baffles me to the point of all confusion. Maybe I’m missing something? I really don’t know. But what I do know is this movie really sucks.
The Movie
So, Jessica has recently been let out of the crazy house. So we can assume the bitch went crazy at some point right? So now her, her husband, and their pal move into this old house where they befriend a hippie girl and let her stay there as well. However Jessica is starting to snap again, or so that’s how it would appear. Is what’s going down and about to go down really going down?..Are you confused?? Do you even care??
It’s like this folks, this movie is a whole lot of nothing. Nothing happens in this movie that amounts to anything until the finish and it makes no sense and doesn’t have a real complete feel. As this movie ran along I kept waiting for just something to happen to back up all the hype and as it go to the point of just 15 or so minutes left it finally hit me that nothing at all is going to happen in this movie. I mean, I guess a mole does die in it..That’s about the most awesome thing about it.
The character of Jessica is a odd one as well. She is the films “lead”, and one that you won’t like. I know she’s suppose to be playing a woman who has had a melt down but the part is played in a manner that makes you think this woman has had brain damage or is indeed retarded. You want her to die first and she’s the main character, that’s NOT good at all. But it is fitting because this movie isn’t good at all.
When odd things are brought up or happen in this movie you won’t know what it all means and it won’t make any sense. These questions also never get an answer. And while some films, be it very rare, can pull this off. I’m sorry to say this movie isn’t one of them. When the credits rolled I was left sitting here scratching my head over what I had just seem. Confused by what it all meant, and even more confused by why soo many people love this movie to much.
The only good thing I could say about it is that it at least looks the part. That’s probably the only thing I could say nice about it. No gore, no real plot, and no real anything. But it looks OK for a “way the film looks” side of things. Vampires are hinted at once in it but you can’t tell it’s a vampire movie if that is indeed what it is. There’s a lot of creepy townies with odd wounds on them that don’t add up to anything logical. We also have a girl who can’t talk walking around and pointing..Trust me, folks. Just skip this one.
The Conclusion
If this is one of Stephen King’s favorite films then I have no idea why. There’s nothing at all to see here and everything you do see is lack luster at best. My only thrill was seeing a crew member’s knee show up by mistake in one scene, but that was all. Skip this one folks, it’s just not worth it.
The Rating (4/10)
Chucks website
