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Movie Summary  Short: The Undersea Kingdom:  The short is a segment of a 1930s serial. "Crash" Corrigan is a hard-wrestling navy man who joins dotty Professor Norton and seven-year-old Billy (Crash's brother? houseboy?) in a search for Atlantis. They find it and it's one goofy-ass place.  Movie: Attack Of The Giant Leeches:  The movie features swamp-dwelling hicks who inhabit an isolated corner of South Florida, probably the Everglades. Chief among them are chunky grocer Dave Walker (played by Bruno VeSota - see episode 0307 - Daddy-O); his hot, philandering, leopard-skin-underweared wife Liz; and Liz's thick lover, Cal. The big leeches attack the hicks as they tend drunkenly to their otter lines, and drag them to an underwater hideout as a source of blood. These are some smart giant leeches: It seems they target those who see them. When Liz and Cal are snatched after being chased into the swamp by the lumbering cuckolded Dave, dozens of outraged hicks pour into the swamp with hounds and torches. Steve, a game warden, dons scuba gear and has a pointless knife fight with the leeches. Although it's a nice try, a few sticks of dynamite tossed in the water finally solve the problem. Everybody goes home with a trunk-load o' crappies too. — Paul Chaplin Host Segments  Prologue:  The horrifying, argumentative Holo-Clowns from the last show, are still in the Hex field, and Joel struggles to get rid of them. He finally does. Crow: "Let's not do that again!"  Invention:  Forrester applies a leech to Frank's neck. It's meant to substitute for a nicotine patch, sucking any desire to smoke out of Frank (even though Frank doesn"™t smoke). On the SOL, Joel uses the SOL Insti-Adolescent Kit to make an adenoidal teen out of Servo, complete with zits.  Segment 2:  The 'Bots imagine how, they would dress if they planned to take over the world, and what they'd do with the world once they got it. Ends with a quick look at Forrester in some weird, gaudy outfit, lording over Frank. "Bow down before me, Jor-El!"  Segment 3:  Joel and all three 'Bots talk about their dreams. Joel dreams that Crow and Servo buy a duplex together; Gypsy: "I dream I fly in color."  Segment 4:  From a boat, dressed as hicks, a song: "We're a Danger to Ourselves and Others." It's a stream of unfair stereotypes involving incest and stupidity.  Segment 5:  Joel, Crow and Servo reflect on just how, smart the giant leeches actually were. In Deep 13, Forrester has left the leech on Frank for too long. It's huge, and Frank is drained of blood.  Stinger:  Billy from Undersea Kingdom has an episode. Reflections I love this movie. It wanders a bit, and would-be hero Steve is another example of our leading men who don't really do anything except by chance. However, the setting is truly spooky and claustrophobic, and the hicks seem like the genuine article. As I said at the time, "It's got an intensity about it I admire." (I still get grief for that.) Plus, Liz fulfills a certain fantasy type of woman. For me, anyway. Gene Roth appears as a wise-cracking, snotty sheriff—pretty much the same role he played in episode 0313 - Earth Vs. The Spider. But back to the hicks, and the whole setting: Some three years later, the feel of this movie still stands out for me. The film's world is the perfect mythical swampy South, a sweaty place where people have steamy, furtive sex and strange things snatch you if you wander beyond the dogwoods. A lot of mainstream films that try to capture the same mood and even succeed to an extent (Southern Comfort, Deliverance) don't do it as well. Of course as Mike points out, this movie's makers were themselves weird, spooky southerners. They were working in their genre. — Paul Chaplin