LET’S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH (1971)

“THE PERFECT MOOD. Eeriness that bathes in a transient vampire lake of surreal dread, deliberately paced, and oozing with psychological macabre madness.” – Ian West

Inspired by Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, John D. Hancock’s LET’S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH is the ultimate early-70s slow-horror jam. This moody, dreamlike tale of a woman recently released from a mental institution who finds herself haunted either by a woodland vampire or her own madness is drenched in floral-patterned dread. Featuring a twitchy, deeply felt performance by Zohra Lampert and an eerily spare synthesizer score, JESSICA upends so many clichés of horror filmmaking, finding terror in small moments: an enigmatic smile, a farmhouse obscured by mist, the reflection of the sun on a lake. With its quietly feminist depiction of mental illness and its jaded embodiment of post-hippie malaise, JESSICA is at once a time capsule of early-70s America and a timeless tale of terror.

You may also like the following events from Arkadin Cinema & Bar:

• This month, 20th September, 02:00 pm, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (1988) with Looney Tunes pre-show @ 1:30 pm in Southhampton
• This month, 20th September, 05:00 pm, SANATORIUM UNDER THE SIGN OF THE HOURGLASS (2024) — a new film by legendary animators The Quay Broth in Southhampton
• This month, 21st September, 04:30 pm, CELIA (1989), Folk Horror Around the World in Southhampton