The Forbidden Grotto of Horror
Steve Nyand aka Squonkamatic, October 2018
Yeah I know what you're thinking. Silly late 50s black and white monster movie cheapie. But I will content strenuously that this is one of the most seriously twisted movies ever made and am nothing short of in awe of it. While not that well versed in the film's history it was shot on the ultra-cheap by Bernard L. Kowalski under the watchful eyes of Roger and Gene Corman, using a stock-actor cast led by sometime Spaghetti Western star Ken Clark. He plays a Navy underwater demolitions diver turned wildlife biologist game warden "dude" type and gets to doff his shirt for a couple of beefcake scenes for co-star Jan Shepard's approval.
So, what was your BUDs class again?
The film works because of it's brilliantly stupid premise: Testing of atomic powered rockets at Cape Canaveral has resulted in spinoff radiation tainting the waters of the surrounding backwoods wetlands. Otherwise (relatively) harmless leeches have been mutated to giant size and lurk around in the boggy bayous waiting for poachers to devour. In the midst of this dreck is some startlingly frank Hicksploitation in the form of Yvette Vickers clad in as little as they could get away with. She torments her rotund and poorly matched husband Dave (Bruno VeSta) for being "inadequate" and seeks relief for her womanly needs in the arms of Dave's best buddy Cal (Michael Emmett). Dave gets fed up, follows them into the swamp with a shotgun, and orders them into the giant leech infested bog to their doom.
So, what was your BUDs class again?
The film works because of it's brilliantly stupid premise: Testing of atomic powered rockets at Cape Canaveral has resulted in spinoff radiation tainting the waters of the surrounding backwoods wetlands. Otherwise (relatively) harmless leeches have been mutated to giant size and lurk around in the boggy bayous waiting for poachers to devour. In the midst of this dreck is some startlingly frank Hicksploitation in the form of Yvette Vickers clad in as little as they could get away with. She torments her rotund and poorly matched husband Dave (Bruno VeSta) for being "inadequate" and seeks relief for her womanly needs in the arms of Dave's best buddy Cal (Michael Emmett). Dave gets fed up, follows them into the swamp with a shotgun, and orders them into the giant leech infested bog to their doom.
Yvette Vickers can sit around all day & chainsmoke over at my place too. Sounds fine.
And it is thusly that the film earned nothing shy of awe from me in what their fate may be, as the giant leeches drag them under water and into an air pocket cavern underneath the swamp which they have transformed into a low-budget grotto hive. If they'd had more money to sink into the scene it would have been a disaster. As-is this is the stuff that nightmares are made out of, as bulbous rubbery things drain the blood out of their human victims, who have apparently been stunned with some sort of poison (?) to rob them of any will to fight back or escape. And yeah, while it's scary to see the things working over the winos and old man poacher types they've captured, it is downright chilling to undertake of what they might do to poor Ms. Vickers, whom of course is left for last.
Had the film been made fifteen years later it would have been an absolute showstopper, with Corman returning to the themes of ghastly slime creatures having their way with human females. As usual with the best of horror movies it is what they don't show which proves to be the most disturbing elements, as the mind fills in the blanks left onscreen. Another more well-regarded example being the fate of poor navigator Lambert from ALIEN and director Ridley Scott's own implied suggestion that something pretty unnatural occurred between her and that film's oozing mass of slime.
Being the geek I am for such things, I made a little video clip which distills all of the Leech Grotto scenes down into three minutes of low-budget Hell on Earth. I love the floating plants, the sound effects and how claustrophobic the space is. I also like how you have to swim down under the bottom of the swamp to get there, and yet there seems to be just enough light to make sure everyone gets a good look at what they could afford to stage.
Atavistic prurient garbage to be sure, and yet it has a certain something about it which goes beyond just the needs of a low budget monster movie. Has to do with tapping in to a nightmare scenario of powerlessness and loss of essence which is both highly suggestive and about as erotic as a leftover plate of cole slaw.
We'll never know ...
In case you've never and want to give it a try, here's a link to the complete film via a YouTube upload. The film runs something like 62 minutes, is fast, funny and will leave you thinking about anything except the environmental hazards posed by atomic powered rockets. Because there are none.
OR,
Click here for the film at Archive.Org with a free download option to the LBX version used for my screen pix.
Attack of the Giant Leeches at the IMDb with a link for viewing via Amazon Prime Video.
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