Let's Scare Jessica to Death

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(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

***

Released from an institution after suffering a nervous breakdown, Jessica (Zohra Lampert, The Exorcist III) seeks the tranquility of a secluded home in Connecticut to help make her recovery complete. But instead of a restful recuperation with her husband and close friend in the New England countryside, Jessica soon finds herself falling into a swirling vortex of madness and the supernatural! And an even more unsettling discovery is that the entire region seems to be under the influence of a mysterious woman who has been living in the supposedly empty house. Jessica's fear and dread only intensify when she discovers that the "undead" girl, Emily, tragically drowned long ago, on her wedding day. Is she back to take vengeance?

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 27th, 1971

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover
		Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Paramount Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC	Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:28:42	1:28:46.404
Video	1.78:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.2 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 40,389,794,035 bytes Feature: 27,320,844,288 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.00 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1754 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1754 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English, None	English (SDH), 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	Release Information: Studio: Shout! Factory 1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 40,389,794,035 bytes Feature: 27,320,844,288 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.00 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary With Director John Hancock And Producer Bill Badalato • NEW Art Saved My Life – An Interview With Composer Orville Stoeber (16:26) • NEW Scare Tactics: Reflections On A Seventies Horror Classic – An Interview With Author/Film Historian Kim Newman (23:45) • NEW She Walks These Hills – The Film’s Locations Then And Now (6:49) • Theatrical Trailer (2:56) • TV Spot (0:55) • Radio Spot (1:03) • Still Gallery (4:38) Blu-ray Release Date: January 28th, 2020 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 12

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Shout! Factory Blu-ray (January 2020): Shout! Factory have transferred John D. Hancock's Let's Scare Jessica to Death to Blu-ray. It takes a healthy leap beyond the already adept SD transfer from 2006. Flesh tones warm, it is in the correct 1.85:1 aspect ratio, colors are richer, sharpness rises and there are heavy film-like textures. It looked very strong in-motion on this dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate.

NOTE: We have added 32 more large resolution Blu-ray captures for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Shout! Factory use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (24-bit) in the original English language. It is an interesting electronic reverb score by Orville Stoeber sounding eerie, 70's nostalgic, atmospheric and impacting in the lossless. Shout! Factory offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Shout! Factory Blu-ray offer a new audio commentary with Director John Hancock and Producer Bill Badalato about the film they made almost 50-years ago. Hancock relates how he got a projector to watch many Hitchcock films in preparation for directing Let's Scare Jessica to Death. He cites Robert Wise's The Haunting and Turn of the Screw (aka Jack Clayton's The Innocents) as direct influences. There are gaps and they recall decisions during the production. It's pretty good. There is a new interview with composer Orville Stoeber entitled Art Saved My Life running over 1/4 hour about his career. I thoroughly enjoyed the 24-minute Scare Tactics: Reflections On A Seventies Horror Classic – an Interview with author/film historian Kim Newman who immediately declares that Let's Scare Jessica to Death is his favorite horror film and then defends that statement. Excellent. She Walks These Hills shows 7-minutes of the Let's Scare Jessica to Death’s locations then and now showing the dilapidated building used in the film decades ago and how they look today. There is a theatrical trailer, Radio Spot and stills gallery.

Let's Scare Jessica to Death holds up so well without over indulgence in graphic gory imagery. John D. Hancock really hit the nail on the head here in his first full-length feature. I love it even more after the supplements and seeing the strong Blu-ray presentation. This is strongly recommeded!

Gary Tooze

ON THE DVD: 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