Let's Scare Jessica to Death

Hi there, faithful readers! All eleven of you. This week's movie is a moldy oldie from way back in 1972. They just don't make 'em like this anymore...

Let's Scare Jessica to Death sits up there with Alien, The Haunting, Diabolique, The Innocents, etc., movies that actually scare the viewer. DON'T WATCH THIS AT HOME ALONE AT NIGHT. Not unless you're a jaded fool like me.

Is Jessica, fresh out of a six-month stay in the nut-hatch, being lured into the undead lifestyle by ghosts, vampires, or some bizarre conspiracy as the title would suggest? It seems it's up to you to decide, as those who aren't Jessica don't believe her when she starts hearing voices, or takes a swim with a gauzy corpse, or, speaking of gauze, notices that all the townsfolk have curious neck-bandages...

Grueling passages unfold as Jessica creeps around the house late at night, voices whispering in her ear, with no other sounds or music to break the unbearable tension. Who is the bizarre ghoulish maiden squatting in the house when Jessica and friends arrive, and why, even though she appears to be a zombie, is she still so hot? Will you be able to stand it when something very nasty greets Jessica in the cove?

You'll certainly feel the vertiginous lurch Jessica and her friends feel as their mysterious visitor tries to drag Jessica back into insanity through eerie manipulative behavior.

Emily, the creepy visitor, is played a bit too authentically by Mariclaire Costello (whatever happened to her?). As Jessica, Zorha Lampert portrays excruciatingly well what the world does to fragile things.

Check out this minor masterpiece if you can find it on video, but open your closet door real slowly when you go to bed at night...