Potentially Positive News About Let's Scare Jessica To Death (1 Viewer)

[Radioman970]

That's right. No cheap thrills here from what I remember. It's supposed to get under your skin slowly like Carnival of Souls or Deathdream or something like that.

 

[Radioman970]

I've watched the Jessica DVD twice since this thread. Atmospherically (if that's a word) strong. I quite like it. But I'm resurrecting this thread for this bit of bad news...Count Justin has been arrested on charges of child molestation that happened back in 1976.


Yep, he's creepier looking now than he was then.

There goes the last happy piece of the horror-movie-loving part of my childhood. :frowning:

Mainly this is for Paul, the only other person I've tracked down who was a fan of the show too.

The story...

http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/8379777.html

http://www.wrdw.com/crimeteam12/headlines/8610382.html

 

[Paul_Scott]

hey James.I was waxing nostalgic a couple months back and googled the counts name. I found a great write-up on a site dedicated to horror show hosts, with some input and recollections from Meloan himself. I was just tickled to read it.But then my search turned up an ominous sounding link from the Agusta tv station and I knew it either would turn out to be an obit or an arrest for something exactly like what it turned out to be. I thought of Pm'ing you or posting the news here...but I actually thought it might be better to preserve your innocence until you found out yourself...if you ever didit sounds selfish and petty...but like it was for you I' m sure, the count and Shock Theater was a sweet little slice of my monsterkid childhood ...which made this news even worse than an obit.looking back now, I wonder if my child minds eye was actually divining Meloans 'true creep potential' and if it was that aspect, as much or more than the campy nature of his intros, that so fascinated me.

 

[Radioman970]

I did discover another online friend (who posts on rottentomatoes.com) who remembered the show as well. In fact, he remembered some of the other hosts of kid's shows on the Augusta stations, like Terry Sams (Trooper Terry) who I saw once at a convience store my sister worked at in the mid 80s. He stopped in, bought a huge amount of beer/cigarettes and left. My sister said he comes in almost every night for the same thing. Scary.

I truly felt I lost something when my mom brought this to my attention. She was just wondering if I'd like her to keep the newspaper the story was in. She's actually the one who told me to watch Shock Theater all those years ago when I told her I was too afraid. I'm like you, an obit would've been sad but it wouldn't hurt some much. And there are children who are adults now and they must be scarred as well. I couldn't imagine them having to live with that for 30 years.

I'd always felt Count Justin was more like an uncle trying to be scary but not really being so. Btw, I just "got" his name yesterday. After 30 years. Count Justin Sane. I was not a smart kid. Heh!

 

[TonyD]

well i'm bringing this back up because i just watched the movie.

let's scare jessica to death?
i expected a movie that was like don't be afraid of the dark.
this wasnt it.
the movie was pretty silly to me.

i know some of you guys really like the movie, thats fine.

i just didnt like it at all.
spoilers.
.
.
.
.


ok so i guess i gave up on it when the old photo appeared and the red head was in the photo and no one noticed untill nearly the end of the movie.

the end was just eh.
nothing caused me a feeling of dread or fear.

she "hooked" that guy to death and then she just, what..took a nap?

by the way what movie is TCM?

 

[Greg_S_H]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

After all this time, the thread title should be corrected. Posivie.

 

[Radioman970]

Tony, you have to admit it does create a nice atmosphere, even if the payoff is weak. For me, that atmosphere (and a huge amount of nostalgia, luckily) is what drives it. I've only watched it once since buying it but had a ball seeing it again. I felt the actress playing the woman just out of the asylum was excellent and her "voices" were pretty damn eery.

I can actually buy it if some people don't look at the picture too well. The crazy woman did but she could've thought she was just seeing things.

 

[TonyD]

i really prefer this type of horror flick to the blood and guts stuff.
this one just didnt pull me in.

 

[Radioman970]

Are you into B-movies? I am, and it even works for me on that level. But I don't have a problem with that fact the film doesn't work for many.

 

[The Drifter]

I first saw a portion of Let's Scare Jessica to Death on late-night TV sometime in the latter '80's. I specifically remember the scenes of Jessica running outside the house, as if she was going insane - very creepy - and, even though I didn't see the whole film, it stayed with me for a long time afterwards.

However, it wasn't until I first saw the film in it's entirety on DVD (back in the 200X's) that I realized how truly great this movie was. Incredible, and very effective in creating an unnerving atmosphere & tension, without any blood/gore/guts. The storyline involving a woman (Jessica) who was already in a fragile emotional state (i.e., possibly recovering from a nervous breakdown); the rural, somewhat isolated setting; old house; mysterious red-headed beautiful hippy woman, and unfriendly/hostile townspeople were all perfect. The editing was also extremely effective in this film.

Spoiler: SPOILER

I suspect the red-headed woman (that they found squatting in the house in the beginning) was a kind of vampire, that was somehow "feeding" off of/subjugating the elderly townspeople - and that she had been doing this for over a hundred years.

The final scene of Jessica, sitting alone on the boat (in the middle of lake) was both unnerving & sad....and a perfect way to end the film.

Glad I finally got the film for a good price @ Big Lots years ago. I'm still pleasantly surprised that I was able to find such an obscure title at a store like BL.