AttackoftheGiantLeeches

Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)

This is another of those goofy creature features from the ‘50s. This time around a couple of giant leeches inhabit a swampy area. We follow several characters as they encounter the leeches and come to a bad end. This includes a couple old swamp hunters and a cheating woman and her beau. Eventually our hero, a forest ranger or something of the sort, figures out what is going on. After swimming around a bit shooting them with a spear gun he eventually grabs some dynamite and blows up the swamp. The creatures are dead (they float to the surface) and everyone who isn’t dead lives happily ever after.

What can I say about Attack of the Giant Leeches? This was one of the staples of the late night movie programs when I was a kid and I think that it also spent a few years showing in the drive-ins in the Midwest. And this is about what you would expect from a movie like this. The story is very simple, so much so that in spite of only being just over an hour long the movie feels slow, which is an impressive feat. The locations are limited and the plot is very thin. Getting the characters to the leeches feels very contrived and when the movie isn’t taking place there it is rather boring. The dialogue is clunky and awkward, which isn’t helped by a cast that shows little interest in delivering them. Sure this is just a cheesy monster flick, but at least seem a bit scared when the critters are coming for you!

Speaking of critters the creatures in this one are very silly looking. It basically looks like a guy in a plastic garbage bag with some suckers glued onto the outside of it. We hardly see the creatures and when we do most of them are hidden in the water. I don’t’ know this for sure, but it seems like they didn’t have much to go with creature wise so the get very little screen time. Sadly this means we get to see the cast talking about things. As I’ve already mentioned this isn’t’ a good thing.

As I’ve already said this was a movie that I grew up watching. There is one scene that always kind of scared me when I was younger. It has the leech’s victims in an underwater cave. They are still alive and once in a while the leeches show up for a drink (see they feed on blood, in case you didn’t know). We have the actors in very pale makeup and black face paint under their eyes. This gives them a hollow look that works really well. And I have to say that while it doesn’t scare me this is an effective bit of filmmaking still. Sadly this seems to be the only idea they had and the rest of the movie can’t sustain what little atmosphere we get here.

Unless you are a hardcore fan of ‘50s sci-fi/horror you might want to pass on this one. If you insist then you can pick this up from Echo Bridge Home Entertainment. Check out their site here for more information.

1 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer