a.k.a. The Giant Leeches
company: American International Pictures
year: 1959
runtime: 62′
country: United States
director: Bernard L. Kowalski
cast: Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers,
Jan Shepard, Michael Emmet,
Tyler McVey, Bruno VeSota
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The rural folk living near a Florida game preserve are attacked by leeches that have grown to enormous size due to atomic contamination from nearby Cape Canaveral. It’s up to a local doctor, the town sheriff, and a wildlife preservation specialist to stop them.
This is another of the poverty-row creature features produced by Roger Corman, in this case with an assist from brother Gene Corman, in the back end of the fifties before his popular cycle of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations began. Released theatrically through American International Pictures in October of 1959, ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES is barely a feature at all with a running time of just a few ticks over an hour but undoubtedly drew in its target audience of exploitation-minded teens and pre-teens thanks to a wonderfully lurid poster showing the titular monsters hovering just above their mess of scantily clad and undoubtedly helpless female victims.
Like so many of the Corman productions of the time, ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES definitely earns some weirdness points for the nature of its key attraction. The race of intelligent and radioactive people-sized leeches is certainly inspired in conception, if not so much in execution. The floppy suits used to bring the beasts to life are reasonable enough in design in my estimation (just how does one judge the appearance of a giant leech suit anyway?) but look little more than clunky and awkward swimming about the Florida swamps.
Still, there are a few effectively gruesome vintage effects setups to be had along the way. The most memorable, by far, is the sight of the leeches rising from the much of their cavern hideaway to feast on their collection of living victims, 
rendered helpless from loss of blood. Director Bernard L. Kowalski [NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST] manages to generate some creepy atmosphere here, something that’s in short supply for the rest of the picture.
Its novel menace and a few scare scenes aside, ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES is a pretty dull affair hampered greatly by a paltry screenplay by Leo Gordon [THE WASP WOMAN]. A sleazy white-trash love triangle between sexy Yvette Vickers and her two beaus – a fat husband and a local miscreant – is good for laughs, but the rest is strictly by the books. There’s some forced irony to our wildlife preservation specialist hero’s realization that not all animals are worth saving. He ultimately dynamites the leeches’ swamp home after an hour of rallying against it on ethical grounds.
Performances are a mixed bag. Lead Ken Clark makes for a thoroughly uninteresting hero while veteran bit actor Gene Roth [ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU] is wasted in his paltry role as the town sheriff. Roth seems to have made quite a living 
in small roles, with over 250 to his credit. The biggest draw among the cast is definitely Yvette Vickers [ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN], who has little to do but show off her physical charms.
Other aspects of the production are about what one might expect. Decent if uninspired photography is handled by John M. Nickolaus Jr., who would go on to work on season one of the original THE OUTER LIMITS, alternating episodes with the up-and-coming Conrad Hall. Direction by relative newcomer Kowalski is competent without being flashy, and undoubtedly earned him a few bucks on the way to a successful career in television. Alexander Laszlo’s fine score is even better the second time around, having been composed originally for the earlier Corman cheapie NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST.
Rights to ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES have apparently fallen by the wayside, leaving it quite the easy film to find. I’d be surrpised if half of you reading this article didn’t already own a copy or two of it due to its prevelence in those 
ultra-cheap “public domain” DVD sets put out by companies like Mill Creek and the like. The copy I reviewed from is part of the Monsters 20 Movie Pack released by that company in 2005, and is smashed onto a dual layered disc with three other features. There are innumerable options out there with regards to owning this one, so those looking to buy are encouraged to shop around.
If you’ve seen a Corman produced monster flick from this time period then you should already know what to expect. This one is worth at least one trod through if only for a few moments of creepiness and Yvette Vickers’ legs. Those for whom these simple pleasures are not enough should probably stear clear.
