Episode 17: Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971) & Symptoms (1974). Fall into madness.

Welcome to episode 17 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair two films to create something greater than the sum of their parts.

This week we are exploring the horrors of autumn, with a double bill of movies that use the tuning of the seasons as metaphors for the increasingly fragmented psyches of their protagonists.

First up we have Lets Scare Jessica to Death from 1971, then we follow this with Symptoms from 1974

Both movies use the beauty of their respective autumnal landscapes as a serene backdrops for their increasingly nightmarish scenarios. The crisp leaves muted colours and early morning mists of Connecticut in the US and Hillingdon in Great Britain gradually morphing from a place of sanctuary, escape and tranquillity one of slow stultifying death and decay. Released at the start of the 1970s, and with an emphasis on alternative and creative lifestyles, both also can be said to represent the demise of the love generation, as the hope and optimism of flower power gave way to Vietnam, civil unrest and the winter of discontent.

Sources:

House of Psychotic Women by Kier La Janisse

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/death-of-the-60s-dream-1969/

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/did-the-sixties-dream-die-in-1969?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert

https://sfist.com/2017/03/02/what_was_the_summer_of_love_an_expl/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Love

Hancock on Hancock by John Hancock

Imprint blu ray special edition of lets Scare Jessica to Death (special features)

https://screenanarchy.com/2006/10/interview-with-director-john-hancock.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Scare_Jessica_to_Death

BFI blu ray special edition of Symptoms (special features)

English Gothic by Jonathan Rigby

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