A village near a swamp faces giant leeches who capture people that wander into their waters. Since the waters usually have alligators, this seems like a fair trade. But the local game warden (Ken Clark), the very archetype of maleness, will not leave those pesky leeches alone.

This film is ranked under 3 out of 10 on the Internet Movie Database, with many people having voted a "1" (the most popular vote). Believe me, this film is far from a one -- it is actually rather interesting and well put together. Much better than other films with "giant" animals and the explanation revolving around "radiation" -- and I can especially say this after seeing the rubbish that is "Beast of Yucca Flats".

It is amusing to see the dynamic between the shop owner (Bruno VeSota) and his wife (Playboy centerfold Yvette Vickers). She seems upset because he calls her "baby" every sentence. But the man she is seeing on the side shows up and calls her "baby" every sentence, too... so I guess she just does not like fat, balding men.

The dialog is actual one of the better parts of this movie. The conversations give the characters more depth than most horror or science fiction films and all the villagers interact quite a bit. Everything is explained and the background is rich.

The leeches? Okay, the leeches are cheesy and obviously men in squid suits. But this does not take away from the overall film. In fact,it adds a special flavor that seems appropriate.

The reason this film is ranked so low, in my opinion, is the quality of the film. Public domain copies (which look terrible) are easily available, and it is easy to dismiss the film on picture quality alone. Also, it apparently appeared on "Mystery Science Theater", and people have a tendency to instantly rank MST3K films as 1 or 2 (for reasons unknown to me). If someone took the time to digitally remaster the movie, I think it would have much better reviews... but who would invest time and money into a public film?

Them folks down on the swamp there darn gone and got themselves killed or worsen. Yes giant inflatable swamp critters attack and suck the blood out of their victims. Just joking around there folks. Honestly this was much better than I was expecting although it really doesn't hold any surprises(but may cause you to laugh a time or two). Still for a low budget film, I felt it was well-done and benefits from being only 62 minutes in length. I really enjoyed this one.

Grotesque gigantic mutant leeches attack and feed on the various local yokels in a seedy Florida stick swamp hamlet. Bernard L. Kowalski directs the admittedly ludicrous premise with admirable seriousness, coaxing solid acting from a sturdy cast, maintaining a steady pace throughout, and ably creating a brooding, spooky and pungently sordid Southern-fried backwoods atmosphere. Leo Gordon's deliciously lurid and melodramatic script plays like a blithely low-rent redneck version of "Peyton Place" with ghastly beasts tossed into the mix to spice things up. The colorful hillbilly characters are a real hoot (Gene Roth is especially amusing as a huffy bonehead sheriff). Ken Clark contributes an engaging performance as the stalwart ranger hero. Jan Shepard is equally appealing as Clark's sweet girlfriend. The delectable Yvette Vickers brings an irresistibly naughty "Babydoll"ish allure to her juicy role of a brazen hick hussy. 50's B-picture regular Bruno VeSota truly shines as Vickers' angry and obese cuckolded general store manager husband. The monsters are really hokey, but that only adds to the film's considerable schlocky charm. The scenes in an underwater cave with the hideous leeches sucking blood from their luckless shrieking victims are genuinely gross, chilling and even downright disturbing. John A. Nicholaus' stark, gritty cinematography and Alexander Laszlo's shuddery ooga-booga bombastic score are likewise on the money. Good, trashy low-budget 50's creature feature fun that's tons better and more enjoyable than its undeservedly lousy reputation would suggest.