Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
Director– John D. Hancock
Starring – Zohra Lampert, Kevin O’Connor
Country of Origin - U.S.
Distributor - Scream Factory
Number of Discs - 1
Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald
Date- 01/01/2020
I have to admit I'm getting pretty tired of writing the line "I've wanted this on Blu-ray, since Blu-ray began" or some version of that. The fact is though we are living in an absolute boom time for quality home releases, and in fact, get more than I would have ever anticipated on the format, there are still some films that I feel should have gotten released a lot sooner than they did.
One example of this is Let's Scare Jessica to Death, the slow-burn horror film from John D. Hancock, which feels like 70's horror by the way of Cassavetes. The film got a barebones DVD release in the mid 2000's, which was released again MOD by Warner Archive in 2013. The DVD was a solid release from an audio/video perspective for the time of the original release, but with the HD now giving way to UHD, even in the realm of home video, it feels past the time this film should have been out. Part of the blame for this lays at the feet of Paramount Pictures, which has for years restricted licensing of its catalog titles to only a few companies, and only for films which had not seen a prior DVD release (you read that right).
Now it appears Paramount is becoming more flexible in their licensing stance, with Eric Red's Body Parts seeing a Blu-ray release this month via Scream Factory, alongside Let's Scare Jessica to Death with an impending Blu-ray releaser of the slasher classic My Bloody Valentine coming in February. As an aside I am hoping this paves the way for a Blu-ray release of Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik, one of two Bava films left that are not on the Blu-ray format (the other is Shock).
Let's Scare Jessica to Death stars Zohra Lampert (Cassavetes' Opening NIght) as Jessica. She has recently been released from a mental hospital. Her husband Duncan (Barton Heyman) takes their live savings, and buys a farm in the country, hoping to help Jessica better recover, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Of course, the change of location does little to help Jessica's mental health, and the voices she was hearing and things she was seeing quickly return. To make matters worse the home had a woman named Emily living there, who refuses to leave, and resembles a woman who lived at the property and died long ago.
I won't decry Let's Scare Jessica to Death as a hidden masterpiece of 70's horror cinema, though I have always had a special love for the film. Rather, this is a film that works well due to a combination of subtle scary visuals, the atmospheric New England location, and a powerhouse performance by Zohra Lampert.
Scream Factory presents Let's Scare Jessica to Death in a solid 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the OAR of the original. I'm going to assume that the transfer was provided to Scream by Paramount as the packaging makes no mention of a new transfer. However, what we have here looks quite solid. Grain looks natural, appearing strong in some scenes, while others less so with a clean crisp (but not heavily processed) image. Colors here though natural, and more Earthy, are well produced and pop nicely. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD MA mono track in English, that has no discernible issues, and sounds fine. Extras include a commentary with director John Hancock, and producer Bill Babalato. There is also an interview with composer Orville Stoeber, and film historian Kim Newman. We also get a location featurette. There are also trailers, a still gallery, and TV/Radio spots. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
