This is a nice, quirky film from the 70s. It’s a look at the binaries of madness and sanity, dreams and nightmares. There’s not much here for a modern viewer to be thrilled by, but it is a compelling look at the thin line that divides the sane from the crazy.
How to survive a horror movie...clue #1...run away from women who walk out of lakes wearing vintage wedding dresses...especially after you've heard about a woman who was killed before her wedding and they never found the body...I'm just saying!
| The character of Jessica’s initial state is that she is just out of an asylum, so her mental state is already tenuous. She is embarking with her husband and a friend into a new venture of farming and living in a house they bought, but have never seen. Even before they arrive, Jessica is having dreams or visions and hearing voice. She fights it, telling herself they are not real. Jessica has a creepy hobby. She collects tombstone rubbings. Really has nothing to do with the plot, but more to do with her character. She’s drawn to the odd. | 
How to survive a horror movie...clue #2...Stay away from people who look like creepy people in old photos graphs!
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How to survive a horror ...clue #3...when someone ever says, "Let's have a seance..." JUST SAY NO!
How to survive a Horror movie...clue #4...Don't drive around in a hearse...the creepy townspeople don't like it!
| While classified as a horror movie, this one holds up well enough because it’s so creepy. But how do we characterize Jessica as crazy??? She constantly hears voices, and that is creepy as everything! Since the voices she hears, we also hear, it’s a kind of direct characterization. But the question remains, if she hears them and we hear them…are we crazy too? Hehehe |
How to survive a Horror movie...clue #5...when a creepy mute girl in white you first see in a cemetery shows you a dead body...get out of town! Do not pass GO!
It’s a good film to watch just to get a feel for what it meant to be deranged in the 70s. The very ending is also something that builds to some disturbing images that probably were very frightening in the 70s before we became so desensitized.
Enter the creepy townspeople to talk to you about driving around in that hearse!
