Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) - Auuuugghh! Swamp Suckers!!

A drunken poacher is out in his rowboat in the swamp when he spots... something. Taking a shot at it, he misses, and the whatever it is disappears into the murk, but not before he notices that it seems to have tentacles. Instead of pursuing his prey, however, he decides instead to just have another swig of moonshine and let the creature go for another day. Too bad, though, because it's not long after this first sighting that the dead bodies begin to pile up - dead bodies which seem oddly mangled and have been drained of their bodily fluids.

Part Peyton Place (July 1959 Playboy centerfold Yvette Vickers plays the requisite "Legs McGillicuddy" role) in the muck and mire and part Swamp Thing, (replete with one of the most preposterously bad "that's not a guy in a rubber suit with fake tentacles, it's obviously a giant radioactively-mutated leech thing" monsters ever), Attack of the Giant Leeches (also known variously as Attack of the Blood Leeches, Demons of the Swamp, She Demons of the Swamp, and The Giant Leeches) comes to us courtesy of the King of the B's himself, Roger Corman.


Like most of Corman's films of this nature, the movie never quite strays into the territory of actually being scary, but it does provide a few moments and enough disgusting makeup work once the bodies begin turning up to remain entertaining throughout its 62 minute running time, and really, that's as much as one can ask of a film like this.

Lets have a little look-see, shall we?


And here's the Skinny:
Title: Attack of the Giant Leeches
Release Date: 1959
Running Time: 62 min
Black and White
Starring: Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers
Directed by: Bernard L. Kowalski
Produced by: Roger Corman, Gene Corman
Distributed by: American International Pictures

Attack of the Giant Leeches is available to watch or download for free here.
It's also available to purchase on DVD from Amazon: Attack of the Giant Leeches


Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian