Let's Scare Jessica to Death

(aka 'The Secret Beneath the Lake' or 'What Killed Sam Dorker')

Directed by John D. Hancock
USA 1971

Ghostly revenge thriller based on a wartime urban legend and featuring a strong central performance from Zohra Lampert

John D Hancock's under-rated thriller stars Zohra Lampert as mentally fragile hippy who, with husband Barton Heyman and friend Kevin O'Connor, moves from New York to an isolated Connecticut farmhouse to rehabilitate. But they may not be the only residents as Jessica starts hearing voices and seeing spectral images...

Excerpt from Channel 4 located HERE

Poster

Theatrical Release: August 6th, 1971

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DVD Review: Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Paramount Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:20:42
Video	1.78:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.2 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Paramount Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: August 29th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters: 15

Comments:

Another competent, pragmatic and reasonably priced DVD from Paramount. Bare bones with no extras but the image looks quite good - anamorphic and progressive. You can see the indie-production roots but the transfer is quite bright and detailed. Audio has some moments of inconsistency - more to do with the original print than the digital rendering. There are optional yellow subtitles in English only.

The film has the same indefinable appeal as Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls, which it reminded me of in a few segments. Very pure production, although no explicitness - horror fans will gain the most benefit.

Gary W. Tooze

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