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Review by E.C.McMullen Jr. |
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ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHESakaTHE GIANT LEECHES- 1959USA Release: Oct. 1959 Roger Corman Productions, American International Pictures (AIP) Rated: USA: N/A |
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Ol' Lem (BILLY THE KID VS DRACULA) is out alone in the swamp at night, getting up to who knows what, when he sees something in the night that don't look right when he shines his light.
Before you can say, "Why hey there, little critter, let's get a good look at ya!" Lem grabs his gun and shoots the varmint many times.
Well folks, that's never how I handle seeing a new varmint, but ol' Lem's been drinking that there home made moonshine.
Lem gets back to the local small town store of ol' Dave Walker (Bruno Ve Sota: DEMENTIA, THE UNDEAD, WAR OF THE SATELLITES, THE WASP WOMAN, A BUCKET OF BLOOD, THE DEVIL'S HAND, THE HAUNTED PALACE, CREATURE OF THE WALKING DEAD, THE WILD WORLD OF BAT WOMAN, SOMETHING EVIL) and tries to enthuse the local rubes with his discovery. Which promptly backfires because Lem saw so little in the dark, he's drunk, and he forgot to brag about how brave he was instead of how scared he still is.
TRIVIA 1 Yvette Vickers promoted this movie by posing nude or Playboy and wound up being the July 1959 centerfold playmate. 2 played by uncredited Monster Suit actor, the beefy, bearded Ross Sturlin, who also played an alien in the Corman's NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST. Ross could really give a monster suit made out of rubber raincoats that tall, offense linebacker girth a Scary Monster calls for. But he was always unseen and uncredited and made his minor name in war and cowboy shitkicker TV shows. 3 Was Gordon's script better or worse than what we see on the screen? We'll never know but ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES is one in a long line of Roger and Gene Corman produced movies that kept the TV show, MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 on the air, off and on, for over 30 years.
The Blu-ray for this review came to me courtesy of Film Masters, and comes with the 1992 Episode 6 of the MSTK3 send-up of ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES. In addition to an informative 22 page booklet on the movie, this comes with a 4K scanned and restored Blu-ray of NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST, along with plenty of disc extras that Film Masters is known for. This Film Masters print is likely as good as ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES will ever look and sound. |
But in this tiny town of losers who entertain themselves by trashing each other, the biggest target is Store owner Dave, himself. See, he got hitched to a pretty young woman 'bout half his age by the name of Liz Walker (Yvette Vickers1: ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN, THE DEAD DON'T DIE, EVIL SPIRITS). Liz keeps herself looking fine and while Dave inflates so much he can barely walk. Dave doesn't take her out, do anything to make her life better, more interesting, exciting, or show how much he appreciates her. Ol' Dave would rather spend a nice evening having the boys hang out at his store and trash talk him, because that way they can see what a fine wife he has - which means he's better than them.
But on this particular night, Liz walks out of their bedroom and flaunts her hal-naked body before all the gathered single menfolk. Dave freaks out as his "friends" all leer at her, and he quickly hustles Liz back into their tiny bedroom.
Liz and Dave don't have the best of marriages and Liz gussies up and goes out, telling Dave, "Don't wait up."
Next we meet -
"Hey!", you might be saying. "What about the giant leeches?"
I'm getting to that right now. Hang on!
We're back in the swamp where we meet dashing stalwart Forestry Manager, Steve Benton (Ken Clarke: ON THE THRESHOLD OF SPACE, AGENT SECRET X-18) is killing an otter that got itsel ftrapped and wounded in an animal trap - in a national wildlife park no less. His new girlfriend, Nan Greyson (Jan Shepard: SCIENCE FICTION THEATER, THE DOOMSDAY FLIGHT), lusts after him heavily: in a 1950s "Good gal" way, and confesses her love for him.
Then they hear a woman screaming. Steve tells Nan to lock herself in the truck as he draws his pistol and runs toward the screams, ready for danger.
The danger already happened to Ol' Lem, who is covered in blood and hanging onto a tree as he dies. The screaming comes courtesy of Liz, who's idea of having a good time apparently means wandering around the swamp at night.
"Aw, come on!" you might be saying now, "What about them gol dang giant leeches?2"
Fine! To cut to the chase, they're in the movie for all of, maybe, a combined 2 minutes of run time in this 62 minute movie.
Director Bernard L. Kowalski (NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST, TERROR IN THE SKY), worked off a script by Leo Gordon3 (THE WASP WOMAN, TOWER OF LONDON, THE TERROR).
ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES is mainly concerned with its soap opera drama which chiefly involves Liz and her cheatin' heart and Steve warning Nan's father to stop throwing lit dynamite in the swamp.
For a 62 minute movie, ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES takes a long time to get to those dang ol' giant leeches. In fact, if they weren't in the movie at all, these reckless rednecks woulda wound up just killing each other!
2 Shriek Girls.
This review copyright 2024 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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