LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH (1971)

[The Burgomaster]

This is a decent, fairly creepy thriller about a woman, recently released from a mental institution, who moves into an old, secluded house with her husband and their friend Woody.  They meet a young woman who Jessica suspects is a vampire.  This is a good old-fashioned horror flick, complete with ghostly apparitions, haunting voices, seances, and weird characters.  It would make a good double feature with THE CHANGELING.

[RCMerchant]

This is a GREAT ghost/vampire flick! The scenes with thw creepy hippy chick coming out of the lake are really scary.My youngest kid(12) wont watch it...it gives him the creeps-but he'll sit right through BLADE.Kinda goes to show you how a little atmosphere can go a long way,as compared with buckets of blood.

[odinn7]

Yeah...my f'ing sister used this one to scare me when I was a kid. She wanted me to watch it with her and lied about it. I came in and sat down a little before the tractor and gashed neck scene. When that came on, I almost passed out and I ran from the room. That bothered me for years.

[Scott]

Wow, LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH is a title that I haven't even heard mentioned since the 70's. Might have to get my Netflix subscription/membership back. THE CHANGELING and LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE are also good 70's horror/ghost stories.

[Shadowphile]

The 70s was when they still remembered that the best special effects are made behind your eyes.  I especially liked scenes where you only heard what was happening and only saw indistinct shadows on a wall or got to watch somebody's eyes as they watched what you were only hearing.

[Scott]

Tell me......is there a hearse in this movie? With a creepy image of some dude driving around in a hearse and the girl is scared to death. I think in the scene I'm thinking the lady is pulling out of her drive way and the hearse pulls along side her house or something and she is scared. In broad daylight. I've been trying to find the title to this movie for years. This is all I can remember of the film, but it has always made me wonder about the rest of the film. Maybe LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH is the film.

[LilCerberus]

I must admit, I've never seen Let's Scare Jessica to Death, but I can think of two movies involving a hearse that sound like one you just described.

The first is Burnt Offerings, about a family that moves into an old mansion & get bugged by this guy in a hearse, with dark glasses who keeps showing up & grinning at them.

The other one is The Hearse, about a woman who moves into an ancestral house & starts getting bugged buy a guy in a hearse with a "Boston Blackie" mustache.

Finally, there's The Nail Gun Massacre, a cheesey exploitation flick that sounds nothing like what you described, other than the killer drives a hearse.

[RCMerchant]

There IS a hearse in this movie,but it's owned by Jessica and her boyfriend.I believe your talking about BURNT OFFERINGS. The creepy guy has sunglasses and a chauffer's cap....And he pops up through out the film to scare Oliver Reed and family(including Gramma Bette Davis.)I wonder what became of the cast of JESSICA....I don't recall seeing them in any other films.I bought a copy at a flea market a couple years back,with the original poster art on the cover...

[The Burgomaster]

RC:

Check out IMDB.com.  Zohra Lampert (Jessica), Barton Heyman (Duncan), Gretchen Corbett (The Girl), Alan Manson (Sam), and Mariclare Costello (Emily) all have long lists of movies and television appearances.  Kevin O'Conner (Woody) has a shorter list of credits.  According to THE PSYCHOTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM, most of the cast was made up of soap opera and stage actors.  Heyman, O'Connor, and Manson are dead now.

[Scott]

I know it's not THE HEARSE because I own that film, but maybe it's BURNT OFFERINGS. Haven't rented this one because I heard it wasn't very good, but nice to hear someone likes it. I will rent it at the first opportunity. The scene I mentioned has been a long time curiousity. Thanks for the info.