ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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For all those film critics who claim that Hollywood is scared to try new ideas, here's proof that Hollywood will try anything. After making monster movies which featured every imaginable kind of vermin and pest, Hollywood got desperate and made one about monster rabbits.

(Monster rabbits?)

That's right, the word "lepus" means rabbit. The story concerns a group of scientist who try to solve a rabbit over-population problem in the Midwest by injecting the bunnies with a hormone intended to decrease their breeding abilities.

Instead, the hormone increases the rabbits' growth rate until they weight 150 pounds, stand four feet tall, and roar.

(Roaring rabbits?)

Right! That's what makes them "monster" rabbits. The special effects involve a combination of real rabbits on miniature sets and actors in monster rabbit suits.

(Monster rabbit suits!?)

The National Guard is called in to battle this menace to mankind.

(The National Guard battles big bunnies!!?)

Yes, indeed. Producer A. C. Lyles and director William F. Claxton knew full-well that a distinguished cast was needed to lend credibility to this bold and risky venture, so they hired Stuart Whitman ("City Beneath the Sea"), Janet Leigh ("Psycho"), Deforest Kelly ("Star Trek"), Rory Calhoun ("The Texan"), and Paul Fix ("The Rifleman").

These fine stars did their best . . . but alas it wasn't enough, and "Night of the Lepus" is considered a failed experiment. What the film needed was Morris Ankrum as an army general who uttered profound lines such as —

"Good Lord, if we don't stop these monsters, there won't be a single carrot left on the planet!"

Now THAT I would love to see!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I swear to God, there could NOT be a better trailer for this wacky movie than this one!

It never shows a single wascally wabbit, but we see plenty of the bloody victims who fall prey to those vicious hopping monstrosities, and the distinguished cast look mighty worried that they won't live through the night!

This is a masterful piece of salesmanship. You might not want to watch the movie, but this trailer is better than a basket filled with candy on Easter morning!

And as a musical bonus, treat yourself to the clever music video below for Jimmie Haskell's haunting theme for this movie, a warm-and-fuzzy melody which accompanies terrifying scenes of galloping rabbit herds attacking helpless farmers, crashing through windows and gnawing on jugular veins!
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________________ Night Of The Lepus (Trailer)


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______ Night of the Lepus Soundtrack by Jimmie Haskell


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

Based, very loosely, on the Australian comic SF novel, "Year of the Angry Rabbit". I read it back in the 70s, a good book.

David.

[Gord Green]

Influenced, no doubt, by the Great Jackrabbit Invasion of Australia!
(A real thing by the way!)

[scotpens]

[Custer]

[Bud Brewster]

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Look carefully at the eyes shining out of the darkness in the poster above. Notice how close together some of them are. And the pair of eyes closest to the man with the raised shovel . . . are crossed!

The poster artist was having a little fun. He's suggesting that this movie is about giant, carnivorous, mutant . . . cross-eyed rabbits!

Imagine what a great movie this would have been if they'd made a funny spoof of 1950s giant monster movies, similar to Ted Newsome's The Naked Monster, with giant crossed-eyed rabbits battling the civilians, the police, and the army!

I wonder if the existing film could be dubbed with funny dialog and released on a DVD.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Imagine my surprise when I watched this movie yesterday and actually enjoyed it! Here's a few of the unexpected reasons.

The YouTube version of this movie has a surprisingly good picture!

The sound man for the film came up with a low-base "organic" rumbling noise which did a lot more to convince me that hundreds of killer creatures were moving through the darkness than that annoying "squeaky wheel" noise that was used in Them! in 1954.

There were many close-ups of the rabbits with their long rat-like teeth showing, smeared with blood! Those shots gave me chills! I had no idea rabbits had teeth like rats!

The distinguished cast (which included Janet Leigh, Stuart Whitman, and both Paul Fix and DeForest Kelley from Star Trek) did an admirable job.

The special effects — contrary to what the critics have said — are actually quite good! Countless miniature sets were built and lighted perfectly to present the scenes of rampaging monsters with long ears galloping into small towns and gobbling up the poor citizens.

Enjoy this clip of scenes from the movie. It includes a few attacks which demonstrate just how dangerous these deceptively cute rodents can be!

_____________ Night of the Lepus (Best Clips!!)


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But the best reason to defend this movie from its critics is the amazing climax!

After calling the National Guard to battle the horde of rampaging monsters, the clever citizens and the local law enforcement officers devised an ingenious plan!

The police evacuated a local drive-in theater and then directed all the cars to form a wide barrier in a large open field which paralleled a railroad track, while shining their headlights towards the tracks.

Meanwhile the power company was ordered to wire up the tracks with high voltage electricity, turning the rails into a deadly barrier to stop the stampeding monsters!

