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by Frank Showalter

Let's Scare Jessica to Death

B-: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
1971 | United States | 89 min | More...
Reviewed Jun 12, 2012

Recently institutionalized Lampert moves out to an old country house with her husband Heyman and their mutual friend O’Connor where she encounters unfriendly locals who may or may not be vampires and a squatter who may or may not be the ghostly manifestation of one of the house’s previous residents.

Told from unreliable narrator Lampert’s point of view, we’re never quite sure what’s real and what’s not, but the natural performances and lived-in atmosphere do a fantastic job of building a near claustrophobic sense of unease. By the film’s end it doesn’t matter if it’s the town or her mind that’s betraying her, for us, looking through Lampert’s eyes, either explanation is just as terrifying.