I knew that this would fall into the same problems so many movies made at this time had. It seems like these people would never run out of animals to make giant and attack people. The weirdest thing is probably how these leeches look more like octopi. I mean, I'm fairly certain I see tentacles and suction cups. I guess I know little about leech anatomy, but I don't think that's how they work. It is pretty entertaining to see these goofy characters say all this stupid stuff. They just need to focus more on the actual action and less on these weird people.It's weird how they seem to say that dynamite won't work, even though it eventually does. At least they mention somewhat of a justification where they say nuclear weapons created the leeches. Every victim dies so they're mostly pointless. Only watch it on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". The short length probably works for it. There were just too many of these movies. They're all rather boring and pointless. *

Released in 1959, "Attack of the Giant Leeches" takes place in a small swamp community in Florida where giant leeches threaten the populace. Ken Clark stars as the ranger who investigates the strange happenings.I didn't have much hope for this flick considering it's dubious name, its short length (62 minutes) and the fact that it's B&W, but the characters are decent and the story engrossing enough. The late 50's ambiance is worth the price of admission and the swamp atmospherics effective. Clark makes for a great masculine protagonist with his athletic build and meek disposition (sorta like a smaller Clint Walker). Jan Shepard plays his wife, the good girl, contrasted by Yvette Vickers' bad girl. Vickers was the July '59 Playmate of the Month and the movie shows off her body a little bit. While the leech monsters are rather lame, the sequences in the underwater cave where the leeches suck the blood of their captives are pretty nightmarish with the accompanying spooky music.Despite these positives, critics lambaste the movie on the grounds that the leeches are laughable, essentially people covered in trash bags with suckers here & there where you can clearly see the actors' arms moving inside the bags. If you can overlook this shortcoming, this is worthwhile 50's swamp horror.The film was shot in Los Angeles. GRADE: B

Favorite Movie Quote: "Don't give me any of that crud about monsters."Ho-Hum. Yet more semi-hilarious Monster Movie Trash from the 1950s.A local, Florida game warden remains totally skeptical when confronted with tales of hideous, man-sized, blood-sucking creatures coming up from the swamp. Even the evidence of the bloodless bodies of some local yokels leaves him completely unconvinced.Only when he sees things for himself does he become a believer and decide to take matters into his own hands.Anyways - It's a good thing this flick was only 62 minutes long. I don't think I could have tolerated this junk for much longer than that.

It would be tempting to say that Attack of the Giant Leeches is a colossal failure. The funny thing is that if it were released today, it would likely be praised for its campy genius; the way it accurately parodies the 50′s era B-flicks that pitted steely muscle-men against over-sized creatures of just about every kind. But that's just the thing—this is the real deal. And when I say "real," I mean it's really funny.If you don't know what it's about, allow me to fill you in: giant leeches kill stupid people. That's it. Sure, there's a little more to it than that, but it's not worth mentioning (And, I mean, come one: with a title like Attack of the Giant Leeches, are you seeing this because it's analogous to the literary brilliance glimpsed in Hamlet?). One cheesy scene after another documents the hi-jinks of dimwitted adulterers, stubborn wildlife officials, oddly resigned doctors, etc., etc., etc. The transitions between these occurrences are awkward and choppy—just like the acting—and the giant leeches look like men wearing black garbage bags. When we're finally allowed to see how they feed on their victims, it's actually pretty gruesome. They attach themselves to peoples' throats and drain their blood.I do think it's worth mentioning that as idiotic as all of this sounds, writer Leo Gordon actually makes an earnest effort to logically connect one event to the next and, to some measurable degree, at least acknowledge that his audience is not moronic and that this sort of feature is meant only to satisfy our most basic instincts.And that, of course, is to shy away in disgust and laugh while doing it. It was Stephen King who said that he believes "we're all mentally ill." Why else would we spend money to see something this dumb, gross, and—for its time—horrifying? Because, he suggests, there's something appealing about knowing that we're not in this situation. It's a form of affirmation that gives us the chance to feed what he calls "the gators" rolling around in that subterranean area of our brains.Or we could simply say that braving something this hideous is just a lot of fun.