Night of the Lepus

One of my all-time favorite quotes from Michael Caine in an interview he did about the many movies he's made during his career. When asked what he remembered about the classic Jaws IV, he said "Not much, but I remember the house I bought because I made that movie." That says it all. An actor/actress doesn't need to make a classic every time they make a movie, and who blames them? It's the rare Laurence Olivier or Peter O'Toole that makes an above average, high quality finished product with each movie. And as a movie watcher, you're going to see your share of duds with some still deep, impressive casts. You know going in that the movie is going to be awful, but you watch anyways.

I couldn't help myself and watched 1972's Night of the Lepus, one of the worst movies ever made without a doubt, no question about it. The cast isn't full of A-list, big name stars, but there were a bunch of names I recognized -- and have enjoyed seeing in other movies -- but by the time I finished the movie all I could think was that each and every one of these stars must have been in massive amounts of debt.  To be fair, this is supposed to be a bad movie, a B-movie of epic proportions. Cheesy special effects, a ridiculous story, and overacting around every corner.  This is a flick that might have been better if it wasn't played so seriously (add a little camp value), but it is what it is. It's an awful movie that did give me a couple chuckles here and there.  Now was it intended that way? Who knows for sure.

Working his ranch in the Arizona desert, grizzled rancher Cole Hillman (Rory Calhoun) is seeing a takeover of rabbits on his range to the point where his cattle can't graze because the land has been stripped down. He seeks help from a friend working at a local university in the medical/science department, Elgin Clark (DeForest Kelly), who recommends contacting a researcher couple working in the area, Roy (Stuart Whitman) and Gerry (Janet Leigh) Bennett. They decide to start testing on the rabbits in hopes of stopping them from reproducing, using a new hormone on a small test group. But in the testing process, their daughter lets one of the rabbits go where he rejoins the thousands of rabbits already on the range. The local sheriff (Paul Fix) quickly starts getting calls about bizarre attacks by an unknown animal. Roy and Gerry's worst fears come true, the hormone had the wrong affect on the animals. Rabid, murdering rabbits the size of mountain lions are reproducing in huge numbers, and they're on the rampage. NO ONE is safe!

That was a fun plot description to write, not going to lie. Rabid, murdering rabbits on the rampage? How could that not be amazing? As long as there have been creature movies, there have been bigger than they're supposed to be creature movies. Honestly, how do you make furry, little bunny rabbits terrifying? Well, first, you can't really.  Look at them.  But if you're going to try...make them gigantic with a taste for human flesh. Another similarly awful movie, The Killer Shrews, dealt with the same "issue." Tiny, little shrews tested on and turn into creatures the size of dogs.  Equally ridiculous, and equally not scary.  It's all mindlessly stupid almost from the start, and it just gets stupider as the "story" moves along.

The technique for making gigantic rabbits is laughable and hilarious at the same time.  I only noticed two instances of green screen filming where the cast is edited into a shot of the big bunnies (from a distance of course).  I suppose it was a good thing that this technique wasn't used too much because the end result is pretty bad in the effects department. The solution on the other hand isn't much better.  Very small sets were built to match the sets that the actual human cast used, and then rabbits were released onto these sets with cameras filming. Even better, the cameras are almost underneath the animals to give the impression of their IMMENSITY!  Nothing like slow-motion, running rabbits to send a shiver up your spine.  My favorite technique though (okay, there were two) was the close-up of a pissed off rabbit with his tooth (yes, singular) dripping with blood with growling heard in the background.  Rabbits gotta eat, huh? Capping all this off is the "soundtrack" for the rabbits attacking. Imagine a low, consistent roar like the sound of a cattle drive added in with the sound of slobbering animals.  Scary it is not, but funny, very much so.

For the cast, I have seen and enjoyed watching movies with all five of the names mentioned. I go back and forth wondering what the process was like getting involved with a movie like this. At some point, they actually decided "Yes, I'm going to do this movie. I think it has potential." Okay, maybe not, but they must have been pretty hard-up for any sort of work, any sort of cash at all. What makes this movie better/worse depending on how you look at it is that the cast -- which was a talented one -- plays it all so ridiculously straight that you can't help but give them credit for it. Stick to your guns!  Whitman, Calhoun, Kelly and Fix were all known commodities for me. Solid supporting actors who were never stars but were always fun seeing them in any number of movies.  And then there's Janet Leigh. Did someone have some scandalous information on her and forced her to do this movie? Kudos to her for sticking with it though. She plays the part of the tough but loving wife as well as humanly possible.

One of my favorites with movies like this is how do you wrap it up? How do you kill hundreds and maybe thousands of giant, murdering rabbits? Whitman's plan is unique but I'm still not sure it actually makes sense.  The massing of rabbits is herded toward a stretch of electrified train tracks and then slaughtered with nowhere to go but on those tracks.  It's hysterical (I feel bad for saying that electrocuting bunnies is hysterical by the way) and ridiculous just like the rest of the movie.  If you're looking for a good laugh, this creature feature is a winner.  It's available to watch at Youtube starting HERE with Part 1 of 9. 

The Night of the Lepus <---trailer (1972): */****