The Leech Woman (1960), dir. Edward Dein, Universal International Pictures
And now, one for my baby and one more for the road. The lights have been turned off and everyone's gone home. After seeing this, yeah, probably the right call.
Dr. Paul Talbot (Phillip Terry) and his wife June (Coleen Gray) are having some trouble in their marriage. Paul is a hateful jackass. June drinks to dull the pain of having to deal with him.
They're heading toward divorce with the speed of a bullet train when Mala (Estelle Helmsley) enters his practice. She wants him to give her passage to Africa, where she might be reunited with her tribe, long thought extinct.
For payment, she drops a bombshell-she's over 140 years ago! Yes, seems she was spirited away by slave traders back in the day. Her tribe had a secret, however, a method to slow aging if not outright reverse it. This lines up Talbot's work perfectly, so (and because he hates his wife for aging) Paul suggests he and wife take a working second honeymoon to Africa.
They hire great white hunter Garvay (John van Dreelan) to lead them. No mean feat, as the Nando tribe is largely unknown to the outside world and they hate outsiders. A Nando raiding party kills their porters and capture the four, but Mala manages to spare their lives for the moment.
She also explains why she needed to be returned to her tribe. The Nando have a ceremony that totally turns an old woman into a young woman (Kim Hamilton). The catch is it only lasts for a night. Paul browbeats June into undergoing the ceremony herself.
She does; and isn't upset at the results. When told as part of the ceremony she can select ANY man to have as a sacrifice (as the pineal gland must be drained as part of the procedure) you can guess who she picks.
Now newly single, she and Garvay manage to escape the Nando village. She tests the ring Garvay swiped from the village witch doctor on him and returns to America as her niece. She also picks up the habit of murdering men in the bad part of time to restore her youth.
As the younger Terry Hart, she also picks up on 'Aunt June's' lawyer, Neil Foster (Grant Williams), Neil's girlfriend Sally (Gloria Howards) notwithstanding. The main catch is Juen needs more and more formula as she finds herself growing increasingly older every time the formula wears off.
Can June maintain her youth? Will everyone in this film stop being awful? Yeah, everyone is two faced or just outright awful. Rather hard to root for anyone, plus the whole film does feel like a rip off of Roger Corman's the Wasp Woman.
I'd suggest staying with the MST3K version.
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