Camp Classic: Sexy Babe, Hairy Chested Man, and Hickeys From
Gary F. Taylor | Biloxi, MS USA | 06/18/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Most bad movies are simply bad, but now and then you stumble upon one that has an odd charm--and if you are in the mood for it, ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES can be quite a bit of fun.
The story is an amalgamation of every 1950s movie cliche you can imagine. Sultry Liz (Yvette Vickers) is a swamp siren and stepping out on unattractive hubby Dave (Bruno VeSoto), roaming the night and stumbling upon a dead poacher covered with hickeys from hell. Does this give her pause? Of course not, and when hubby catches Liz and her latest flame he drives them into the swap with a shotgun to teach them a lesson. It's only to scare them, and boy is he sure surprised when a couple of guys rise up out of the water wearing black plastic. When they carry off Liz and her beau, game warden Steve (Ken Clark) gets seriously involved, and pretty soon everybody in the swamp is worried, upset, and even downright concerned.
Vickers was a memorable beauty and the film shows her assets to good advantage; Ken Clark was a hairy-chested stud and the movie shows his skin as well. The rest of the cast is merely adequate at best, but they are fun, and the script is classically silly. Everybody drinks coffee. A lot of coffee. Everybody gasps in dismay. A lot of dismay. The men are butch and the women are femme. And the leeches... well, when you get a good look at them, they're pretty silly looking, but even so the movie does manage a shock or two, what with victims writhing in the leeches' lair and open-eyed corpses floating in the water.
If you're into "B" horror movies from the 1950s, ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES is right up there with ATTACK OF THE FIFTY FOOT WOMAN (which also featured Vickers), a popcorn classic of its kind. Recommended for those who enjoy the genre.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer"