Night of the Lepus Movie Download

6 / 10

A silly menace, but in all other respects this is a straightforward monster picture
Weirdly enough, this is one of the most famous B-movies of all time, one that’s gone down in history as the one about the giant rabbits! It’s an odd subject matter for a film, that’s for sure, but in all other respects, NIGHT OF THE LEPUS is a traditional 1970s monster flick, little different from the likes of KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS or many others churned out during this decade. Filmed out in Arizona, it boasts some nice, deserted locales, full of farmhouses and shacks that are about to get menaced by a rampaging horde of killer…bunnies!

This is one of those films where a great cast has been assembled to get viewers watching. Stuart Whitman is the straight hero, early on in his exploitation career, but he’s a little dull here. Not like he’d be later on when the ’80s arrived and he found himself in the likes of THE MONSTER CLUB! Janet Leigh, famous from PSYCHO, seems to have aged a great deal in the ten years before this film was made, even though she was only in her mid 30s here. She doesn’t have much to work with, other than getting menaced in a camper van for an interminable time. Rory Calhoun, a big western star in his time, is typecast as a rancher, while the sci-fi geeks are catered for with the appearance of DeForest Kelley as some kind of authority figure.

My biggest disappointment was that none of these big names bites the dust, or even interacts much with the killer menace – surely it’s tradition to have an A-lister die at the hands (or paws) of the monster? I wouldn’t have mind seeing Kelley getting his neck chewed, but they all live. The same doesn’t go for some supporting cast members, who are ripped to shreds in some surprisingly bloody moments when the rabbits attack. The special effects are pretty dodgy, but I found the rabbits to be surprisingly good foes (and my wife, who saw this as a kid, confirmed that it IS a scary movie when you see it young). The director has a way of filming them in slow motion, complete with weird computer-style sound effects, that makes the scenes quite eerie. The miniature backdrops are also well-handled and the giant killer rabbits are wisely kept in the murk. It’s a pretty grisly film in places, with a neat climax that ties everything up. Maybe not a classic of the genre, but it IS a fun film.Read More