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Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) dir. Bernard L. Kowalski
Steve Benton (Ken Clark) is a state game warden in a rural area of Florida not so far from Cape Canaveral. He's checking up on a wild story told by local poacher Lem Sawyer (George Cisar) about a weird looking critter that he shot at and possibly killed, though he didn't bring in the body. Steve is disturbed to find Lem's corpse, which has strange wounds. Sheriff Kovis (Gene Roth) callously decides that it's an alligator attack (despite the wounds not resembling those made by gators) and calls it a day.
Steve consults with local physician and man of science Doc Greyson (Tyler McVey) who agrees that there might be something else in the swamp that attacked Lem. The game warden takes Doc's daughter Nan Greyson (Jan Shepard) out exploring in a boat with him but they don't spot anything out of the ordinary.
Meanwhile, general store owner Dave Walker (Bruno VeSota) is having marital difficulties with his wife Liz Walker (Yvette Vickers). They'd married when Liz was a recent widow (her husband got into lethal difficulties with the police) and she initially appreciated his kindness and relative stability. But Dave's no good looker and not exactly fulfilling in bed. So to no one's surprise but Dave's, she's been fooling around with his best friend Cal Moulton (Michael Emmet).
The naughty couple are making out in the swamp at night only to have Dave stumble across them during a delivery. Understandably infuriated, Dave uses close misses with his gun to drive the betrayers into the water. Just as his temper cools and Dave decides to let them out of the water so that they can discuss things like adults, something horrible grabs Cal and Liz and drags them under. He fires at the giant leech-like thing, but to no avail.
Sheriff Kovis only believes the first half of Dave's story and arrests him for the probable murder of Liz and Cal. There's a small reward posted for the retrieval of the couple's bodies, and two locals, Sam (Joseph Hamilton) and Reed (Dan White) go poking around the gator hollows looking. Dave commits suicide in his cell, and the two old coots go missing.
Over Steve's objection, Doc uses an explosive in the oddly gator-free lake to bring up the bodies of two of the missing. Now it's time to deal with whatever is in the water. But can anyone survive the attack of the giant leeches?
This Corman quickie came in at the tail end of the 1950s monster movie craze. It was shot back-to-back with Night of the Blood Beast and used most of the same crew.
You can tell this was another of the producer's low, low budget film, relying heavily on "night" scenes and heavy shadows to hide how shabby the monster costumes are. The acting is no great shakes, and there manage to be some slow bits even though it's only a little over an hour long.
That said, the monsters are pretty creepy, Yvette Vickers manages to exude some sex appeal, and the sequel hook makes sense. I can see the bones of a much better movie in here. And of course, it's amazing how much movie the Corman brothers were able to get for their buck.
Mostly for Corman completists, and would make a good double feature with another swamp movie.
Steve Benton (Ken Clark) is a state game warden in a rural area of Florida not so far from Cape Canaveral. He's checking up on a wild story told by local poacher Lem Sawyer (George Cisar) about a weird looking critter that he shot at and possibly killed, though he didn't bring in the body. Steve is disturbed to find Lem's corpse, which has strange wounds. Sheriff Kovis (Gene Roth) callously decides that it's an alligator attack (despite the wounds not resembling those made by gators) and calls it a day.
Steve consults with local physician and man of science Doc Greyson (Tyler McVey) who agrees that there might be something else in the swamp that attacked Lem. The game warden takes Doc's daughter Nan Greyson (Jan Shepard) out exploring in a boat with him but they don't spot anything out of the ordinary.
Meanwhile, general store owner Dave Walker (Bruno VeSota) is having marital difficulties with his wife Liz Walker (Yvette Vickers). They'd married when Liz was a recent widow (her husband got into lethal difficulties with the police) and she initially appreciated his kindness and relative stability. But Dave's no good looker and not exactly fulfilling in bed. So to no one's surprise but Dave's, she's been fooling around with his best friend Cal Moulton (Michael Emmet).
The naughty couple are making out in the swamp at night only to have Dave stumble across them during a delivery. Understandably infuriated, Dave uses close misses with his gun to drive the betrayers into the water. Just as his temper cools and Dave decides to let them out of the water so that they can discuss things like adults, something horrible grabs Cal and Liz and drags them under. He fires at the giant leech-like thing, but to no avail.
Sheriff Kovis only believes the first half of Dave's story and arrests him for the probable murder of Liz and Cal. There's a small reward posted for the retrieval of the couple's bodies, and two locals, Sam (Joseph Hamilton) and Reed (Dan White) go poking around the gator hollows looking. Dave commits suicide in his cell, and the two old coots go missing.
Over Steve's objection, Doc uses an explosive in the oddly gator-free lake to bring up the bodies of two of the missing. Now it's time to deal with whatever is in the water. But can anyone survive the attack of the giant leeches?
This Corman quickie came in at the tail end of the 1950s monster movie craze. It was shot back-to-back with Night of the Blood Beast and used most of the same crew.
You can tell this was another of the producer's low, low budget film, relying heavily on "night" scenes and heavy shadows to hide how shabby the monster costumes are. The acting is no great shakes, and there manage to be some slow bits even though it's only a little over an hour long.
That said, the monsters are pretty creepy, Yvette Vickers manages to exude some sex appeal, and the sequel hook makes sense. I can see the bones of a much better movie in here. And of course, it's amazing how much movie the Corman brothers were able to get for their buck.
Mostly for Corman completists, and would make a good double feature with another swamp movie.
