ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES

*

STARRING: Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers, Jan Shepard, Michael Emmet, Tyler McVey, Bruno VeSota, Gene Roth

1959, 62 Minutes, Directed by: Bernard L. Kowalski

Not as much fun as its title might suggest, this early Roger Corman production features (as promised) giant leech mutants that suck the blood from its victims.

They must have sucked the blood right from this movie as well because even though Attack of the Giant Leeches clocks in at only an hour's running time, it makes for pretty dull and uninspired watching.

When a drunken hillbilly sees a giant monster (actually a stuntman draped in a canvas) in the swamps, he is easily dismissed. However, his claims become more difficult to refute when victims start popping up all over the place under mysterious circumstances. When an obese cuckolded shop owner sees his lying cheating tart wife and her lover being dragged away by said beasties, our square-jawed local game ranger hero (Ken Clark) decides to take matters into his own hands.

Ridiculous looking monsters and low production values - the underwater sequences were quite obviously filmed in a see-through tank because the glass windows are quite dirty! (couldn't they have just cleaned it beforehand, or wasn't any Windolene budgeted for?) - make this a movie for only very dedicated Mystery Science Theater 3000 types and fans of 1950s "creature features". But even they should think twice before stepping into these tepid waters . . .