Monday, January 24, 2011

Mariclare Costello
"Stay Forever, My Love"

Mariclare Costello
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
feature film
(Paramount Pictures, 1971)


Today's entry is a beautiful folk song from my all-time favorite horror movie, Let's Scare Jessica to Death. It's sung by Emily (played by Mariclare Costello), a squatter the titular Jessica finds living in the old house she and husband Duncan have just bought and are preparing to make their home.

The song was written for the movie, and that's Mariclare herself singing it. The low drone that joins in is Duncan accompanying her on the double bass, as he's a (former?) musician with the New York Philharmonic. The scene switches back and forth from the kitchen to the hallway, so I've taken the liberty of adjusting the volume in sections to keep it as consistent as possible. There's a bit of dialog interspersed, as well, but I have no way of scrubbing that. The scene itself is below the jump, if you'd like to watch it.

3 biased opinions:

VirginiaM said...

Now you've done it. I won't be happy until you've featured the actual true very best horror film doomed-heroine warble: "Words Get Stuck in My Throat" from Gargantua.

Lightning Baltimore said...

Be careful what you wish for . . .

Ambassador MAGMA said...

Damn, just saw this for the first time a few weeks ago! What an amazing film. It is definitely one of the greatest psychological horror films ever made, and definitely the best acting in any horror film.

Perhaps the bad title is why it is not more well known?