LET’S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH is both a master class in suspense and an examination of the agonizing effects of self-doubt. John D. Hancock’s feature debut is a brilliant piece of gaslighting, in which protagonist Jessica (Zohra Lampert) struggles restlessly to determine whether she is haunted by her imagination or real, supernatural forces. Did she or did she not see a dead body in a nearby lake? Are ghostly bodies shuffling behind Jessica or not? Think of POSSESSION or ROSEMARY’S BABY, but rather as an atmospheric and haunting folk horror (with quite possibly some vampire action). 

Rarely has a director with such a small budget managed to produce so much suffering from simple motifs. The looming fog, pale women, close-ups of the elderly … the director clearly understands the gothic dread inherent in the northeastern corner of the United States. 

-Hil

IMDb

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