Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)

User Rating:

3.0/10   

Director:

Bernard L. Kowalski

Writer:

Leo Gordon (writer)

Release Date:

October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Massive Blood Sucking Monsters!

Plot:

After local-moonshine swilling trapper Lem Sawyer sees a giant creature, people start disappearing....

Plot Keywords:

MST3K | Theremin | Cult Horror | Underwater Explosion | Source Music

Cast

Ken Clark	...	Steve Benton
Yvette Vickers	...	Liz Walker
Jan Shepard	...	Nan Greyson
Michael Emmet	...	Cal Moulton
Tyler McVey	...	Doc Greyson
Bruno VeSota	...	Dave Walker
Gene Roth	...	Sheriff Kovis
Dan White	...	Slim Reed
George Cisar	...	Lem Sawyer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Guy Buccola	...	Giant leech (uncredited)
Joseph Hamilton	...	Old Man (uncredited)
Ross Sturlin	...	Giant leech (uncredited)

Directed by
Bernard L. Kowalski

Writing credits
Leo Gordon		(writer)

Produced by
Gene Corman	....	producer
Roger Corman	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Alexander Laszlo

Cinematography by
John M. Nickolaus Jr.

Film Editing by
Carlo Lodato

Art Direction by
Daniel Haller

Production Management
Jack Bohrer	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John C. Chulay	....	assistant director

Art Department
Richard M. Rubin	....	props

Sound Department
Al Overton	....	sound

Editorial Department
Anthony Magro	....	associate editor (as Tony Magro)

Other crew
Kinta Zertuche	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• American International Pictures (AIP)

Distributors

• American International Pictures (AIP) (1959) (USA) (theatrical)
• Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (1959) (UK) (theatrical)
• Rhino Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• SlingShot Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• E-Realbiz.com (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• E-Realbiz.com (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Elite Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Madacy Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Madacy Entertainment (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Marengo Films (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Elite Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• BijouFlix Releasing (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Brentwood Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Rainbow Products Limited (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Nostalgia Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Screen Time Images  film restoration

Also Known As:

Attack of the Blood Leeches
Demons of the Swamp (UK)
She Demons of the Swamp
The Giant Leeches (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Chaplin Studios - 1416 N. La Brea Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Goofs:

Continuity: Mike wires the explosives to the detonator box and the plunger is all the way up as he walks over to Steve and the rest of the group. Steve then walks over to the detonator box to set off the charge but now the plunger is down, he has to pull up before he pushes it down to set off explosives.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: Attack of the Giant Leeches" (1996)

Absolutely Perfect Grade-Z Drive-In Horror!

One of the best of the late 50's Grade-Z drive-in mellers, this steamy and creepy tale of lust and betrayal in the Florida swamps works well as lurid melodrama and as slight sci-fi fable. The lovely Yvette Vickers (adulteress Honey in "Attack of the 50 Ft Woman") is at her bone-poppin' trashy best here as a Baby Dollish slut wife to fat slob storeowner Bruno VeSota. (She strolls into a room full of men wearing a frilly negligee, brushing her teeth, making sure all the pigs see the foamy toothpaste dribbling from her trembling mouth. Youch!) She has a lover named Cal, and when fatty husband finds the two embracing he forces them into the dark swamp, where men in shiny leech costumes drag them to their underground cave to suck them bone dry. There's a beautifully orchestrated scene at midpoint in the film, in the leeches' cave, where half-comatose victims wail and moan in contorted postures as they helplessly watch their leechish tormentors slowly crawl towards them, slurping and sucking all the way. It's a scene of pure horror not unlike a similar scene in "Beast from Haunted Cave" a year later. The scientific explanation for the beasts (atomic fallout from nearby Cape Canaveral rockets) is superfluous to the plot, which is, of course, about the giantest leeches of them all, us. And as the end implies, as we hear the slurping of a new batch of bloodsuckers from the deep, there is no end to the giant leeches! The exact same length as Roger Corman's biblical sci-fi masterpiece "Attack of the Crab Monsters," this film was produced by Roger's brother Gene, shown in a nifty title splice against his executive producer brother. Other great AIP drive-in quickies of the era were "The Brain Eaters" and "Terror from the Year 5000." Cool electro-score by Alexander Laszlo, whose "The Atomic Submarine" and "Night of the Blood Beast" scores are also classics of the genre.