THE LEECH WOMAN (1960)

It’s difficult to explain why I have real affection for THE LEECH WOMAN (1960). It is easily one of the weakest of Universal Internationals' sad late 50’s horror thrillers with a retread story and set-bound look. It’s silly, derivative and the details of the plot are so obvious that you can predict nearly every action minutes before they occur onscreen. So, what is it that has made me watch this movie half a dozen times over the years? The characters!

This movie accomplishes what I think was not possible in a film of this type until the late 1950’s. There is not a single likeable or even semi-likeable person in this story. Not one! Everyone either starts out as a despicable scumbag or is eventually revealed to be one as the story plays out. It’s incredible!

It was only in the 50’s that some science fiction and horror films were starting to be aimed at a more mature audience. The Hollywood horror product of the 1940’s war years was gauged for a younger crowd as escapist monster tales suitable for kids. But after this infantilizing of much of the genre the 1950’s had ushered in higher minded adult stories that could be better enjoyed by older audiences. Of course, not every production had a huge budget to swing around for creating nifty effects or believable creatures. Some had to rely on mature themes and, just as is true now, that meant melodrama and/or sex. This being the 1950’s melodrama was easier to add but if you were crafty sex could spice things up pretty well too.

Enter THE LEECH WOMAN (1960)! The central horror of this tale is the awful specter of old age. Well – old age for women. As the movie lays out very clearly, old age for men brings a distinguished wisdom along with the graying hair. But women become hideous monsters subject only for pity and derision! They are horrible harridans hobbling around making demands of the virile men in their lives who are simply attempting to accomplish great things and breed with younger, prettier women. At least, that’s the picture this film paints. Needless to say, I find this entirely entertaining. Rarely has a low budget horror film so perfectly captured the patronizing attitudes toward older women in service of a ridiculous story. Because not only the men but the women hold these backward beliefs! The film repeatedly demonstrates the disgust of everyone for elderly women and it is the bedrock of the entire plot. The main male character is striving to find a way to become rich by reversing the aging process; the central female character wishes to be young looking again to keep her slightly younger husband attracted to her; and the old lady that set things in motion needs money to return to her native African village so she can restore her youth for an end of life bacchanal. Good lord! Why don’t all these people kill themselves at the age of thirty to avoid the hell of middle age?

So, yes - THE LEECH WOMAN (1960) is a completely insane film. Although it integrates its jungle stock footage much better than most movies of the time it never fools anyone into thinking that everything we see isn't on a stage. And while I am impressed that the film actually treats the African characters with more respect than average even casting actual black people in the roles instead of black faced white dudes, they are still presented as ignorant savages. But the reason I am fascinated with the film is that it takes a standard societal attitude of the times and blows it out to create a story that either illustrates the idea perfectly or displays it for mockery. And I can’t decide which of these two choices the filmmakers were aiming for! Were they so immersed in the belief that old women are useless hags that it seemed like a natural jumping off point for a story or did they want to point out the horrors of such a view of life? I don’t know but I suspect I have put more thought into this than anyone involved in the film’s production. This is my curse.

My most recent time through the film (on Blu-Ray, no less!) I was paying attention to the characters again. I was sure that there had to be at least one person in this nasty tale that came off as likeable in some way. And I thought I had someone pegged as the one that was going to hold her head up and exit this sordid mess with dignity intact. The doctor’s secretary seemed like a perfectly nice young woman with no real personality flaws. And then she pulled a gun threatening another woman with death if she didn’t leave town and keep her hands off her fiancé! Insane! Everyone in this movie is one jealous or greedy moment away from violence or murder and that is why it fascinates me. It’s like watching a pit of trapped vipers fight each other. I’m entranced watching their sad struggle to come out on top and escape across the lip of that trap as they keep pulling each other back into hell. Probably not everyone’s idea of a fun night’s viewing.