THE LEECH (2022)
New streaming exclusively on December 6 at ARROW’s streaming platform: https://www.arrow-player.com/
Also available On Demand!
Directed and written by Eric Pennycoff.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/qM0xmXEaGXo
Graham Skipper plays Father David, a devout priest to the community, but his congregation has seen better days. Though no one seems to be showing up to church, David keeps the faith that good things are to come for him and his church as long as they follow God’s plan. David finds Terry (THE BATTERY’s Jeremy Gardner) sleeping in one of his pews after finishing his sermon and offers him a ride home, not knowing that this will begin a series of generous gestures offered Terry’s way by David. Terry is more than willing to take these offerings and convinces David to let him and his girlfriend Lexi (Played by Taylor Zaudtke) stay through the holidays. What happens next can only be called a monumental crisis of faith as David’s kind gestures push him to sanity’s edge.

Though it doesn’t sound like it, THE LEECH is a new holiday horror that takes all that is good and holy about Christmas and turns it inside out and on its ass. It isn’t so much as a sacrilegious film as it is a film about a good person being taken advantage of until he finally snaps. The fun is in seeing how far David’s kindness can go until he just can’t give anymore. Everyone has felt taken advantage of at some point in their lives and if you have, you’re going to relate to David’s plight as Terry and Lexi heap on the guilt and play to David’s kind nature to completely take over his life. If it wasn’t so wickedly funny it would be sad. I felt for David having to go through all of this, but was too busy snickering at all of the just plain wrong stuff he has to endure. For those of you who really have a distaste for all of the goodness spread around during the holidays, THE LEECH is here for you.

Jeremy Gardner has played this type of carefree, fun loving rascal before, but the actor has never been pushed to this level of depravity before. While it isn’t much of a stretch from roles he’s played before, Gardner does that character well and really shines as what soon becomes Father David’s cross to bear. But really, this film highlights how good Graham Skipper is as an actor. While he has appeared in plenty of horror films over the last years, mostly by Joe Begos most notably ALMOST HUMAN and THE MIND’S EYES, he really shines here comedically and dramatically. Skipper plays the straight man to Gardner’s chaotic force and his descent into madness truly does highlight the actor’s range and talent. Seeing Gardner and Skipper bounce off of one another, as Terry is seemingly trying to corrupt David as much as David is trying to save him, is a wonderfully bizarre back and forth to witness.

I laughed quite a bit as this devilishly off kilter story unfolded. This is a simple story of a man trying to help someone who simply doesn’t want to be helped. We’ve seen this done remarkably before in films like WHAT ABOUT BOB?, which this film feels like an inbred bastard child of in some sense. All I know is that if you’re like me and get a feeling of dread come the holidays when everyone all of a sudden becomes holy and bright, THE LEECH is the surefire antidote for those holiday blues. It’s delightfully and unapologetically just my kind of wicked and wrong. I highly recommend you seek this one out. You can see it by following the link below on ARROW’s streaming channel.

Creepy Jingle Bells Song by the Dork Lords (I do not own this music) – Subscribe to them here: https://www.youtube.com/@DorkLords

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Music Written by Tim Heidecker
Music & Arrangement by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy https://youtu.be/PDySbxQgZMg
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