User reviews

"Peter Lorre" playing an "evil scientist" (that's what it says in neon lights on his hilltop castle!) who has invented a mechanical "rabbit lure" sets out the diabolical hare on Bugs Bunny. The mechanical lure - a beautiful female - quickly lures Bugs to the castle. Bugs grabs her, kisses her madly on the hand and arm, and the machine literally starts spinning and falls apart.

"That's the trouble with some dames," says Bugs. "Kiss them and they fly apart."

Bugs attempts to leave but the scientist won't let him and wants to introduce him to his other "friend." Bugs tries to escape but can't, and then this big furry monster comes out and chases our hero all over the castle. They stop here and there as Bugs pretends to be a lampshade, pretends to be a manicurist (and does the monster's nails with a hilarious impression of a manicurist), pretends to be a painting on the wall and assorted other bizarre things....all making it a very entertaining cartoon.

The ending of this was really clever with Bugs talking to the audience in the movie theater!

Bugs finds himself in a laboratory where Peter Lorre is housing a monster. The monster isn't all that frightening and bugs sort of has him for lunch. There are continuous chase scenes and typical schtick. Nothing new to this, but, then, Bugs is Bugs. This episode has him yelling, "Is there a doctor in the house" with predictable results.

Chuck Jones's 'Hair-Raising Hare' pits Bugs Bunny against a genuinely disturbing Peter Lorre scientist caricature and his huge orange monster. The monster (later named Gossamer and also featured in Jones' luscious sequel to this short, 'Water, Water Every Hare' under the name Rudolph) is an extremely memorable villain who, despite his size, never poses much real threat to Bugs once he turns on his heckling. Although it is not as visually luscious as 'Water, Water Every Hare', Tedd Pierce has turned in a great script which includes some viciously amusing eye-poking, a priceless scene involving a suit of armour and the best "What's up, Doc" joke you'll ever hear. Bugs' wisecracks are top drawer ("Don't go up there, it's dark") and the high energy level is kept up throughout. It's also the only cartoon in which you'll get to hear Gossamer speak. All in all, then, 'Hair-Raising Hare' is a blast and makes a cracking double bill with its less gag-driven sequel.

There are so many reasons why I loved this cartoon. One significant reason is the characters, I loved all of them. Bugs is great here, he is drawn well and he has some great lines, but this is one instance when he is overshadowed by not one but two characters. One is the monster who looks very like the one in Water Water Every Hare, he is scary at first, but he is very fuzzy and cute as well. The other is the scientist, he looks and acts exactly like Peter Lorre, and he is priceless, his looks, his voice, everything. I also loved the animation, it isn't the very best looking of all the Looney Tunes cartoons, but the opening sequence is suitably atmospheric and there are some nice backgrounds, lovely simple colours and crisp character features. The music is great too, I always look for this and I wasn't disappointed, it had some haunting moments but it was also fun. The dialogue is inspired and really funny, the story is well constructed, the visual gags are just as funny as the dialogue and the pacing is fine. Oh, and Mel Blanc's vocals are superb. Overall, a wonderful Looney Tunes cartoon. 10/10 Bethany Cox

What a wonderful Bugs Bunny cartoon! Apart from great production values and writing, this movie marks the first appearance of the cute giant orange hairy monster that will later appear in other Warner cartoons.

Bugs is in an old creepy castle when he realizes that the crazy doctor (clearly patterned after Peter Lorre) is trying to kill him for his evil experiments. Bugs fleas and the doctor unleashes his secret weapon--a giant hairy orange monster wearing tennis shoes! He's really awfully cute, though also quite intent on capturing Bugs. Well, Bugs responds by using his cleverness to beat the monster and escape. A wonderful and funny cartoon. It especially excels when it breaks through the fourth wall--and involves the audience!

If you liked this cartoon, try watching WATER, WATER, EVERY HARE (1952)--a follow-up to this movie.

