John Hancock

(On Cable TV, October 2022) When I take a look at something like Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, I don’t see the slow-burn horror classic that some hail—I see a vexing hodgepodge of grimy 1970s New Hollywood dark and damp cinematography, of todorovian tension needlessly prolonging the arrival of the fantastic in an ambiguous “crazy or not?” first act. The low-budget production values and technical capabilities of the time mean muddy images and underlit cinematography, but the film’s greatest issue is its interminable pacing, inconsistent horror devices not necessarily serving a central premise (the film’s production history suggests that the script was entirely retooled during production) and an aura of anything-goes without much rigour. Much as I can understand why this would appeal to some (the dreamlike atmosphere is often effective), I’m left out in the cold—I don’t like a lot about writer-director John Hancock’s Let’s Scare Jessica to Death except the title, and it blurs quickly into many other similar films of its era.