The Leech Woman

"The Leech Woman" is a film that's a lot better than its title. Coleen Gray plays the older wife of Phillip Terry, a doctor who's been experimenting with various mixtures in order to find the fountain of youth. The acting is quite good by a group of old pros, and the film throws in about everything: the older woman/younger man plot twist, alcoholism, tribal rituals, emotional abuse, love triangles, several murders, smart-mouthed cops, journeys into darkest Africa, revenge and betrayal, explosions, quicksand...well, you get the idea. Gray does quite well with a difficult role, with fine support from Terry, Grant Williams, Kim Hamilton, and Gloria Talbott. I thought the ending was a little weak, but otherwise it's an entertaining take on an unusual story regarding rejuvenation. Worth catching.

Leech Woman was a great flick,regardless of what anybody says about it.Colleen grays acting was powerful and convincing as the bitter alcoholic wife of an opportunistic rat who wants to use her as a guinea pig for his youth serum experiments.If you ask me colleen should have gotten a face lift instead.And dig that estelle helmsley,she looked like a human prune.Gloria Talbott also added interest to the film as the jealous rival.As for grant williams,he was just a cad,typical easily tempted weak male.To constantly have to kill people with a ring to stay beautiful,what,s wrong with makeup and hair dye? As for colleens killing it was a toss up,some of the people deserved it and some did,nt.

Speedily put into production in order to offer exhibitors a second-feature lure with bookings of The Brides of Dracula, this little movie suffers from a tedious First Act. The initial scenes were obviously designed merely to fill in time, so that latecomers would not feel at any disadvantage. We're told absolutely nothing that doesn't develop later on in the plot. A bit of judicious trimming here would do wonders. And in any event, Coleen Gray doesn't seem nearly old enough in these early scenes to make her motives credible. Fortunately, she is marvelously made-up later on—and in these sequences she also gives by far the best performance of her career.

Despite Dein's flat-footed direction and the obvious constraints and inhibitions imposed by a tight "B" budget, interest is kept at a high level in the last half of the movie not only by Gray's forceful portrayal (and the skillful way she is lit and make-up) but by some neat yet unexpected plot twists

Alas, the film cheats on special effects, the transformations being accomplished without camera trickery in a most tame and disappointing manner.

Nonetheless, although horror devotees will find the going pretty dull until the halfway mark, the movie does eventually hit its stride. In fact, I'd describe it as a key item for any keen fan's personal collection.

I sat down to watch this movie expecting to see a woman with a big rubber leech head chasing people around but it turns out Leech Woman offers something slightly more sophisticated. The story is that a scientist and his estranged wife head off to Africa to search for the fabled elixir of hokum which turns women young again. Obviously these days it would be a waste of time because every second advert I see for toothpaste or shampoo offers time renewal, time protection and suchlike whatever that means.

One thing I liked about this movie was the way that every single character is awful in some way. There's a good story though it is a bit slow to start with. Some viewers have moaned about the rather obvious stock footage but anyone who is a fan of movies of this era will recognise it as just par for the course on a quick cheapie like this.

Give it a try, despite the tacky name it's quite a good story and worth a watch.

While traveling through the African wilderness, an aging woman discovers the secret of youth, but she will have to kill to stay young.

A clever story and an outstanding performance from Coleen Gray uplifts this old B thriller. You've gotta give Leech Woman a little more credit for being a drive-in movie from the late 50's that doesn't rely upon some 'monster' to drive it. Leech Woman is instead a more thoughtful thriller that examines a woman's desperation. It's low budget indeed, but does have some decent makeup FX, a nice music score, and a better-than-average cast to hold it together.

** 1/2 out of ****