The Leech Woman (1960)

User Rating:

3.8/10   

Director:

Edward Dein

Writers:

David Duncan (writer)
Ben Pivar (story)

Release Date:

May 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Forever young! Forever deadly! She lived off the life blood of male victims!

Plot:

When a very old African woman offers an ambitious endocrinologist the secret of eternal youth, he decides...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Africa | Eternal Youth | Doctor | Rejuvenation

Cast

Coleen Gray	...	June Talbot
Grant Williams	...	Neil Foster
Phillip Terry	...	Dr. Paul Talbot
Gloria Talbott	...	Sally Howard
John Van Dreelen	...	Bertram Garvay
Estelle Hemsley	...	Old Malla
Kim Hamilton	...	Young Malla
Arthur Batanides	...	Jerry Lando

Also Known As:

Leech (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (Certificate #19277) | Finland:(Banned) (1960) | USA:Not Rated (DVD)

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

Universal (then Universal-International) made this low budget horror film because they needed a second feature to play with their U.S. release of the Hammer production The Brides of Dracula (1960).

Goofs:

Factual errors: During the ceremony of making the women young again, the process of tapping the pineal gland for hormones involves stabbing the sacrifice at the back of the neck with a short sharp instrument. The pineal gland is actually located deep within the brain.

Quotes:

Old Malla: You will never escape me, you are the one in my dreams of blood!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (#9.12)" (1997)

A stiff neck, puberty, and the old woman next door.

I remember watching "The Leech Woman" when I was twelve years old. There is something absolutely terrifying about this movie, but yes I agree it isn't Oscar caliber. For a movie made back in 1960 I don't think it's that awful. (Ever mindful that another movie one year later came out called "Psycho") There is something sensual in the way men and women are punctured in the back of the neck and then their blood is consumed by a woman. Or perhaps at twelve my testosterone was starting to make itself known. I vividly remember the very end of the movie with Colleen Gray laying flat on her back looking like some old tattered witch. It terrified me. Know why? Because the old woman that lived next door to us looked very similar! For a long time after seeing this movie I went outside wearing a turtle neck sweater!

Not a great movie but certainly not as bad as others .