The Leech (2022) User Reviews

5,8/10. Watchable but not recommended

[athanasiosze · 6/10 · 9 November 2022]

I like Jeremy Gardner. He is the director of two good horror movies, BATTERY (2012) and AFTER MIDNIGHT (2019). I like the later even more, even though it is not a traditional horror movie, it's weird, with offbeat comedic vibes.

THE LEECH is even weirder. Acting is good. JG is a good actor, too. This movie kept my interest until the end. Slow to start but in the end, all hell breaks loose. I expected it to be funnier, i thought it was a comedy-horror. Whereas there are indeed some funny scenes, i wouldn't categorise it as comedy-horror. This is a strange indie horror movie, way darker than it seems at the start.

I can't rate it higher because it made me feel uncomfortable and not in a good way. There are many movies that make you feel uncomfortable and i, usually, enjoy this feeling, but i didn't enjoy much this one. I can't explain it further because i don't wanna give a spoil. For sure, it was a hell of a ride, and if you wanna watch a really weird horror movie that does not hold back, you will probably enjoy it. I didn't, therefore, i can't recommend it.

A Dark Christmas Comedy, About The Downfall Of A Once Devout Priest.

[meddlecore · 6/10 · 24 December 2022]

A devout priest with a dwindling congregation is faced with a chance to put his words into action, when he finds a down and out man sleeping in one of the pews after mass.

Sensing the priest to be a do-gooder, the man cons his way into his home, before having his girlfriend pretend to be pregnant, in order to do the same.

However, their debaucherous lifestyle takes a toll on the poor priest, as they begin to gaslight, and attempt to blackmail him.

This pushes him down a dark path, that has him leaving the people he has truly been helping behind, and hallucinating that he has manifested an evil presence into his life.

Which is when things start to take a weird, almost psychedelic...and violent...turn.

One from which there will be no going back.

What starts out as a horror-comedy, of sorts, definitely ends off on a more dark angle.

Despite the fact that they try to keep things light-hearted throughout.

The concept explored here is really quite simple, yet well executed.

With some really solid acting from all involved.

While certainly not your typical Christmas themed horror film, it certainly is rather entertaining.

With two of the five actors in the film, also playing roles in the equally entertaining Christmas Bloody Christmas.

I'm not exactly sure what the relationship between the crews responsible for those two films is, but there certainly seems to be something there.

Either way, however, this is certainly worth a watch if you are looking for a dark comedy to entertain you this Christmas.

Perhaps make it a double feature.

You won't be disappointed.

6 out of 10.

An enjoyable enough time with a few minor detriments

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 6/10 · 8 December 2022]

After taking in a homeless man, a priest's invitation to have him stay during the holiday season descends into chaos when the homeless man and his girlfriend move in and turn his life upside down, sending him on a downward spiral that will test his faith like never before.

Overall, this one had its moments, but it does fall flat at points. The main aspect of this one is the highly enjoyable sense of characterization that takes place here where the slow corruption that takes place becomes painfully obvious. Seeing how he starts off as the righteous and straightlaced preacher that tends to use religious anecdotes to genuinely help others and be a better person which becomes tested in the greatest tradition and sets things up nicely going forward. The comedic undertones present in the means through which they start to test his limits upon first arriving with their constant indulges in vice, tempting him through alcohol or debaucherous sex, and flat-out rejecting his pious designs on their lives that gives way to a frenetic and otherworldly second half where the extravagant visuals are utilized at their best point. That still doesn't save the film from having a rather slow and almost unworthy build up until that point where the film attempts to set him on this path of corruption through generally non-horrific means. With the majority of the focus here on their uncouth behavior with wanton language, alcohol use, sexual deviance, and otherwise just generally acting in as non-Christian of a manner as they can around him that causes the priest to slip into the muck with them, the horror tone is somewhat missing for the vast majority of these scenes with the attempts offering more of a comedy atmosphere. Considering how all of this comes across with very little interaction or change in tone, the potential is there for this to be a bland time without much let-up which thankfully is the only real issue with the film.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, sexual themes, and Violence.

Muddled Pseudo-Intellectual "Message"

[thalassafischer · 2/10 · 17 February 2024]

It's very clear that a non-religious person wrote this film and that they take a dim view of priests, and all of that would be fine if they had something intelligent to say.

Instead, an extremely far-fetched narrative takes place that is so thin only the worst demographic of horror fans could find it redemptive. David is a humble priest who struggles to keep his small town and nearly empty church afloat. Here's the thing - Catholic priests are pretty much NEVER this isolated. The Roman Catholic Church is a huge organization and some may dismiss its bureaucracy as less than spiritual, but in fact it serves a very moral purpose: to keep priests from turning into Evangelical cult leaders or tv preachers, the level of education and social system inherent to Roman Catholicism would render this entire movie utterly implausible. Really, David should have been an Evangelical or Baptist preacher, but then the pseudo-intellectual who came up with this mean-spirited film couldn't make him "bad" because he's a celibate closeted homosexual instead of a married man.

