MST3K: Episode 406 - Attack of the Giant Leeches

I'm watching all of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes in order. More about that here and here.

Episode 406: Attack of the Giant Leeches

First aired: Comedy Central on 18 July 1992
Availability: iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon (Volume 6), Rhino (Volume 6/out of print)

The movie sucks more than the leeches suck.

It's a Roger Corman film. Which means it's not a good film. But, it will be short.

Of course, a short running time on a feature film means that Dr. Forrester will send up a short film for Joel & the Bots to watch. And, this time, it's another Republic Pictures serial. It's chapter one of Undersea Kingdom, starring Johnny Weissmuller's stuntman, Crash Corrigan.

Here's the plot: there's strange earthquakes going on, which can only mean... something's happening in Atlantis! An evil Atlantian -- not, not Ted Turner -- wants to take over Atlantis and then the world. Okay, maybe it is Ted Turner. But it's up to Crash Corrigan, a professor, a hot chick reporter, three sailors, a parrot, and a stowaway kid to stop him. Unga Khan (that's the evil dude's name) sends his minions on horseback to capture Crash and crew. Will they stop the evil Unga Khan? Will the world be safe? Will the Braves make the playoffs? Tune in next time. Or not.

A giant leech attacks!

The movie, as mentioned, is a Roger Corman exercise in futility. Strange deaths in the swamp can only mean one thing: giant leeches! They attack evil Floridians and nice Floridians. Wait, I don't think there are any nice Floridians in this film. There are some stupid ones, though. Anyway, there's a doctor who wants to go blast fishing for whatever's down there, and a game warden who's all sweet on the doc's daughter. The doc drops his dynamite -- every doctor has dynamite, after all -- into the swamp and convinces everyone there's strange creatures down there. The game warden goes after them. A lot of people die, but not everybody. The end.

It was fun in bits. Dr. Forrester and Frank had some funny bits involving a giant leech (played by Kevin Murphy). The holo-clowns reappear. J&tB are a danger to themselves and others.

A danger to themselves and others.

Dr. Forrester finally removes the leech from Frank.

This one just didn't do it for me. I actually hadn't seen it before watching it this week, even though I own the Volume 6 set, as well as the iTunes download. It was one that I fully intended to watch, but never got around to.

I may need to watch it again, in order to get the full enjoyment of it. There were some distractions to this week's viewing, so I'm not prepared to give it a thumbs down. But, I'm leaning that way.

It is a Corman film, after all. It may not improve with a second viewing.

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