Review of The Leech Woman (1960) by Ashwini G — 07 Aug 2009
Women either look 20 or 120. If the former, they reduce men men into groveling, slobbering fools, ready to throw everything they hold dear for a night of passion. If the latter, they are to be pitied as objects of disgust, and only two courses are open to the man who is unfortunate enough to be married to one of them or to be the victim of her advances: either to run away as fast as he can, or to treat her like the repugnant creature she is until he has found a medical cure for her horrible condition and can make her look 20 again.
Such is the profound message of this film, a variant on the old myth of the succubus ("she drained men of their loves and lives!" says the poster) that very thinly allegorises our culture's perception of the impermanence of female beauty (and I don't think things have got better since 1960, as more and more "mature" women try to compete with the ruling lolitas by turning into high-tech leeches.).
The MST3K commentary on this one has quite a few great lines: "We'd better camp here. The next stock footage is 80 miles away"; "Is this your bag? Brown with the pineal juice dripping?" and "This is the 50's. Why am I explaining things to a woman? Get in the car!".
By the way, Coleen Gray is still alive today, having reached the ripe old age of 87. Maybe they left her keep the rest of the pineal juice.
This review of The Leech Woman (1960) was written by Ashwini G on 07 Aug 2009.
The Leech Woman has generally received negative reviews.
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