But at least “Mind Leech” isn’t a time leech — it’s over in just 61 minutes. Six names are listed as writers only because the whole film is improvised, which provides a casual realism to the proceedings (but also a little repetition).
Mostly, they’re having fun shooting a horror film on the fly and some of that fun is contagious. Bartosz W. Palowski experiments with a lot of angles and especially enjoys the underwater footage. Zak Hanna’s music generally enhances things too, even down to his punk rock versions of Christmas carols.
Of the cast, only Conover stands out as a believable former city cop wondering why she ever moved back to the country.
“”Move to the country,’ they said,” she complains to herself at one point. “‘It will be fun,’ they said –until you see a giant slug attached to your bosses face!”
Mostly, the Chris Cheeseman film shows potential for a more fully realized scare pic somewhere down the road, if they can avoid associated leeches along the way.
After some theatrical releases in nearby Toronto environs earlier this year, “Mind Leech” is streaming at mind leech.com.