Director: Eric Pennycoff
Script: Eric Pennycoff
Cast: Graham Skipper, Jeremy Gardner, Taylor Gardner, Rigo Garry
Running time: 82 minutes
Year: 2022
Certificate: 18
David, a Catholic priest, leads a tiny congregation, one which produces very little funding for his church. He lives on his own in his dead mother’s house, her stern portrait looking on in seeming disapproval, despite his religious vocation, chastity and careful stewardship of her property and ashes.
One day, following another poorly attended service, David (Graham Skipper) discovers a man sleeping on a pew at the back of the church. After asking the man, Terry (Jeremy Gardner), to leave the church David later encounters him outside, clearly in distress, not being able to get hold of his girlfriend who was going to give him a lift home. Feeling that he should play the ‘good Samaritan’ David offers Terry a lift home, but when they arrive Terry’s partner has already thrown all of his stuff out onto the lawn, thereby making Terry homeless. Not a great prospect with snow on the ground and below freezing temperatures. Once again David steps up as the good Christian and offers Terry a place to stay the night, a decision he’ll later come to regret.
What follows is a black comedy whereby Terry slowly ingratiates himself into David’s lonely, chaste life, becoming a human parasite that leeches off the humble priest, especially when he also brings over his goby girlfriend, Lexi (Taylor Gardner), to stay. As the two ‘cuckoos’ becomes more entwined in David’s life, blackmailing him to keep them on, it becomes apparent that things aren’t going to end well for anyone. Especially since David has come to the conclusion that he needs to convert the couple into the ways of Christianity, whatever the cost.
Inspired by films like Pacific Heights and his own musings concerning squatter’s rights and the human condition in general, director Eric Pennycoff has created something of an oddity, a religiously bent, comedy horror, one that’s very much concerned with ripping open the hypocrisies of society and examining the darker side of the human psyche. While it’s more horror than comedy The Leech is still quite funny in places, although some of the humour is more American Pie than clever satire.
Starting off steadily, in slow-burn mode, The Leech ups it’s pacing past the half-way mark, all the while building up momentum right until the weird and slightly trippy conclusion. The film has more gravitas than it really should have due to its solid and game cast who all imbue their characters with a certain degree of depth. Unfortunately, Rigo, who plays the priest’s sometime assistance is clearly struggling to make much of an impact, hence is easily forgotten about.
One of the film’s biggest failings is the technical matter of sometimes having the background music overshadowing the dialogue – there were a few times I was struggling to hear what was said due to overly loud background music. However, for the most part The Leech rises above its obviously lower end budget constraints and becomes something with much more potential.
The Leech is being distributed by Arrow Video on Blu-ray. There are a number of extras on the disc including:
Director and producer commentary – An audio track with director Eric Pennycoff and producer Scott Smith. This is an engaging commentary that’s quite interesting for filmmakers since much of it is quite technical, with the duo discussing how certain shots were set up (the opening shot was the most complicated, apparently) and how they got round their general lack of kit – they had minimal lighting, for example.
Chattanooga commentary with cast and director – Relating to the Cattanooga film festival, where the film played, actor Graham Skipper is particularly good value with his anecdotes about the cold shoot. Apparently, the organisation who owned the church they used in the film was under the belief that the filmmakers were making a serious documentary!
Chattanooga Q & A with cast and director (34 mins) – This was done over Zoom, but is still an engaging discussion. We learn that the cast and crew all lived in the house they used to shoot in (it was shot during Covid, over 15 days), that the house is haunted, that the director is a lapsed catholic and that the couple in the film are a couple in real life too.
Parasites in the oven (25 mins) – A visual essay by Anton Biel discussing the director’s career – for example, he made a short (The Pod) prior to making The Leech and also made one of the episodes (M is for mariachi) for the ABCs of Death anthology film.
The voice of reason (14.5 min) – An interview with writer/director Eric Pennycoff and actor Graham Skipper where the two insist that the film is not anti-religious and that Covid actually brought out the best in people when it came to making the film.
Frightfest (2022) intro and Q & A (19 mins) – Here the filmmakers talk about their influences (Exorcist 3, The Devils), how they didn’t bother with shot-lists (they wanted a reality TV feel to proceedings) and reveal that the priest’s mum’s portrait was actual painted by a tattoo artist.
The Making of The Leech (14.5 mins) – Lots of behind-the-scenes footage, showing lights being set up and make-up applied, etc.
Early short films – Unfortunate (10.5 mins) – a boyfriend disappears in this B & W short; The Pod (11 mins) – a lone space traveller, Eugene, has a few issues with his Pod and on-board computer; Phase II (4 mins) – B & W focussing on a preacher at an altar.
Trailer (1.12 mins) – This gives very little away about the film itself
Film intros (10 secs each) with the director and the main actor, Graham Skipper
