Teenagers from a rural community and their high school science teacher join forces to battle a giant mutant spider. In doing so, they removed many aspects of the novel (the plot of which focused on Australia dominating the world with a superweapon inadvertently created through the rabbits), and moved its setting from Australia to Arizona. Wonder what she said after her performance in William F. Claxton’s NIGHT OF THE LEPUS. Tag: Night of the Lepus Night of the Lepus (1972) Definition of Lepus 1: a genus (the type of the family Leporidae) comprising the typical hares. [1][2], A. C. Lyles, known primarily for producing western films, would make Night of the Lepus his first and only science fiction production. He goes on to relay a story of a rabbit population explosion in Australia in the 1950s which created chaos as the rabbits were eating up crops and causing a lot of damage. Eventually the National Guard is called in for a final showdown with the terrorizing rabbits. Showtime is 8:00. The film was never released on VHS but was issued on Region 1 DVD in October 2005 and on Blu-ray in June 2018. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Sure, the story may be ludicrous and the effects may be bad, but face it, this film doesn't deserve all the bad publicity it always receives. He criticized the "primitive special effects", badly done editing and laughable dialogue, and noted that while the rabbits and actors are rarely seen on screen together, the filmmakers used obviously fake rabbit paws and people in rabbit suits for the few scenes calling for human/rabbit interactions. We Deal With Criticism ® Movies TV Music PS4 XboxOne Switch PC WiiU 3DS PS Vita … A group of friends are stalked in a storage facility the night before Easter by an axe wielding lunatic in an Easter Bunny costume. Written by In a turn-of-the-century Renaissance Italian mansion, its tyrannical owner, a one-handed, wheelchair-bound pianist, with a strong belief in the occult, is murdered. Reportedly, Leigh said “I’ve forgotten as much as I could about that picture.” After all, the infestation of rabbits takes place only because the ranchers have shot all the coyotes. [14] Reviewing the title for Classic-Horror.com, Julia Merriam gave Night of the Lepus credit for attempting to be a "socially-conscious eco-horror", but criticized the slow pacing, bad dialog, poor editing with a heavy reliance on stock footage that did not appear to be from the same film, and senseless character actions such as entering a rabbit-filled cave just to photograph them. When rabbits overrun a farmer’s land, he turns to a local scientist for a cure rather than poison them. Share on Pinterest Share. Jeff Hole . NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (1972) Three stars Janet Leigh (1927-2004) famously said that she never took another shower after her iconic scene in PSYCHO. The Arkadin Cinema, a local independent theater scheduled to open soon, is hosting an outdoor film series that takes place in the back lot at The Heavy Anchor (5226 Gravois Ave in St. Louis). Isaac Stanford Jolley makes an appearance as a dispatcher, while Jerry Dunphy has a cameo as a television newscaster. Night of the Lepus was released on Blu-ray from Scream Factory back in June 2018, and yes I am only now getting around to checking it out. Night Of The Lepus at ‘Arkadin Cinema and Bar’ April 3rd at The Heavy Anchor in St. Louis, Maren Morris Celebrates Son's First Birthday With Adorable Peter Rabbit-Themed Party, Best of the Worst: Night of the Lepus, Zombie 3, and Silk. As Elgin and Cole set charges on top of the mine, Roy and Frank enter the shaft to get pictorial evidence. [18], "Night of the Lepus: TCM Underground - Insider Info", "Night of the Lepus: TCM Underground - In The Know", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Night_of_the_Lepus&oldid=1002697725, Articles with dead external links from May 2019, Self-contradictory articles from May 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 25 January 2021, at 17:48. Let’s face it, this wasn’t going to be some kind of misunderstood masterpiece. Shudder Boasts its Biggest Horror Movie and TV Line-Up Ever in April, Cottontails On the Rampage! [8] In an October 1972 issue, fellow critic Roger Greenspun panned it for not "even reasonably try[ing]" to make the rabbits scary, its reliance on "tired clichés of monsterdom", "technical laziness" in its special effects, "stupid story", and "dumb direction that leaves the film in limbo" between a horror film and a fairy tale. You must need to login..! One is injected with a new serum believed to cause birth defects. For some scenes, the rabbits were filmed in close-up stomping on miniature structures in slow motion. [11], Allmovie's Jeremy Wheeler felt the film was "all good, unintentionally campy fun" and "silly to its core". Roy and Elgin update Sheriff Cody on the situation and, after realizing the rabbits have escaped the mine, call in the National Guard. The OP is RELOADED every full moon and will continue until all who swear allegiance to the dark master F.A.C.E. Character actors from Westerns the pair had worked on were brought in to star in the Night of the Lepus, including Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun, and DeForest Kelley. When a research scientist