Attack of the Giant Leeches (USA, 1959) 62 min B&W DIR: Bernard L. Kowalski. PROD: Gene Corman. SCR: Leo Gordon. DOP: John M. Nickolaus Jr. MUSIC: Alexander Laszlo. CAST: Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers, Jan Shepard, Michael Emmet, Tyler McVey, Bruno VeSota, Gene Roth. (American International Pictures)
A tiny haiku of a monster movie, it goes about its familiar, goofy business with earnest concision. The monsters are cheap but Kowalski smears them with bayou atmosphere; scene for scene the whole thing becomes oddly mournful. It’s shocking when all the leech-napped hicks just go and die. A few yucks if you’re in the mood, but mostly this is dream poetry. (Viewed on Sinister Cinema VHS; including a trailer for Monster on the Campus, and intermission bumpers.)
JC Culp
JC Culp is a collage filmmaker and the founder of Unpopular Arts, which provides media production, preservation and presentation.