The most astonishing and visually audacious of the early Bugs Bunnies, a Chuck Jones masterpiece, that uses the cheap target of the Universal horror movie, long since wallowing in parody, to create some extraordinary effects. The tale is the usual - Bugs being chased by a relentless predator; but is given added piquancy by the horror setting. Bugs is often at the root of his own troubles, whether by arrogant egocentricity, disarming androgyny or slippery playfulness goading the less gifted into violence; but in this case it is Bugs' lust that does him in, as he is led to a castle, with 'Evil Scientist' blaring in neon over its portals, by a beautiful mechanical doll, unsurprisingly, considering our hero's narcissism, very similar to himself (what do you mean all rabbits look the same?!). This mixture of the erotic and the machine prefigures Ballard and Cronenburg, of course, but also reaches back to modern horror's roots, the perverse tales of E.T.A. Hoffman.

The evil scientist, supposedly a take on Peter Lorre, lures Bugs as pet-food for his fearsome monster, who turns out to be a rather cute carpet beast, a dim-witted giant Bugs makes rather heavy weather of. The variations on the chase are vertiginously invigorating, Jones' art is at the zenith of its inventiveness, mocking the horror genre, yet managing to evoke its resonances and themes. In possibly the greatest sequence in Warners animation, the Monster chases Bugs and sees the long hall he occupies reflected the mirror. He also sees himself - his reflection is horrified by him, and runs away out the reflected hall door. This sequence is, er, mirrored, by a later scene, when Bugs, about to be eaten, reveals the watching audience to the Monster, who, exposed, flees through the never-ending castle walls in shame and terror.

This theme of the doppelganger, the shameful double that usually represents all the dark side of our natures we have repressed, is also brilliantly represented in the short's treatment of surveillance. Our first image is of Bugs emerging from his hole, so powerful that the entire forest is his bedroom. and yet he is afraid that he is being watched. Suddenly, he is framed by a screen, which startles the audience (well, me anyway) into a guilty realisation of what it is doing; when the screen belongs to the evil scientist, and the audience is linked to his madman who seeks to murder Bugs, the act of looking, spying, is linked to death - Bugs is in danger as long as he is trapped in the frame, as long as he is being watched. Freedom only is possible when he leaves, and the short is over; but this is a kind of death anyway, as Bugs is a cartoon character who only exists in a cartoon. (Do I need to mention McCarthy?)

The dark colours are beautiful; the playing with perspectives ingenious; and the excuse for a 'What's Up Doc?' is as ingenious as Hitchcock's cameo in 'Lifeboat'.

No need to tell you the plot, others have done that wonderfully, but I should mention that this was made at the beginning of the Cold War, and Bugs was (and is) the perfect realization of every American- saucy, inventive, alone, and a little bit selfish- so watching him deal with the Peter Lorre character is great fun. Animated with such pizazz and humor that you'll be astonished, Chuck Jones is indeed a treasure and a joy. One of the best Bugs Bunny's ever made!.

The current NSA scandal makes the beginning of "Hair-Raising Hare" all the more eye-opening. Holding up a candle and looking around the area outside his rabbit hole, Bugs Bunny poses the question "Did ya ever get the feeling you was bein' watched?". Then, we see that he is being watched. Not by the FBI, CIA, KGB, or anything like that, but by a Peter Lorre-resembling scientist (whose name is later revealed to be Evil Scientist). Evil Scientist promises his pet monster that dinner will be served shortly, after which he sends a female rabbit robot to attract Bugs. Once Bugs enters the castle, much of the cartoon consists of Bugs fleeing the monster (at one point even taking on a seemingly gay persona as a manicurist).

Obviously, the coolest aspect of this cartoon is how it brings out Bugs's tricks while also poking fun at the monster movies from that era. There's a scene where the monster looks in the mirror and scares his own reflection; maybe that brings up the issue of how we interpret horror, or whether reality is better/worse than its flip side. But I still like how Bugs talks about being watched. It should be a stark reminder to us all, and such a comment could only come from one of these cartoons. Really good. And remember: don't go up there; it's dark!

PS: this cartoon was semi-remade in 1952 as "Water Water Every Hare".

