Atomic Robot News: New Poster And Behind The Scenes Photos From Attack Of The Giant Leeches

New Poster And Behind The Scenes Photos From Attack Of The Giant Leeches

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Brett Kelly / Avery Guerra

It seems that director Brett Kelly has been getting a lot of press here lately. Well, I guess that would be expected, because he is a hyper little movie making chihuahua these days, juggling several different productions at one time. Presently Kelly is working on "Iron Soldier", "Pirates: Quest for Snake Island", "The Scarab" and a remake of the 1959, Roger Corman cult-classic, "Attack of the Giant Leeches."

Well, Leeches is about to roll off the assembly line on April 7th so Kelly has released a whole slew of brand new 'behind-the-scenes' photos for monster fans around the world to enjoy.

It is important to note that Kelly, unlike most directors who 're-make' classic films, is keeping pretty 'true' to the story of the Corman produced original. The director explains, "The remake is loyal in many regards. It's set in modern day and many of the characters are similar, we improved on inter character relations, and of course, the creatures are better. It's sexier, and has many touches that fans of the original will dig."

Kelly, just like "Monster of Phantom Lake" director, Christopher R Mihm, was raised on the classic monster films of the 50s and 60s, so it would be safe to assume that the director would want to emulate those kind of films.

The director adds, "I love the "classics" and was raised by a dad who loved movies of all sorts. I was weaned on the Universal Monsters and through the trickle-down effect, discovered the 50s monster/scifi flicks. I love them. Leeches is a fun movie with a different twist -- it kind of wanders into Tennessee Williams territory for a while, then comes back to being a monster film. It's a riot."

One of the main improvements that Kelly has made has to do with the actual monsters themselves. Back in 1959 Corman and his production team, in true low-budget style, opted to use floating rubber mats for the leeches, an effect that wasn't very scary even for the late 50s.

This updated version will feature 'hand-puppets' as the monster leeches, again another technique that's roots come from early B movie makers. Probably not as scary as 'life-size', CGI created, mean-eating leeches, but an improvement none the less.

It will have to be seen if indeed Kelly can recapture some of that infamous, "Corman magic" in his re-make of "Attack of the Giant Leeches"? From what the director has said so far, it looks like he is very sincere about producing a tribute to B movie monsters that the fans will want to see.

Here is a whole herd of Leech infested photos from the production: