Canada has put out a handful of memorable horror films over the years, including Cube (1997), Fido (2006), and 7 Days (2010). These are all very different films, but each is great in its own right. While the number of Canadian horror films has increased with the arrival of streaming services, the quality hasn’t always kept up the pace. By my count, there have been more misses than hits over the last decade. Fortunately, SFX gurus Chris Cheeseman and Paul Krysinski team up in their directorial debut to bring us Mind Leech (2023), a relatively short but genuinely entertaining and gruesome piece of Canadian horror.
Mind Leech takes place in 1998 in the fictional Canadian town of Provinstate, a rural area where people like to go ice fishing and…not much else. The film opens with a pair of shady characters dumping a tank from “Chem Corp” into a nearby lake. When the tank doesn’t sink as they had hoped, they shoot it with a shotgun, inadvertently releasing noxious fumes. Cut to a pair of beer-guzzling friends, Craig and Josh, who come out to the same lake to go ice fishing.
Unfortunately for them, their creature-attracting device does its job and attracts a particularly nasty leech. This leach is hellbent on attaching itself to human brains as a parasite and controlling their actions. Naturally, this leads to disastrous consequences for Craig and Josh. Meanwhile, Deputy Johnson and Sheriff Pailey respond to a report of a fire at the fishing shack, where they discover the charred remains of Josh. The two officers try to track down Craig, only to find that “Craig” has gone on a killing spree, leaving plenty of blood and guts in his wake.
Many viewers take issue with the fact that indie movies can often feel low-budget. From the camera work to the performances, you just know when you’re watching something done by amateurs. Fortunately, this is not much of an issue with Mind Leech. Throughout the film, I kept thinking to myself that the filmmakers really do have a firm grasp of “movie magic,” so to speak. Aside from a few awkward line deliveries, the film always looks, sounds, and feels better than a low-budget indie horror has any right to.
In fact, one of the few markedly “indie” aspects of the film is its short runtime. At just under an hour, Mind Leech is about as short as a film can be while still qualifying as a feature-length movie. But in my opinion, this worked in its favor. The story flows at a steady pace, amping up the tension as the leech continues its parasitic murder spree. Mind Leech doesn’t leave anything on the table and it wraps up the story in a way that is both satisfying and open enough for a potential sequel.
While Mind Leech leans much more on the horror than the comedy, it does have a campy, uber-Canadian tone throughout. Even as an American, I can spot the uniquely Canadian nods and jokes. For its own sake, Mind Leech never takes itself too seriously, which is another reason that one can easily forgive any minor shortcomings, like the beer cans marked with every Canadian’s favorite beer brand, Beer, or the cheesy Chem Corp tank that sets up the entire plot. These elements never really take away from the film because it’s just self-aware enough to lean into these subtle nod-and-wink moments.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention an excellent performance from Steff Ivory Conover as Deputy Terrika “TJ” Johnson. Though the entire cast performs well, Conover stands out as the star of the show. Not only does she have to step up as the reluctant heroine of the film, but her performance is very natural and helps complement the campy humor without taking it too far.
It should also be added that, as special effects experts, Chris Cheeseman and Paul Krysinski do a fantastic job amping up the gore. While it’s definitely not so gory that it would gross out hardcore horror fans, it still provides just enough splatter to keep things interesting. In closing, I’d just like to say that Mind Leech is a fun, campy Canadian horror movie that, despite its short runtime and low budget, makes for a very entertaining and worthwhile viewing experience.
Mind Leech Movie Rating: ★★★★ out of 5
If you’d like to watch Mind Leech (2023), the film is currently available to rent on mindleech.com. For more film reviews like this one, be sure to check out the Philosophy in Film homepage!