I love the big hairy monster guy. He might not have any arms but you just want to hug him, even tho he won't hug back. The Doctor guy who owns him however, HE is scary. With a grotesquely over-sized head and massive eyes he makes Stewie Griffin from Family Guy look normal.

There's always some insane reason for Bugs Bunny to wander into his castle and get involved in a chase and that's exactly what happens. However, in the end Bugs and the monster become pals and the evil doctor gets what he deserves.

It's been done before and this cartoon is only one version of this same old plot but it's still very funny as anything with Bugs Bunny is. Daffy is still my fave tho.

Bugs Bunny thinks he's being watched. Is the bunny getting paranoid in his old age? Nope, because as we see, someone IS watching him, an Evil Scientist. The scientist uses a robotic female rabbit to lure Bugs into his castle. Once there the robot self-destructs as Bugs kisses it. Then the evil scientist lets Gossamer, the hair monster to catch the wasscily rabbit. That's when the fun starts. For some reason this short didn't tickle my fancy as much as others that I've seen with Gossamer in them. Not to say this one isn't worth seeing, as it most definitely is.This cartoon is on Disk 3 of the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1" It also has an optional commentary

My Grade: B

Bugs Bunny is enticed out of his home by a mechanical girl robot, which he then follows into the castle of a mad scientist. Trapped in the castle, the scientist lets his monster out to feed, leading to a chase around the castle.

Just before I watched this short I had the pleasure of seeing `Birth of A Notion'. Both cartoons have a character based on actor Peter Lorre. `Birth' has great animation whereas here that character is awful and the voice work is poor too. This is one example of it, but the animation here is quite poor – Bugs looks basic and the monster itself is about as easy to draw a creation as you could imagine! Happily this doesn't feed through the whole cartoon in a bad way. The material is better than the animation and it is actually quite funny.

Bugs may look average but he does his usual stuff well here. The scientist character is poor and is happily not used very well, but the monster needed to be good and, sadly, isn't at all. It's just like having a ginger haystack in the movie – and it's never given more personality than that either!

Overall this cartoon lacks imagination and spark. It's lack of real quality can be best seen in the animation but happily it doesn't ruin the whole thing. It may only be average but it is still Bugs Bunny and it is still pretty amusing.

Classic Bugs Bunny short from the great Chuck Jones that gives us a Peter Lorre mad scientist, a female rabbit robot, and the first appearance of Gossamer, the big hairy orange monster that wears sneakers. A very funny cartoon with lots of clever gags and witty lines. Some really lovely animation with nicely-drawn characters and backgrounds. Rich Technicolor is always a plus in my book. Energetic score from Carl Stalling. Excellent voice work from the incomparable Mel Blanc. So many great moments but my favorite might be the "doctor in the house" gag. A truly wonderful cartoon that should bring a smile to even the most curmudgeonly of faces.

Bugs Bunny comes out of his hole one night. He is weary. He is actually being watched by Evil Scientist who looks like Peter Lorre. The scientist uses a mechanical female rabbit to lure Bugs back to his castle. He unleashes his tennis-shoes-wearing monster.

This is the first appearance of the monster. He is a little skinnier here, but looks pretty much fully there. I love the monster. He is a great design. There is a reason why the monster keeps popping up. He is both cuddly and monstrous. Bugs is doing plenty of Bugs Bunny stuff. The scientist is a Peter Lorre lookalike. It is all Looney Tunes goodness.

Hair-Raising Hare (1946)

*** (out of 4)

Fun Merrie Melodies short has Bugs Bunny being lured into a creepy castle where a mad scientist wants to feed him to a large, red-headed monster. This film was semi remade six years later as WATER, WATER EVERY HARE and I enjoyed that one more. That doesn't mean this one isn't any good but it is a case where I prefer the remake. With that said, this one here spoofs the horror genre fairly well with the mention of Dracula and Frankenstein. The best thing is the mad scientist, which is a carbon copy of the great Peter Lorre. Another plus is good ol' Bugs who is full of great one-liners and some fun action.