The same year Batman brought aggressive comic strip style to American TV viewers, Czech audiences were treated to another variation on the same idea with the wild, reality-bending comedy Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (Kdo chce zabít Jessii?), the debut feature for director Václav Vorlíček (Three Wishes for Cinderella) and screenwriter Miloš Macourek (Four Murders Are Enough, Darling) who went on to more sublime films together like The Girl on the Broomstick. As with pretty much every Czechoslovak film of its era (New Wave or otherwise in this case), this one has had political interpretations made about it over the years including an obvious disdain for state control of individual will -- though you can also just watch it as a giddy, slap-happy farce with speech bubbles and other stylistic flourishes popping up at regular intervals.

Shot in beautiful black-and-white scope, our story follows the pandemonium unleashed when researcher Dr. Ruzenka Beránková (Medrická) develops a breakthrough using injections and video screens initially tested on cows that can control and improve the quality of dreams for a more contented existence. She decides this might be the perfect thing to use on her scientist husband, Jindrich (Sovák), who is fixated on comic book character Jessie and her anti-gravitational gloves he wants to bring to reality for his job. However, the experiment has a crazy consequence: Jessie (Schoberová) manifests in the real world along with two fellow characters, a cowboy (Effa) and musclebound superhero (Višný). All of this serves to demonstrate exactly what would happen if characters like this existed in the real world, and it's quite a sight to behold as the line between fantasy and reality becomes essentially nonexistent.

Visually inventive and quite clever in its use of aesthetic comic elements (with speech bubbles interacting surprisingly with the action), Who Wants to Kill Jessie? packs a lot into its swift running time. Whether you're in the mood for a playful tweak on pulp conventions or an absurdist slice of social satire, it's a zippy good time that keeps surprising you at every turn. The film has remained a cult favorite among those exposed to its unique wavelength including a very well-received run at some repertory screenings in the early '00s including multiple ones from the American Cinematheque. A so-so bare bones DVD followed in 2006 from Facets, which was watchable enough for the time and taken from an imperfect print. It's also worth noting that some circulating versions of this film anglicize its character names including turning our married leads into Rose and Henry.

After that it was a long period of relative obscurity and unavailability for this film until a much-needed HD restoration was finally undertaken by the Czech National Film Archive, with one of its initial English-friendly appearances coming as a streaming option on Cultpix in 2024. The first Blu-ray appearance came in 2025 from Second Run who added this to their essential roster of Czech classics, featuring the same excellent presentation which features excellent contrast and detail while leaving the deliberately rougher edges of the film's optical effects intact. A new English subtitle translation is provided that seems to be good and accurate, while the LPCM 2.0 Czech mono track is clean and free of any significant issues. A lively 2018 episode of The Projection Booth Podcast is also included as a second track with Mike White, Jim Laczkowski and Jonathan Owen covering the career of the director, the political situation when the film was released, the scrutiny faced by seemingly light and harmless homegrown comedies, and much more. Vorlíček is represented again here with the 1956 short film Directive (Direktiva, 23m38s), a lighthearted but more more overtly political narrative about a music festival that turns out to be a hotbed of twists and drama involving a young married couple, controversial song lyrics, and a participant substitution. Then "Those Crazy Czechs" (47m4s) with Michael Brooke surveys the history of outlandish Czech comedies starting with the gateway film for many U.K. audiences, Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea, before diving into the traits of the major films including Lemonade Joe and I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen as well as the major directors and actors who brought these bizarre daydreams to life for audiences who may not have been familiar with all the pop culture elements being referenced. Also included is an insert booklet with a new essay by Jonathan Owen laying out the circumstances of this film's genesis, the backgrounds of its first-time filmmakers, and its place in the Czechoslovak canon at a high point in the country's cinematic history.

Reviewed on September 9, 2025