Review of The Leech Woman (1960) by Alex S — 25 Apr 2011

I kept waiting for a gal I used to date to show up in this but it never happened. Never mind this came out in 1960 and I wasn't even born for another 25 years - it could have been some sort of apocryphal warning committed to film for me.

In reality, that's not the case but this also manages that rare feat of being that movie that's not quite as atrocious as some would say, but it no way is it one you must track down immediately or your life will never be complete.

Back when Universal was cranking out those monster movies, they had more than their fair share of hits, along with even more misses. And while this is a definite miss and we would never go on with the viewing possibilities of "Frankenstein vs.

The Leech Woman," it still hat its moments if you can look past the fact that no one in it is likable or can act. We have our titular woman who journeys with her overtly standoffish husband to Africa on a safari to discover the secret to eternal youth.

Turns out it involves removing the pineal gland from a still-living human but nothing will stand in the way of our (anti)heroine's quest for looking great and not like a leathery bag of laundry someone beat with a stick (it should actually be noted that the makeup effects for her rapidly degenerating appearance are quite good for the time).

The body count rises as loved ones are offed, strangers meet their doom and just when it looks like things are going to get even crazier, well, they do, but at least more characters are introduced in the final 15 minutes and one of them has all the makings of your best high school student theatre performer delivering what they think is the monologue of a lifetime.

Hard to take seriously but even harder to not find something redeeming among the mess.