Horror Comes Home for the Holidays (And Won’t Leave) in The Leech
Eric Pennycoff’s The Leech is yet another character-driven horror film shot under COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Pennycoff works well enough within the parameters of the restrictions, drawing tension and darkly blasphemous humor from many an unholy night. It’s a slower burn, as good Samaritan morals lead to an explosion of violent Christmas horrors, and not without its lulls. That said, Pennycoff still finds a way to sustain religious commentaries as greed, gluttony and other sins break through the silence.
Graham Skipper stars as Father David, a devout priest with a barren flock who posts homily wisdom on Facebook. After service one day, he finds the disheveled-looking Terry (Jeremy Gardner) sleeping in a pew. Terry tries to crash in the church for the night, then accepts a ride home from David—where his belongings have been tossed outside by his now less-significant other. David remembers God’s teachings and opens his home to Terry, giving the derelict a warm bed, a private room and other amenities. He’s met with gratitude and humbleness from Terry, but that quickly morphs. David thinks he can save Terry—a man he knows nothing about, who starts taking more and more from David by the day.
The Leech earns its title because that’s what Terry is—a drifter who snatches a golden opportunity and drains its host dry. David ignores the children’s book teachings of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie in the name of God’s message, only with more dire consequences. Pennycoff’s screenplay explores a man of cloth’s ability to suppress guilt by preaching good Christian practices as Terry’s reign of chaos spirals into depravity. Escalation starts small, like blaring hardcore metal from a boombox instead of sleeping, and appropriately mounts once Terry’s off-and-on girlfriend Lexi (Taylor Zaudtke) enters the living scenario. David can’t resist the temptation of saving two wayward souls—and Pennycoff delights in rewarding his padre’s compassion with punishment.
The trio of actors at the core of The Leech display a noticeably comfortable chemistry. Skipper and Gardner have been traversing the independent horror circuit for years, while Zaudtke appeared with Gardner in Sadistic Intentions and After Midnight. Pennycoff’s barebones production has nowhere to hide, but professionals like Skipper and Gardner can carry the weight because they’ve done so countless times before.