Night Of The Lepus

Night of the Lepus (1972)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: William F. Claxton

Starring: Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun, DeForest Kelley, Paul Fix

From: MGM

I saw this movie last night, on Turner Classic Movies; really. I hope that everyone had a nice Easter. Mine was fine. Yes I've seen this infamous movie before, but that was many years ago. At least this is pretty good to laugh at, as I explain below: 

Last night on Turner Classic Movies, they showed several movies dealing with rabbits, due to today being Easter 2017. For lolz, TCM decided to show this movie, and not even for TCM Underground. I imagine many are familiar with this infamous movie, but if not, Lepus is part of the scientific name for “rabbit”, and the plot is all about a rabbit injected with a serum which causes it to grow to giant size and well, it breeds like a bunny does and because it's a movie, we immediately get many giant killer rabbits... and that is a hard sell for a lot of people right there, the thought of giant killer rabbits as the villains. That's why the title ended up being where most people wouldn't know what a Lepus was.

The setting is the American Southwest. Not a surprise, as the people who made this used to make low-budget Westerns back in the day. They tried to go the horror route and they cast various actors who they worked with in the past. There are scientists, ranchers, local law enforcement... and a little girl who was written to be annoying and she is the one who causes the whole kerfuffle. The effects that bring the threat to life are definitely quaint... it's either miniatures (which I won't hate on) or people dressed in bunny costumes, which does come across as a little silly. I'll say this isn't the best possible movie we could have gotten with such a premise, but I wouldn't want to see someone like The Asylum or the Syfy Channel do a motion picture with this premise either, as awful CG wouldn't be much better, even if the kills would be more vicious than just seeing mild attacks or the aftermath of attacks, where random people have fake blood all over them.

This is not good but I can't say this is unwatchably bad or insufferable or boring. It just has a goofy as hell premise. You can laugh at seeing cute bunny rabbits portrayed as vicious killers, or enjoy the 70's milieu, or be amused at seeing the likes of DeForest Kelley and Janet Leigh wearing early 70's clothing. “Laughing at it” seems like the best way to enjoy this kitschy piece of crap, where you can watch famous old actors be in a motion picture with such a gonzo premise.