Una noche escalofriante

Anyone who has ever worked with animals knows how difficult it can be "Rabbits" was a very difficult film to do> WE worked in tremendous heat conditions and had hundreds of rabbits to deal with It was a fun film for the trainers I think because no one has done a horror film before with rabbits> Take the silly stuff away and its a fun film.

A jaw-droppingly stupid idea (giant carnivorous bunny rabbits on a rampage) makes for a surprisingly fun, entertaining movie. The effects are reasonably convincing, it's briskly paced, with a blast of an ending. It's all played perfectly straight, and good for many a giggle.

Dumb? You bet. Fun? Abso-wootwy (as Elmer Fudd would say). Plus it stars DeForest Kelly. Bad film buffs will adore it!

.....but I still love this movie as it is one of my 'favorite bad films' of the 70's. It was also the first film that I recall receiving a promotional item for in the lobby ( a pin that I still have that says "Beware of the Lepus") which I thought incredibly cool. Yes, it's incredibly lame, but I have a soft spot for it...what can I say? Besides - you have Janet Leigh and DeForrest Kelly trying to be as serious as possible. You have 'giant' bunnies running around. You have generally all around poor acting. Did I mention giant bunnies? Well - rent this or buy it on eBay - do what you have to see this Great Bad movie!

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS is one of those movies that you simply have to see to believe. I am very glad that LEPUS has finally been officially released on DVD because for years, I have described it to fellow B-movie fans who have then accused me of making it up. Besides, I am now finally able to replace my bootleg DVD (recorded from foreign TV with Swedish or Norwegian subtitles, I'm not sure which, running across the bottom of the screen) and enjoy this masterpiece the way it was meant to be seen.

In brief: Somewhere in the American Southwest, ranchers are losing their crops to hungry herds of Jackrabbits. A scientist, attempting to figure out a way to slow the reproduction rate of the rabbits, injects an experimental hormone into some test animals. One of the test rabbits escapes and begins mating with the local bunnies, resulting in a horde of giant killer mutant rabbits with a taste for human flesh. You CAN'T make this stuff up, kids! From there it's long-eared, low budget mayhem of the highest order, with scenes of regular-sized bunnies rampaging through miniature Western towns (complete with dubbed-in squeals and roars on the soundtrack) and hungry bunnies (played by stuntmen in full body rabbit suits) attacking unlucky townspeople, until the military is called in to neutralize the threat. Anyone who makes it more than fifteen minutes into this movie without cracking up is a better person than I am. You can almost imagine Janet Leigh during filming, smoking cigarettes in between takes and asking DeForest Kelley "What the hell are we doing in a movie about KILLER RABBITS? I worked with Alfred Hitchcock for cryin' out loud! I am going to KILL my agent!" I had pet rabbits growing up and never found them scary in the slightest. Maybe that's why I love this movie so much. To this day, I wonder if the studio person who green-lighted this project and allowed it to be made still had a job when his superiors saw the final product. Do yourself a favor and check out NIGHT OF THE LEPUS, an unjustly forgotten slice of early 70s drive-in cheese. You may love it, you may hate it, but I promise you, you will NEVER forget it!

OK, I've read several of the reviews/comments for this film and I must stand and be counted as one of the fans of this low-budget film. 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. It's got a nice cast and they all seem to be genuine in their efforts to make this film a success, but it does fall short of it's target in several aspects. I'd say the one constant in this film that bothers me the most is the young girl, the daughter of Stuart Whitman and Janet Leigh, I'd have gladly fed her to these rabbits in the first 20 minutes or so, but beyond that, I really don't see all the fuss about how horrible of a film this is. It's definitely an original idea for a horror film and if you ever have the opportunity to view the unedited version, there is a scene or two that's nice and bloody, but it isn't a gore-hound's delight and it won't ever sit high among the classics of horror, but I miss the fact that this used to be a staple on late-night TV when I was a kid and you can't see it at all, these days. 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!