I'm very wary when a film is frequently described as either 'atmospheric', 'haunting', hypnotic', 'poetic', 'eerie' or 'dreamlike': nine times out of ten, 'dull', 'dreary', 'uneventful' and 'boring' seem to be more apt adjectives as far as I'm concerned. Let's Scare Jessica To Death is a prime example.
The film stars Zohra Lampert as Jessica, a recently discharged psychiatric patient who is still struggling with her sanity (her troubled thoughts made audible for the viewer to analyse). Together with her husband and a hippie friend, Jessica travels to a remote island, where she hopes to start a new life. These idyllic plans soon go awry, the prejudiced townsfolk treating the newcomers with disdain and their new home occupied by squatter Emily; worse still, Jessica starts to see visions of a girl who might be a vampiric ghost. Then again, Jessica might simply be off her rocker.
Is there really something supernatural afoot or is Jessica lapsing into insanity once again? I cannot say with any certainty because I frequently found myself lapsing into sleep, such is the soporific effect of the ambiguous but ultimately very tedious storytelling. Moving at a snail's pace, Let's Scare Jessica To Death didn't so much 'scare me to death' as 'bore me stiff'.
The film stars Zohra Lampert as Jessica, a recently discharged psychiatric patient who is still struggling with her sanity (her troubled thoughts made audible for the viewer to analyse). Together with her husband and a hippie friend, Jessica travels to a remote island, where she hopes to start a new life. These idyllic plans soon go awry, the prejudiced townsfolk treating the newcomers with disdain and their new home occupied by squatter Emily; worse still, Jessica starts to see visions of a girl who might be a vampiric ghost. Then again, Jessica might simply be off her rocker.
Is there really something supernatural afoot or is Jessica lapsing into insanity once again? I cannot say with any certainty because I frequently found myself lapsing into sleep, such is the soporific effect of the ambiguous but ultimately very tedious storytelling. Moving at a snail's pace, Let's Scare Jessica To Death didn't so much 'scare me to death' as 'bore me stiff'.