Poor Jessica, she just got released from a four month stay at a mental institution and she ain't feeling so great. I guess riding around in a hearse and making crafty tombstone rubbings on tissue paper isn't as therapeutic as you'd think. ZOHRA LAMPERT not to be confused with TYNE DALY stars as the twitchy title character in this spooky and subtle sleeper. She along with her long-suffering husband BARTON HAEYMAN from THE EXORCIST have just escaped the chaos of New York and bought a beautiful house in the New England countryside. They've even brought along a bug eyed walrus-faced pal named Woody to help with the apple orchard. Yes, all Jessica needs is a little fresh air and some peace and quiet and maybe she'll stop having those nasty audio and visual hallucinations. When they arrive at what is referred to ominously as, "The old Bishop place" they find an ethereal red headed squatter named Emily. You can tell this film takes place in the seventies because instead of shooting her in the face and calling the cops, they invite her to stick around, drink some wine and play MELANIE type songs on her guitar. Inevitably hubby and hottie hippy chick share horny glances and Jessica begins her nosedive into full blown madness. You'll be right there with her because the most impressive thing about this movie is that it locks you into it's unreliable narrator's head and it does not let you go. There's a near constant clammer of subtle and not so subtle sounds, creakings, moanings, whispering voices, some are Jessica's "Don't tell them, they won't believe you!" and some are not, "I'm in your blood!" There's also an overwhelming sense of internal isolation that brings to mind CHARLOTTE GILMAN's famous short story THE YELLOW WALLPAPER. The plot is as evasive as a wraith. It goes from psychological thriller to ghost story to vampire tale and back again and it's impossible to put your thumb down on what's really going on. Unlike most films where the audience is asked to view things miles ahead of its protagonists, you never have any more information then Jessica does. We begin and end our story with Jessica floating in a small boat pondering what she has experienced– "Nightmares or dreams, madness or insanity, I don't know which is which…" Don't be surprised if by film's end you wind up in the same perplexing boat.
INDELIBLE SCENE(S):
- The mute waif roaming the woods
- Murder of the mole!
- Emily coming out of the water
- Discovering Woody on the tractor
- Waking up encircled by the creepy, scarred townsfolk
I remember as a young'n waking up ALONE in the living room when this movie was on……….the scene in the pond really freaked me out!*
*I also found myself alone sometime later on when Burnt Offerings was showing. Same effect.
I watched this late-night as a child and remember being really frightened by it. My husband and I watched it last night. He had never seen it before and I didn't know if it would hold up to my childhood memory. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I still found it frightening and my husband agreed. Of course, there were things to make fun of like the mustached friend and the jam session in the kitchen, but overall I think it is excellent.
I must be the only person who doesn't like this movie. Only the scene where Emily comes out of the water had any effect on me. I didn't care for the plot or feel for Jessica at all. But people do seem to love it.
This wasn't only the first horror film I saw in a theater, it was the first film I saw in a theater period. I was *six*. My older teenage sister took me, and caught hell for it.
The white arms reaching under the water, the creepy townspeople, the final attack on the water, and the overall dreamlike, foggy feel all made a huge impression on me, and they still work.