ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES

In the Florida Everglades, a group of gigantic, intelligent leeches live secretly beneath the depths of a deep swamp. Following the violent death of a local fisherman near the swamp, game warden Steve Benton (Clark) sets out to investigate the cause, despite local authorities blaming the incident on an alligator.

Only a few days after, two more locals, Liz Walker (Vickers) and Cal Moulton (Emmet) go missing near the swamp, while having an affair behind the back of her husband (VeSota), who is wrongly blamed for their deaths (eventually committing suicide while in jail). Search parties are formed throughout the surrounding area looking for the bodies but none are found, and two more men go missing.

Steve, with the aid of his girlfriend, Nan Grayson (Sheppard), and her father, Doc Grayson, discover the gruesome truth, the giant leeches are not only the cause of the disappearances, but are also feeding on their victims (who are imprisoned in an underground cave), slowly draining them of blood. Steve and his friend Mike (Kelley), both divers from the war, dive to the bottom of the swamp. They find the cave’s underwater entrance, but are attacked by the leeches. With the use of spearguns and knives, they manage to kill one, but are forced to retreat before they can save a single victim, all of which are found dead.

The creatures are finally destroyed when Steve, Mike and several state troopers blow up the underwater cavern using dynamite. The bodies of the killed leeches rise lifeless to the surface of the water, but in the film's closing moments, one of the leeches can be seen, still alive and swimming away.

The giant leeches are believed destroyed after their underwater cavern is blown up with dynamite, but one is seen escaping, hinting the threat may persist.

The explosive climax offers the illusion of resolution as the main leeches are killed, but the final shot of a surviving creature swimming away leaves the door open for continued danger and plays into the era’s taste for lingering, ambiguous menace. The film’s ending is a classic nod to 1950s monster movie conventions—evil may be beaten, but it’s never truly gone.