and his wife inject a hormone into a rabbit in an attempt to exterminate the bunny population, the hare goes astray and breeds an army of "super rabbits" that … Enter through the front of The Heavy … For those of you with a curious nature, I'd recommend viewing this film at least once, just so you can be counted among film fans that have watched this killer bunny film...trust me, it won't hurt at all! However, the Bennetts' daughter Amanda loves the injected rabbit, so she switches it with one from the control group. Night of the Lepus and similar films | Frankensaurus.com Films similar to or like Night of the Lepus 1972 Australian-American science fiction horror thriller film based upon the science fiction novel The Year of the Angry Rabbit (1964) by Russell Braddon. Jackie finds more of the animal tracks in Billy's shed, while Amanda goes into the mine and runs into an enormous rabbit with blood on its face. Night of the Lepus is a now legendary bad movie about – wait for it – giant killer rabbits! They recruit a large group of people at a drive-in theater to help herd the rabbits with their car lights, with assistance from the machine gun fire of the National Guard. [4], According to Turner Classic Movies' David Kalat, the film's director William F. Claxton also came from a Western film background. Night of the Lepus has gained cult status for its laughably poor quality. [1] For other scenes, human actors were shown wearing rabbit costumes. Noting that the film had "a certain overall charm and several striking sequences", he felt the film would have been more successful if it "had the courage of its convictions – and its realism". He heavily criticizes Claxton, feeling that he "just seems wholly incapable of making the movie remotely frightening, or even of making much sense" and that the bad special effects "make the entire film a huge joke". As for the Blu-ray, Scream provides viewers with a new 2K scan from the … night of the lepus 34401 GIFs. What no one realized was that, no matter what you do, a bunny rabbit is a bunny rabbit [laughs]\ A rat, that can be menacing— so can a frog. Top reviews from Canada There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Amanda is then given the injected rabbit as a pet, but it soon escapes. Outside, a rabbit surfaces and attacks Jud before Gerry can shoot it. Horror. The gut reaction of most people who see it for the first time (myself included) is to lambaste it outright. In Night of the Lepus, this was explained by stating that they were descended from recent rabbit farm escapees. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Night of the Lepus boasts a heavy reliance on stock footage, yet Lepus's creators couldn't even be bothered to make sure that the added scenes matched the rest of the film. An isolated remote island community is threatened by an attack by tentacled silicates which liquefy and digest bone and tissue. I have some personal, not so fond memories of this film. Mutilated bodies begin to crop up around town, including those of Billy, a truck driver, and a family of four. Stating that it was in the "so-bad-it's-good" category for only two minutes, he found the actors to be "stiff and uninvolved" in delivering their lines, and that it seemed more like an "old television horse opera" than a horror film with more slow-paced filler than action sequences, and the few bits of action ruined by the "corniest possible 'action' music". From 1975 to 1979 I … Roy proposes using hormones to disrupt the rabbits' breeding cycle and takes some rab… "[6], Fellow The Rifleman actor Paul Fix was given the role of the sheriff of the town under siege, while DeForest Kelley, who frequently guest starred in Westerns, was cast as Elgin Clark, the college president who asked researchers to try to stop the rabbits. Night of the Lepus was shot on location at Old Tucson Studios in Arizona, a short three hour drive from Los Angeles. [7] In Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature, Susan E. Davis and Margo DeMello considered the film an "entertaining romp", praising the "alarmingly realistic" circumstances behind the rabbit mutations, while criticizing the "notoriously badly done" special effects and the rabbits being made to "roar" during their attacks. Screaming in terror, she runs from the mine. [16], MGM never released the movie on VHS, and the film didn't get a home video release until October 4, 2005 when Warner Home Video brought it out on DVD, with the only special features being the film's trailer and different language and subtitle options. [15], In Horror Films of the 1970s, John Kenneth Muir felt Night of the Lepus was one of the "most ridiculous horror film[s] ever conceived", with a poor blend of horror and environmentalism that resulted in it being more of a comedy. Night of the Lepus (DVD) Customer reviews. Bennett immediately begins injecting rabbits with hormones and genetically mutated blood in an effort to develop a method of disrupting rabbit reproduction. To further prevent the audience from thinking of cuddly bunnies in relation to the film, the theatrical posters featured no rabbits, instead displaying only eyes and referencing unnamed "creatures". The explosives fail to kill the rabbits, and that night they attack Cole's ranch, killing Jud while