Production and Style
The film was shot in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The village of Chester was used, as was the Chester–Hadlyme Ferry crossing the Connecticut River. Tonally similar to Rosemary's Baby and The Haunting, the film tells its story from the vantage point of a female protagonist of doubtful sanity, and emphasizes story and atmosphere rather than excessive gore and violence. Moreover, like its precedents, it ends ambiguously, inviting viewers to draw their own conclusions.
Mariclare Costello was so loath to perform the scene in which her character kills Jessica's pet mole that she hid on the set when it was time to shoot.
When Costello sings a folk song in Jessica's kitchen, the director and producers considered dubbing her voice with that of a professional singer. However, they later decided to keep Costello's voice as it was recorded.
Though it made little impact during its theatrical release, the film later became a cult favorite on late night TV.
Read more about this topic: Let's Scare Jessica To Death
Famous quotes containing the words production and/or style:
“The problem of culture is seldom grasped correctly. The goal of a culture is not the greatest possible happiness of a people, nor is it the unhindered development of all their talents; instead, culture shows itself in the correct proportion of these developments. Its aim points beyond earthly happiness: the production of great works is the aim of culture.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“On the first days, like a piece of music that one will later be mad about, but that one does not yet distinguish, that which I was to love so much in [Bergotte’s] style was not yet clear to me. I could not put down the novel that I was reading, but I thought that I was only interested in the subject, as in the first moments of love when one goes every day to see a woman at some gathering, or some pastime, by the amusements to which one believes to be attracted.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)