| Giant Leeches | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
N/A |
|
First Appearance |
Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) |
|
Original Publisher |
American International Pictures |
|
Created by |
Bernard L. Kowalski & Leo Gordon |
Origin[]
The Giant Leeches are the main antagonists of the 1959 American horror film Attack of the Giant Leeches.
Mutated by atomic radiation from Cape Canaveral, these two gigantic leeches began kidnapping unsuspecting local townspeople and draining them completely of blood. The Giant Leeches are black in color and stretching nearly seven feet in length. Their "heads" are equipped with enormous suction cup-like mouths and they appear to have numerous suckers on their undersides.
Following the violent death of a local fisherman near the swamp, game warden Steve Benton sets out to investigate the cause, despite local authorities blaming the incident on an alligator.
Only a few days after, two more locals, Liz Walker and Cal Moulton go missing near the swamp, while having an affair behind the back of her husband, who is wrongly blamed for their deaths (eventually committing suicide while in jail). Search parties are formed throughout the surrounding area looking for the bodies but none are found, and two more men go missing.
Steve, with the aid of his girlfriend, Nan Grayson, and her father, Doc Grayson, discover the gruesome truth, the giant leeches are not only the cause of the disappearances, but are also feeding on their victims (who are imprisoned in an underground cave), slowly draining them of blood. Steve and his friend Mike, both divers from the war, dive to the bottom of the swamp. They find the cave’s underwater entrance, but are attacked by the leeches. With the use of spearguns and knives, they manage to kill one, but are forced to retreat before they can save a single victim, all of which are found dead.
The creatures are finally destroyed when Steve, Mike and several state troopers blow up the underwater cavern using dynamite. The bodies of the killed leeches rise lifeless to the surface of the water, but in the film's closing moments, one of the leeches can be seen, still alive and swimming away.
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
Notes[]
- Attack of the Giant Leeches is now in the public domain; its copyright was never renewed.
- In July 1992, Attack of the Giant Leeches was featured as a fourth-season episode of the film-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000.