NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (1972)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Even for grade-Z schlock, "Night of the Lepus" is so poor in all departments that aim to either thrill, shock or even remotely scare that I wonder what sort of drugs the filmmakers were on.
The movie concerns rabbits who grow to mammoth proportions - we are talking "Food of the Gods"-size. How, you might ask? Zoologist Dr. Bennett (Stuart Whitman) injects rabbits with hormones to help prevent further reproduction due to those little critters destroying a farmer's crops. Unfortunately, one of the test subjects (the rabbit, that is) escapes and the injection leads to mutated, giant rabbits who begin eating people in a nearby town. This is a job for the National Guard!
Based on a sci-fi novel called "The Year of the Angry Rabbit" (the themes and content are vastly different), "Night of the Lepus" has a concept that can't possibly work, unless the rabbits are shown to be ferocious creatures with evil red eyes. Unfortunately, the rabbits are merely filmed in slow-motion wide-angle shots amidst model town replicas! The best that can be shown are the rabbits' bloodied incisor teeth! In some cases, actors are dressed in bunny suits! I pity Janet Leigh and Stuart Whitman, as well as DeForest Kelley and Rory Calhoun, for appearing in this junk. They stand around, look concerned, and utter the most banal dialogue ever written for a monster movie. To top it all off, the ending leaves the door open for a sequel. Ugh.
There is one moment I love. The National Guard stops a screening at a drive-in and announce that the town is under attack by killer rabbits. The cars promptly leave the drive-in. I have two questions: did these townsfolk think a big prank was being played on them and, secondly, why leave so promptly? Has this happened before?
