Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

Attack of the Giant Leeches Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 8, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Night of the Blood Beast (which includes Attack of the Giant Leeches) from Film Masters.

Film Masters is continuing its trek through some wacky monster movies, many of which had some kind of connection to the iconic Corman Brothers, Roger and Gene. This particular pairing offers two Gene Corman productions, both directed by Bernard L. Kowalski, and both offering some frankly ludicrous creatures along with typically florid 1950s plot dynamics. As has often been the case with these cult offerings from Film Masters, the label has provided some enjoyable supplements, and they also offer Night of the Blood Beast in two aspect ratios. In this particular case of another veritable double feature from Film Masters, the advertised "main attraction", Night of the Blood Beast, is in considerably better shape in the video quality department than the dreaded "second billed" Attack of the Giant Leeches.

If Night of the Blood Beast maybe owed a bit of a tip of the (muddy?) hat to The Thing from Another World, you could probably argue that Attack of the Giant Leeches might recall elements of both Gojira, in terms of a monster loosed from the deep courtesy of atomic radiation, and Creature from the Black Lagoon, in terms of a, well, monster from the deep crawling up to snatch vulnerable females.

For a perceived "creature feature", Attack of the Giant Leeches is almost hilariously tawdry at times, offering a Southern Gothic adjacent tale of marital infidelity and other small town shenanigans, all within the context of the film's undeniably hilarious titular "villains". The film has some perhaps tangential interest due to its casting of Yvette Vickers in the femme fatale role, as she had just been a Playboy centerfold in the supposedly prim and proper era of the late fifties. In that regard, there is either some hilariously or horrifyingly (perhaps depending on gender) sexist dialogue surrounding Vickers' character, which in and of itself may make some be rooting for the giant leeches to take out some male characters in particular, though there ends up being a surprisingly tragic aspect to one part of the narrative involving the marriage of the Vickers character and a seemingly abusive husband.

Attack of the Giant Leeches Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Attack of the Giant Leeches is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Masters with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Film Masters perhaps saliently doesn't provide any information about this transfer, but if you simply look at the difference in quality courtesy of the screenshots of this review and the screenshots included in the Night of the Blood Beast Blu-ray review, you'll be able to easily spot how downgraded the image in this presentation is. Just in terms of being able to get a clear view of this film's monster(s), things are limited not just by the quality of the source element, but the fact that the creatures are often seen in murky underwater conditions. Clarity is variable to begin with but is often unconvincing, and other elements ranging from contrast to grain structure are also problematic at various times. I'd hesitate to state what kind of source element was utilized here, but one way or the other, it wasn't in very good shape and it doesn't look like any substantial restoration has been attempted.

Attack of the Giant Leeches Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Attack of the Giant Leeches fares at least a bit better in the audio department courtesy of a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track. While undeniably narrow, it's not especially thin sounding, and even the kind of silly "theater organ" scoring has a decent midrange (as mentioned in the Night of the Blood Beast Blu-ray review, parts of Alexander Laszlo's score are used in both films, kind of comically). Some honky tonk piano cues sound fine. Sound effects can occasionally sound a bit hollow and boxy. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles.

Attack of the Giant Leeches Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring Attack of the Giant Leeches (HD; 1:31:37) is (like the MST3K entry on Night of the Blood Beast) another double feature which in this case begins with Undersea Kingdom, a Crash Corrigan outing. This entire episode is another one where I frankly could have lived without the actually kind of overbearing interstitials, though the commentaries are often hilarious.


• Born from T.V.: Bernard Kowalski as a Director (HD; 27:00) is an appealing portrait of the now little remembered director, though his name may well be familiar to Baby Boomers in particular for his frequent television work on such series as Mission: Impossible.


• Attack of the Giant Leeches re-created trailer (HD; 1:37)
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• Yvette Vickers Slideshow (HD; 2:12)


• Commentary by Tom Weaver is accessible under the Setup Menu. This has some of Weaver's trademark sound effects and other surprises.

Attack of the Giant Leeches Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Attack of the Giant Leeches kind of ironically may make jaded viewers laugh more consistently than even the ludicrous Night of the Blood Beast, but kind of interestingly in that regard, this has a much darker undertone than the other film in this package. Video quality here is pretty shoddy, but audio is fine, and the supplements on this disc are very well done, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.