This is even worse than one might think. It's a silly premise, the mixing of Western and vampire, and it could have worked with a better idea.
However, Edward Dein, director of this movie, also writer, is heavy handed with a Nazi idealism, the Hitler ideal of the blond woman surviving in Nature, while all the dark haired damsels are destroyed. He shows this heavy handed hatred in THE LEECH WOMAN, where he contrives the story to purposely kill the innocent brunette for no apparent reason, except to satisfy his Hitler worship. It's impossible to ignore, because he hits us with a hammer over the head with it.
It's sad, too, because many of the most charismatic actors signed on in this movie, and probably had no idea they were engaged in this sort of propaganda. Rawhide's Eric Fleming, Frank Nitti actor Bruce Gordon, and the evil henchman of THE BLACK CASTLE, Michael Pate obviously saw this as a stepping stone to greater things, with big roles, and their acting was superb, as were all the actors, but the script was just so heavy handed with this contrived Nazi ideology, that there just wasn't anything else communicated.
Annoying and dull scripts and directing cannot be saved by great acting.
However, Edward Dein, director of this movie, also writer, is heavy handed with a Nazi idealism, the Hitler ideal of the blond woman surviving in Nature, while all the dark haired damsels are destroyed. He shows this heavy handed hatred in THE LEECH WOMAN, where he contrives the story to purposely kill the innocent brunette for no apparent reason, except to satisfy his Hitler worship. It's impossible to ignore, because he hits us with a hammer over the head with it.
It's sad, too, because many of the most charismatic actors signed on in this movie, and probably had no idea they were engaged in this sort of propaganda. Rawhide's Eric Fleming, Frank Nitti actor Bruce Gordon, and the evil henchman of THE BLACK CASTLE, Michael Pate obviously saw this as a stepping stone to greater things, with big roles, and their acting was superb, as were all the actors, but the script was just so heavy handed with this contrived Nazi ideology, that there just wasn't anything else communicated.
Annoying and dull scripts and directing cannot be saved by great acting.