Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) Review

Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) Review

Welcome back to Clayton’s Creepy Cinema! 

When I was a kid, I remember scanning through the channels on TV and coming across an ancient-looking black-and-white horror movie on Turner Classic Movies, and seeing giant worm-like monsters attacking people. I checked the TV guide to see what it was called. Attack of the Giant Leeches. Whoa! I thought. That sounds awesome! 

I tuned back in and was extremely creeped out. I distinctly remember seeing people on a boat on the lake, and later, the lair of the leeches, where a woman was sprawled on the floor. One of the leeches lies on top of her and sucks her blood. It’s one of the earliest sci-fi-horror movies I remember watching. I was equally intrigued and horrified. 

Of course, when I re-visited the film years later, I discovered it’s actually not that good. In fact, it’s pretty bad. But, Attack of the Giant Leeches is still a fun B-movie, if you can watch it with the right mind set. 

The plot is very basic. Two giant, mutated leeches live in a cave at the bottom of a swamp, where they drag unsuspecting victims to their doom and drain them of blood. Locals catch on to the disappearance of two individuals, and eventually discover the leeches’ lair. 

The set design for the cave is not bad, especially considering this independent-made film had a budget of only 70,000 dollars. There’s smoke, bubbling water, and the black-and-white photography makes it even more eerie. The sound effects and music, too, add to the atmosphere, but the effects for the leeches are less-than-convincing. It’s clearly just two guys in rubber suits, though as a kid, merely the idea of massive leeches—slimy, vampiric creatures harvesting innocent people—was enough to scare me. 

This film is in the public domain, which means any home video distributor can put it out, so there are lots of cheap DVD releases available, and it’s also easy to find online, even on YouTube. The picture quality is pretty poor, but that’s part of what adds to the charm. 

Attack of the Giant Leeches is one of many films featuring radiated monsters from the 1950’s (Tarantula, the original Godzilla, Them!), preying upon nuclear scares of the time. It may not be among the best of those, but I think it’s still worth remembering—and apparently I’m not the only one, either, because there was a remake in 2008 with the same title, though I haven’t seen it. I’m going to suggest sticking with the original, though, if you’re at all interested.