Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)

Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)

Comments 1 comment

“I’m goin’ out. Maybe I’ll be back, and maybe I won’t!”

Synopsis:
Giant mutant leeches emerge from the swamps of Florida and imprison the local townspeople in their underwater cave.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Deep South
  • Mutant Monsters
  • Science Fiction

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary points out, this “sweaty sci-fi” Roger Corman production — taking place in a “southern swamp where super-intelligent giant leeches snatch up unlucky passersby, hang them in their camp lair, still alive, and drain their blood when thirsty” — is “like an early Russ Meyer potboiler (Lorna, Mud Honey) with horror elements.” He points out that “luscious Yvette Vickers” is “sex personified as a trampy married woman” and the film is “worth seeing for her alone”, but it “has other things going for it as well”. He argues that while it is a bit gruesome, it’s also gritty, enjoyably lurid, and creepy”, and is directed with “flair” by Bernard Kowalski. While the production values are low (of course) and the leech costumes ridiculous, this remains an enjoyably campy, “unfairly neglected” B-movie with a “devoted following” and is worth a one-time look.

Redeeming Qualities:

  • Yvette Vickers as the sexy backwoods trophy wife

Must See?
Yes, simply for its status as a cult “bad movie” favorite.

Categories

  • Cult Movie

Links:

One thought on “Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)”

  1. Yes – a must, as a delightfully unique bad movie.

    Let me qualify that: ‘AOTGL’ is not your usual bad movie. It’s not so bad it’s awful. It’s not so bad it’s good. It’s actually pretty entertaining. It’s more like a bargain-basement B movie.

    This is yet another one that has eluded me all these years. It can be hard to come by outside the MST3K realm – which is how I saw it on DVD. (And it is among the best of the MST3K series. The jokes are quite often pretty hilarious.)

    Peary’s statement about the movie’s relation to Russ Meyer’s work is…a bit of a stretch, I think. I get what he means, but it’s still a vague resemblance. Yeah, there’s the adulterous wife in a somewhat steamy setting. But to include Meyer as an introduction to the film would be a little misleading.

    ‘Attack…’ is a great one for having the FF gang over for bad movie night – it’s as satisfying as it is dumb.

Leave a Reply