And what, you may ask, was the Nation Guard doing during all this?

The brave soldiers set up their marksmen and artillery on the other side of the railroad tracks, facing the advancing rabbits as they were driven towards the electrified tracks by line of cars with their headlights blazing in the dark. (The carnivorous mutant rabbits are nocturnal and shy away from bright lights.)

The best scene in this movie is the long, violent, FX-packed final battle. It knocked my socks off!

When the stampeding rabbits at the front of the herd came into contact with the electrified tracks, they leaped into the air and screamed horribly! The National Guard and the brave law enforcement officers on the other side of the tracks blasted away at the furry mass and added to the creature's growing causalities!

Guns blasted, sparks flew, and electrical arcs danced across the rodent carnage for a shocking length of time! I was very impressed with the tight editing and the long battle between the desperate humans and the vicious creatures who were determined to ravage this region of the United States and eat all the animal life it contained!

Trust me, folks — don't believe a word of the negative comments about this much maligned film! This movie took on the challenging task of presenting the most adorable creatures known to man as blood-thirsty killers — and it actually succeeded!

Night of the Lepus is an effective and chilling horror / science fiction movie which demonstrates both skill and imagination. I place this movie far above less effective efforts from the 1950s like The Deadly Mantis!

And I ordered the DVD from Amazon tonight.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

I haven't seen the entire movie yet, but you're right -- some of the miniature work shown in the clips on YouTube is quite effective and believable.

Oh, and rabbits aren't rodents. They belong to the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha.

[Bud Brewster]

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production,
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~ Janet Leigh declined to allow her two teenage daughters, Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis, to appear in the movie in minor roles, as she did not want them to be part of, or see, a horror film. Ironically, Jamie Lee later broke out as a "scream queen".

Note from me: Yes indeed, a loving mother must protect her young daughter from horror movies like Halloween I, II, and III,

~ In an interview with self-proclaimed and contentious film historian Tom Weaver, star Janet Leigh said she took the role because it was shot near her home, and meant less time away from her family. She also said, "I've forgotten as much as I could about that picture."

Note from me: Self-proclaimed and contentious film historian Tom Weaver?

God lord, why does the guy who wrote that item have such a low opinion of poor Tom? I have nothing but respectful for man.

~ Posters and trailers for the movie did not feature any rabbits. Marketers feared that audiences would not take the movie seriously if they found out about the giant killer rabbits too quickly.

Note from me: Gee, wasn't that silly of them? Why, next to clowns, rabbits are the scariest things around!

~ In the scenes where the rabbits are ferociously "roaring", they are actually just yawning.

Note from me: I guess the animal handlers had to keep the rabbits awake for long periods to get the "roaring" scenes.

~ Lucky rabbit feet, with red paint ("blood") on the toes, were distributed as a promotion.

Note from me: I wondered if eBay had any of these highly valuable collectors items. I checked . . . but I had no luck at all.

~ The film was originally entitled "Night of the Lepers" and about zombie-like lepers and a mass plague, riffing off the success of Night of the Living Dead (1968).

Unfortunately, the executive at MGM who first read the script was eating dinner and spilled wine on it, confusing "Leper" for "Lepus". When he joked to his teenage daughter about a film with killer rabbits, she loved the idea. The script writer was then commissioned to heavily edit the plot.

Note from me: I'm surprised that IMDB approved this item, because it sounds so bogus.

~ The title "Lepus" is the Latin term for hare.

Note from me:Does this mean the ancient Romans carried the keys to their chariots on lucky lepus foot key chains?

~ Strings of popping firecrackers were superimposed over the death scene of the giant rabbits to simulate electricity.

Note from me: Say what you will about this movie, but I was impressed by the way the heroes electrified the railroad tracks and then staged their stand on the opposite side to lure the bunnies into crossing!

Svengoolie 'Night of the Lepus' Making of Night Of The Lepus Jokes


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[kolchak]

Technically Rabbits are not rodents.

IIRC this movie was done by some locals who also did 'Night of the Killer Shrews' (dogs with masks) and 'The Giant Gila Monster'. great stuff for the drive-in movie crowd.

IIRC also Ken Curtis (Festus on 'Gunsmoke') was in one or two of these.

MST3K riffed one of these (maybe more)
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"God is not worried about the 21st Century. He knew it was coming." T.Shawyer

[kolchak]

add;
I think James Best (Sheriff Coltrane on 'Dukes of Hazzard') was lead in the Shrews one.

I think Shug Fisher (Shorty on 'Beverly Hillbillies') was in the Gila Monster one. I have a memory of a barn dance. might have inspired the scene in the Creeper episode of Scooby Doo.
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"God is not worried about the 21st Century. He knew it was coming." T.Shawyer