Cormans World - Cult Laboratories

Fan Request: Attack of The Giant Leeches

26th Feb. 2012

Thanks to members of the GrindHouse Ninja's Psycho Sinema group on Facebook for posting their favourite classic Roger Corman movies. David Merriman suggested Attack of the Giant Leeches.

FROM THE MURKY UNDERWATER CAVERNS OOZE MONSTROUS AQUA-BEASTS!

This is a classic Drive-in filler, with plenty of B-quality Rubber fiends and a healthy dose of Cold War paranoia designed to play on background hum of nuclear fear that gripped the young generation these films were targeted at. If Dracula movies played on uncomfortable sexuality then 50s monster movies could generally be counted on to needle concerns about reds under the bed and imminent, irradiated annihilation.

In Attack of the Giant Leeches, we see speculation about a pair of mutant leeches that have grown to spectacular size and possess preternaturally high intellect. These disgusting beasts have been dragging innocent people into their underwater cave in order to feed. But could these creatures insane mutations have been caused by leaking radiation from Cape Carnaveral?

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The remarkable story of Hollywood’s most prolific and influential writer-director-producer, the legendary Roger Corman, is the subject of director Alex Stapleton’s affectionate, witty and hugely entertaining documentary, Corman’s World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel, which charts the Oscar winning filmmaker’s career from his early days working in the mail room at 20th Century Fox to the set of one of his most recently produced “creature features”, “Dinoshark”.

Essential viewing for every cineaste, Corman’s World is “a delightful tribute” (Variety) to a true Hollywood great and one that proves to be thrilling, fun, informative and frequently touching (witness a rare and genuinely emotional scene featuring Jack Nicholson that, alone, makes this an unmissable documentary).

Leaving no doubt as to Corman’s seminal influence on modern-day cinema, the film features enlightening interviews with an incredible cavalcade of Hollywood icons, luminaries and A-listers (many of whom began their own careers working under Corman), including Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Joe Dante, Quentin Tarantino, John Sayles, Jonathan Demme, Eli Roth, Peter Fonda, Peter Bogdanovich, William Shatner and countless others.

Combining archival footage with contemporary clips and interviews, Corman’s World chronicles how one man created an empire, cultivating undiscovered talent and pushing the boundaries of what independent filmmakers could achieve when working outside the studio system. From Corman’s original genre-defining works such as “The Fast And The Furious”, “The Little Shop Of Horrors” and his classic film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories, to his distribution of the art house films of Bergman, Kurosawa, Fellini and Truffaut and his continuing work as one of the world’s leading independent film producers, Stapleton’s superb documentary recounts a career that has spanned an astonishing six decades.

Corman’s World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel (cert. tbc) will be a Picturehouse Culture Shock Presentation on Tuesday 21st February and will be available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray from 26th March 2012.

Cinema venues: FACT (Liverpool), Cameo Picturehouse (Edinburgh), Duke Of Yorks (Brighton), Belmont Picturehouse (Aberdeen), Hackney Picturehouse (London), Ritzy Picturehouse (London), Clapham Picturehouse (London), Greenwich Picturehouse (London), Stratford East Picturehouse (London), Regal (Henley-on-Thames), Stratford Upon Avon Picturehouse, Abbeygate Picturehouse (Bury), Exeter Picturehouse, The Little Theatre (Bath), Phoenix Picturehouse (Oxford), City Screen Picturehouse (York), Cinema City (Norwich), Harbour Lights Picturehouse (Southampton), Hyde Park (Leeds), Electric Cinema (Birmingham)..