The Leech Woman
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| The Leech Woman | |
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| File:Theleechwoman1.jpg
Original film poster
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| Directed by | Edward Dein |
| Produced by | John Greshenson |
| Written by | Story: Ben Pivar Francis Rosenwald Screenplay: David Duncan |
| Starring | Grant Williams Coleen Gray Phillip Terry Gloria Talbott John van Dreelen Estelle Hemsley Kim Hamilton Arthur Batanides |
| Music by | Irving Gertz Uncredited: Hans J. Salteri Henry Vars |
| Cinematography | Ellis W. Carter |
| Edited by | Milton Carruth |
| Distributed by | Universal-International |
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Release dates
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May 1960 |
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Running time
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77 min. |
| Country | United States |
The Leech Woman is a 1960 American horror film directed by Edward Dein.
Plot
A mysterious old woman named Malla (Estelle Hemsley) who claims to have been brought to America 140 years ago by Arab slavers approaches endocrinologist Dr. Paul Talbot (Phillip Terry) and promises to reveal to him the secret of eternal youth.
Following her back to Africa, he and his aging, unhappy wife June (Coleen Gray) witness a secret ceremony of the Nando tribe that utilizes orchid pollen and a male victim's pineal gland secretions extracted from the back of the neck via a special ring to temporarily transform Malla once more into a young and beautiful girl (Kim Hamilton).
After discovering her conniving husband only brought her along as a test subject, June steals the ring and escapes back to the United States alone where, pretending to be her own 'niece' Terry Hart, she proceeds to keep herself young by killing men for their pineal extract.
She quickly becomes enamored with her lawyer Neil Foster (Grant Williams), a man half her actual age, and kills his jealous fiancee Sally (Gloria Talbott), both to maintain her youthful appearance and to eliminate the competition.
When the cops come to investigate the murders, however, June discovers she is aging rapidly due to using female pineal secretions instead of male and kills herself by leaping from a window.
Production
Universal produced this low budget film because they needed a second feature to play as a double feature with the U.S release The Brides of Dracula.[1] Stars Coleen Gray and Phillip Terry were so into their performances as a feuding couple that they didn't even get along off-camera either.[2]
The film's working title was "The Leech".[3] According to contemporary reviews, the filmmakers mixed stock footage of African wildlife and tribal dances with scenes shot in the studio.[4]
Legacy
This film was parodied on the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000, as well as parodied on Svengoolie.
References
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Leech Woman |