Isolated and deeply religious, all it takes are a few drinks with a deranged homeless couple to whom he naively offers shelter to turn him into a schizophrenic severe alcoholic and mass murderer.

It's so far-fetched, it's so so bad....the homeless people are also depicted so meanly, so cruelly, like a stereotype of what a conservative jerk thinks a homeless person is - rude, entitled, stupid, addicted to drugs, and utterly corrupt.

It's just a bad movie. I waited for it to get better or redeem itself and no it was just an excuse for an angry atheist to use a mediocre religious backdrop in a violent low budget flick.

Wow...

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 24 June 2022]

Father David (Graham Skipper, the director of Sequence Break) is a devout priest who has never missed a Mass, never eaten meat on a Good Friday and never misses the opportunity to speak on God's love, including when he invites Terry (Jeremy Gardner, the director of After Midnight and the man who told his mother not to watch this movie) and Lexi (Taylor Zaudtke, Gardner's real life wife) to stay during the holidays.

It starts as a simple act of kindness and nothing can go wrong, right? But throw in a game of never have I ever, then have a good man -- in his head if perhaps not as much in his heart -- get tempted and things are ready to go off the rails.

Director and writer Eric Pennycoff also made Sadistic Intentions, which starred Gardner and Zaudtke, and he puts together a movie with a small cast, a smart script and a mix of madness and black humor as the priest finds himself in a place -- and perhaps a position -- that he had never prepared for.

I also loved Rigo Garay, who plays RIgo the organ player, perhaps the only character brave enough to tell Father David that he hasn't had a parishioner attend Mass in weeks and that he's just been giving sermons to an empty church. But if that's true, who are the prophetic -- and perhaps Satanic -- voices who come to confession? And what's with the young padre's frequent confessions of his own to that horrifying painting?

There's an incredibe moment near the end where an off the deep end Father David throws on his vestment and rants on the altar while arguing with a red lit Terry -- or a vision of him -- before learning that -- and this is the biggest spoiler warning I can give -- that the real Terry has beaten his wife and snorted David's mother's ashes.

I mean, this is a movie that has a priest with his head wrapped up straight out of Threads losing his mind and a last shot that will make you think long after the Christmas carol scored credits run out.

not my cup of tea due a lot of blah blah

[trashgang · 6/10 · 10 December 2022]

Totally blind I went into this flick due the fact that it was on the Bloody-Disguisting list as to see here surrounding Christmas.

Is it a Christmas flick, well, Christmas is all around but no santa or otnher links towards Yuletide. This here is all about a priets helping people and in fact he does help one in particular by taking him home.

From there on this flick turns into a psychological flick. Slowly the priest gets involved into the world of the one staying at his home. Psychological I said which means a lot of blah blah going on. Unfortunaly I'm not into blah blah movies but I myust say this independant flick did well and I stayed watching, must be the performances that attracted me.

Even as it clock in under 90 minutes it takes over half the flick before things go wrong and even then it's the final that turns this one into a weird story.

Well done on part of script but for me personally it was a heavy ride towards the end, due the blah blah. But I do understand that people who dig psychological flicks this is one to watch. I still don't know what really to think about this one. Strill, the flick was a leech for me.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5.

A big dose of deranged Yuletide fun!

[zcastedo-86566 · 8/10 · 12 December 2022]

This was a very entertaining ride with great performances all around! The contrasting personalities of Father David and Terry created some hilarious moments and lots of great tension ("I was just crankin one out!"). I laughed out loud a lot during this! It was a hoot seeing Father David's slow descent into madness and depravity and him trying to save the souls of these two agents of chaos. I loved how Terry and Lexi become this corrupting force in his well-ordered life and bring it all crashing down. Father David's transformation throughout the film is fantastic. His unhinged rant at the midnight mass was a great scene. I loved how the film explored and twisted the theme of "help thy neighbor" in hilarious and dark ways. Overall this was a super entertaining blast of twisted Christmas cinema!

Interesting Character Study with Religion and Christmas

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 9/10 · 9 December 2022]

This is a movie that I heard about thanks to Duncan from the Podcast Under the Stairs. Things he said about this were buzzwords for me, like this being a Christmas horror movie. It also starring Jeremy Gardner and Graham Skipper as well. This went on a list and I was excited to see. I got the chance thanks to Justin Cook who sent over the screener. Jaime also watched this with me as she is a fan of Gardner.

