LEECHES! (2003) Reviews and overview of creature feature

  

‘They will bleed you dry…’

Leeches! is a 2003 American sci-fi horror film about huge-sized steroid-laced titular creatures attacking students on a college campus. Promoted as Leeches

Directed by David DeCoteau (Swamp Freak; 90210 Shark Attack; 1313 franchise; three Puppet Master movies; Grizzly Rage; Prison of the Dead; The Killer Eye; Creepozoids; many more).

The screenplay was written by Michael Gingold (Halloween Night; Shadow: Dead Riot; Ring of Darkness; editor of Rue Morgue magazine; former editor of Fangoria magazine) based on a story co-written with Gary Barkin and David DeCoteau.

The Rapid Heart Pictures-Sidekick Entertainment production stars Matthew Twining, Josh Henderson, Stacey Nelson, Alexandra Westmore, Michael Lutz, Tony Carroccio, Charity Rahmer and Maya Parish.

Plot:

Common-type aquatic leeches grow to large size after feeding on steroid-laced blood of a number of Lakecrest College endurance swimmers, and then the nasty creatures lay siege to the entire campus for more…

Reviews:

“Things I Learned From This Movie:
Steroids are nightmare fuel.
Leeches speak Orca.
There is such a thing as a bad shower scene.
Swallowing a five-pound leech will give you a belly ache that Alka-Seltzer cannot cure.
It is impossible to overdose on steroids.
Leeches love disco.”
Bad Movies

” …dreadful farrago of a chiller, with rotten acting, a dire script and terrible effects. Leeches! is cheerfully cheap and short (85 minutes), but that’s about all it has in its favour, though it could be considered so bad it’s good by the charitably minded.” Derek Winnert

“This movie is a pretty bare-bones exercise in male cheesecake. There’s nothing wrong with it, provided that you’re into this kind of thing […] The problem is that the actual plot is not good. The acting is not good. The production values are, well, you get the idea. If you like sh*tty movies being made towards your demographic, DeCoteau has you covered.” Mondo Bizarro

“Written by Fangoria contributor Michael Gingold you’d expect better from someone who makes a career out of watching crappy horror movies and the anti-drug message they’ve thrown into this comes across as weak and unnecessary. Then there’s the low-scale leech attacks […] and junky plotting; but at least it moves quickly enough – too bad it’s too cheap to work.” The Video Graveyard

Cast and characters:

Matthew Twining … Stevo
Josh Henderson … Jason
Stacey Nelson … Casey
Alexandra Westmore … Sarah
Michael Lutz … Spencer
Tony Carroccio … Coach Foster
Charity Rahmer … Sabrina
Maya Parish … Angela
Stephen Swan … Tony
Greg Lyczkowski … Fish
Mark Ian Miller … Hank (as Mark I. Miller)
Trevor Harris … Doug
Julie Briggs … Doctor Alice Manning
Tyler Sedustine … Student
Mike Cole … Brian
David DeCoteau … Franklin, Walkie Talkie Voice (uncredited)

Filming locations:

Malibu, California

Technical details:

1 hour 25 minutes
Audio: Stereo
Aspect ratio: 2.35: 1

Related:

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (2008) Reviews and free to watch online

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959) Reviews and free to view online in HD

Trailer:

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