Cole, Frank, Jackie, and Cole's housekeeper Dorothy escape into the storm shelter. There was no limit to the horror... no end to the Night of the Lepus! Then the focus … Share on Twitter Tweet. With Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun, DeForest Kelley. The trailers also showed no rabbits, and the press releases only mentioned that the film had "mutants." A hormone intended to alter the breeding cycle of rabbits overrunning Arizona ranchlands instead turns them into flesh-eating, 150-pound monsters in Night of the Lepus! Rancher Cole Hillman seeks the help of college president Elgin Clark to combat thousands of rabbits that have invaded the area after their natural predators, coyotes, were killed off. Bennett immediately begins injecting rabbits with hormones and genetically mutated blood in an effort to develop a method of disrupting rabbit reproduction. [3], The domesticated rabbits used in the film differed greatly in appearance from the wild rabbits that were plaguing the southwest at the time. [12], John J. Puccio of DVDTown.com felt Night of the Lepus would have been better had it been an intentionally humorous horror spoof, rather than a legitimate attempt at making a horror film with killer rabbits. In Night of the Lepus (filmed on location in beautiful Tucson, AZ and surrounding areas in the Old Pueblo! The next time you watch Night of the Lepus, you can listen as Scott and Bryan take a deep dive into the 1972 horror movie, from its adorably ravenous rabbits and blood-soaked kills to its unique approach to the "animals attack" horror subgenre and its game cast led by the legendary Janet Leigh and Stuart Whitman. Though he felt the special effects were poor, he felt Night of the Lepus successfully tied into ongoing fears of throwing ecology out of balance, with the rabbits serving as an appropriate metaphor for human fears about overpopulation. It is also the day their relationship comes to a head, and ... See full summary », Cole Hillman's Arizona ranch is plagued with 'mongrel' rabbits, and he wants to employ an ecologically sound control method. Elgin asks for the assistance of researchers Roy and Gerry Bennett because they respect Cole's wish to avoid using cyanide to poison the rabbits. In rural Arizona, countless killer tarantulas are migrating through a farm town, killing every living thing in their path. ), a scientist couple (played by Stuart Whitman and Psycho-star Janet Leigh) try to put the brakes on an epidemic of massive bunny herds that have been eating all the crops of local ranchers. But before we chortle ourselves into complacency, let’s remember that Night of the Lepus is a movie with a message—an environmental horror film. [13] AMC Film Critic's Christopher Null states that it is famous as "one of the worst films ever made". Believe it or not, NIGHT OF THE LEPUS was a fairly high-profile MGM release back in 1972, with name actors like Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh and DeForest Kelley (who ensured by his presence here that he’d come to be known solely for playing Bones McCoy on STAR TREK). Night of the Lepus opens with a man behind a desk giving a news report telling us over population isn’t confined to the human race. The rabbits are filmed up close in slow-motion and dripping with blood as they maul the locals, but they are only as cute as they are harmless. To all of you who like nothing better than to nuke some corn, dim the lights and settle in with cinematic mutations like … [3] To craft the film, he pulled together people he had worked with on other Westerns. [9] In the Monthly Film Bulletin, Tom Milne felt Night of the Lepus had a promising beginning before moving into a "well-worn horror groove", such as the effort to trap Gerry and Amanda alone in a deserted area for a last-minute rescue. Cole Hillman's Arizona ranch is plagued with 'mongrel' rabbits, and he wants to employ an ecologically sound control method. Certificate: Passed [17] Scream Factory later released the movie on Blu-Ray on June 19, 2018. Who were the actors dressed in rabbit costumes in Night of the Lepus. Rancher Cole Hillman seeks the help of college president Elgin Clark to combat thousands of rabbitsthat have invaded the area after their natural predators, coyotes, were killed off. A hormone intended to alter the breeding cycle of rabbits overrunning ranchlands instead turns them into flesh-eating, 150-pound monsters in Night of the Lepus … At the film's ending, Cole tells Roy that normal rabbits, as well as coyotes, have returned to the ranch. Share on Facebook Share. Top reviews. 4.6 out of 5 stars. This is a pre-staged OP that went live Oct. 31, 2020, 14:49Z. [1][2][7], Originally called Rabbits, MGM changed the title of the film, using the scientific name for "rabbit" in hopes of keeping the audience from presuming the animals would be non-menacing. I watched this 1972 waskily wabbit horror film, based on the science fiction novel “The Year of the Angry Rabbit” (1964) by Russell Braddon, on Svengoolie. So it goes in Night of the Lepus (Latin for rabbit, as characters frequently remind each other and the audience.) Music for giant rabbits to kill to [2] Filming began at the end of January 1972 and concluded in early March. 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