Attack of the Giant Leeches.

Review #742: Attack of the Giant Leeches.

Cast
Ken Clark (Steve Benton), Yvette Vickers (Liz Walker), Jan Shepard (Nan Greyson), Michael Emmet (Cal Moulton), Tyler McVey (Doc Greyson), Bruno VeSota (Dave Walker), Gene Roth (Sheriff Kovis), and Dan White (Porky Reed) Directed by Bernard L. Kowalski.

Review
With a title like this, you'll either get one of two things: An outrageously silly movie about giant leeches...Or a cheap movie that doesn't really show much of the leeches. In this, you get the latter. To be honest, leeches can be a scary thing to think about before going into the water, especially those blood sucking ones. In this, they are apparently mutated to giant size due to nuclear weapons, while residing in a cave and taking a bunch of people with them to slowly suck their blood. In theory, this would be scary. But the movie never really lives up to the premise very much, being a movie that seems to dwell on its characters more than the leeches. It's not a terrible movie, but it's not at all scary not really that interesting. It's not even easy to make fun of (aside from MST3K) because it goes so quick (barely an hour) that you'll forget about as soon as you watch anything else. It is interesting that this was produced by Roger Corman (who directed/produced #368 - The Little Shop of Horrors and produced #592 - Dementia 13), along with his brother Gene. The acting is standard, typical for a monster flick that plods along, but at least the monsters look okay. Ultimate middle of the road type of movie, but if you've got an hour to waste...and have no other options...you'll be okay.

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Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

Review #613: Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

Cast
Allison Hayes (Nancy Archer), William Hudson (Harry Archer), Yvette Vickers (Honey Parker), Roy Gordon (Dr. Isaac Cushing), George Douglas (Sheriff Dubbitt), Ken Terrell (Jess Stout), Otto Waldis (Dr. Heinrich Von Loeb), Eileen Stevens (Nurse), Michael Ross (Tony the Bartender / Space Giant), and Frank Chase (Deputy Charlie) Directed by Nathan H. Juran.

Review

When you're watching a movie called Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, you know the movie's probably bad, but at least it's 50s bad, which I guess is okay. But this? Oh boy. The movie could be picked apart easily, by anyone, but let's not dwell on that too much. The movie was released on the heels of other movies released around the time based on size changing, such as The Amazing Colossal Man and The Incredible Shrinking Man (#420), except made on a lower budget. The actors are okay, I suppose, but come on, we all came to see when the 50 Foot Woman appears. And...it takes a hour to happen. Now granted, it does seem hypocritical to criticize it for taking a while to show the monster when praising Jaws for doing that. What's the main difference though? Jaws had actual tension, while this film has absolutely no tension, though lasting an hour doesn't help. But how are the effects? Hokey as can be, but for a movie like this, they fit the movie well. It's an oddball movie that is laughable, but endurable for all its flaws (Elephant syringe? Why does she look only 30 ft tall? Why did TCM show this in the afternoon and not at late night?), but perfect for anyone wanting to waste/spend a hour.

Overall, I give it 3 out of 10 stars.