Synopsis: a devout priest welcomes a struggling couple into his house at Christmas time. What begins as a simple act of kindness quickly becomes the ultimate test of faith once the sanctity of his home is jeopardized.

There isn't a lot that I need to expand from that synopsis. Father David (Skipper) is the priest over a struggling parish. There seems to be only a couple of people who attend his sermon when we start this and one of this Rigo (Rigo Garay). We learn later that David helped him when he was found living in a truck stop bathroom. He now helps with the priest. Things change on this Sunday when David wakes up Terry (Gardner) who is sleeping in a pew.

Leaving the church, David overhears Terry trying to get his cellphone to work. David offers him to use his car to charge it. He then gives him a ride to the house of his girlfriend. It appears no one is home. Terry's stuff is also out on the lawn. David then is forced to practice what he preaches and offers his home to Terry to help.

Terry is a rough guy. He smokes, drinks and uses drugs. David wants to help him like he did with Rigo. This is a challenge for him as Terry takes advantage. He tries to secretly move his girlfriend, Lexi (Taylor Zaudtke), in one night. David thinks he knows who she is. There was a woman who gave confession earlier that day, saying they were pregnant and didn't know what to do. David is forced by his conscious to let them stay.

Things are tougher than he expects though as they challenge not only his beliefs but make him question things in his own life. David has taken a vow of celibacy and to not drink in excess. The more they're together, the corruption grows within this priest and things turn violent as Christmas looms.

That is where I'm going to leave my recap for this movie and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I think we are getting a character study of David. We see that he's the priest of a struggling church. I like that he's positive in trying to find ways to build up his congregation. This can be from using Rigo to help with music. He also uses social media to entice the younger generation. It isn't working, but I like that he's using modern attempts to connect with the younger generation, especially since it seems they've fallen out with organized religion. David doesn't seem like a bad guy.

Things change when he meets Terry. He is a corrupting factor here. Terry peer pressures David into doing things like drinking. Lexi to an extent as well. What is interesting is that there is a deeper underlying aspect to this. There is the logical explanation that Terry is just a bad influence. There's a supernatural angle that Terry could be the Devil. Him and Lexi hear things that David's says and they pervert it. Why did David meet Rigo in this truck stop bathroom? Was he cruising? There are implications that David is a repressed gay person. Could it be just that he needed to stop off to use the bathroom and saw a person in need? There are two ways to look at it. I also picked up on that David is a recovering alcoholic. He reveals that he used to smoke when he was training to be a priest. I think he had a drinking problem as well that is brought out through Terry. I like that there are two ways to read this and it leaves it up to the audience to decide. Personally, I like to believe there is a supernatural bit here.

This wouldn't work though if not for the acting. Skipper and Gardner are amazing here. They are both independent actors that are just great at becoming characters. I like seeing Skipper as this priest who has the best of intentions. As he is taken advantage of, he descends into madness. It is on point. Gardner is also great at just being this deadbeat guy as well. They carry the show here. That isn't meant as a slight to Zaudtke and Garay. They are good for what is needed to push them to where they end up as well.

Now the last things to get into would be with the filmmaking. The cinematography here is good. I like that there are subtle things done with how things are framed as well as lighting. The moment that Terry moves in, there are lights that flicker. It made me think that it could be supernatural or this is just an old house. They do well in distorting images when people are drinking. It makes you wonder if what we are seeing is real or not. There are also strobing lights and even a red filter. I think these all add to the atmosphere. Other than that, I'd say the limited effects we get are good. There is blood and aftereffects of things that look real. The soundtrack also adds to what is needed on top of that.

In conclusion, this is a solid little film for sure. I read that this was filmed during pandemic and having this small of a cast makes sense. It adds something to the 'parish' that David is worried about. This has a simple story, but more about the performances. Skipper and Gardner play so well off each other with Zaudtke and Garay pushing them to where they need to. I think this is also a well-made film overall. I enjoyed my time here and this is worth a viewing to horror as well as non-horror fans alike. Gives an interesting look at Christmas as well as the Christians in my opinion.

My Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

merry xmas!

[drunk_please_disregard · 8/10 · 25 January 2023]

Public service announcement: this is not a slasher movie. I entered into this movie 100% blind. To the filmmakers, actors etc. But I found it entertaining. Especially considering how low budget it is apparently. It is a well made, sincerely acted film. Kinda hilarious but also kinda gross, somewhat unexpectedly. Not really a horror movie, mostly comedy. Dark comedy but pretty funny and ultimately very dark. Not what I expected. Some real truth here though. Regarding human nature. Our broken society. The repulsive over-significance of Christmas in this broken ass society. The practical effects of drugs and alcohol. Love the cassette tapes, it was a nice touch. Kind of an anti-xmas movie. We need more of these.