Night of the Lepus (1972) review

9. Night of the Lepus (1972)

Directed by: William F. Claxton

Produced by: A.C. Lyles

Screenplay by: Don Holliday, Gene R. Kearney

Starring: Stuart Whitman, Janet Leight, Rory Calhoun

We’ve seen movies with giant apes, giant lizards, and even giant ants; so how about one with giant rabbits? Don’t laugh, I’m not making this up. Based on the satirical Russell Braddon novel “The Year of the Angry Rabbit,” today’s film is “Night of the Lepus,” which tells the story of a small town in the southwest United States that becomes overrun by a herd of enormous, mutated rabbits that cause mass devastation and panic. Despite featuring a decent use of miniature special effects, the film suffers badly due to its slow pace, overly zany editing and downright laughable premise, creating an experience that’s at times absurdly amusing, but also dull and flat.

The film opens with—of all things—a news report stating that overpopulation among rabbits is creating significant problems in the ecosystem. An Arizona rancher named Cole (Rory Calhoun)—whose livelihood is in disarray due to rabbits devouring crops and destroying property—asks for help from local college president Dr. Clark (DeForest Kelley), who turns to a family of scientific researchers, Roy and Gerry Bennett (Stuart Whitman & Janet Leigh), trusting them to find an environmentally safe way to control the wildlife. They experiment on several rabbits, using injections expected to cause birth defects that will disrupt their breeding cycle; but on one particular specimen, their mischievous young daughter Amanda (Melanie Fullerton) switches it for a rabbit from the control group, and it soon after gets away. Later on, Cole and the Bennetts are inspecting the rabbits’ burrowing areas when they find an unusually large animal track, which is soon revealed as one of the monstrously grown rabbits that start causing death and mayhem; so the humans must use all the tools at their disposal to get them under control.

When you watch this movie, you realize it has a lot in common with the aforementioned killer ant movie “Them!” It takes place in the American southwest, is about oversized creatures wreaking havoc, has similar character archetypes, and has familiar methods of combat. And hey, they even both have “Star Trek” alumni; Leonard Nimoy—pre-Spock, mind you—had a small role in “Them!” while DeForest Kelley plays Dr. Clark, one of his last film roles that wasn’t Bones McCoy. Anyway, the performances are mostly fine, but unremarkable; the mood from the characters is strangely mellow. I would’ve liked a more frantic vibe to sell the danger; even if it wouldn’t have worked because—well, they’re rabbits, for God’s sake—it could’ve resulted in something like “The Giant Claw” where the horrified reactions clash so hilariously with the goofy-looking monster. However, I do like the chemistry between Stuart Whitman and “Psycho” veteran Janet Leigh as the Bennetts; their bond feels loving and believable.

Then there’s the rabbits themselves; despite the movie being based on a satirical novel, the tone here is completely straight, which can make for a funny viewing, just how earnestly they try and fail to make these cute little bunnies the least bit scary. Like I said, I’ll give credit to the filmmakers for the special effects actually doing a decent job at making them appear big against the practical models; but I don’t care how many close-ups or cheesy sound effects you use, they’re still just cuddly, harmless-looking rabbits, and when it happens in slow motion, it’s even more ludicrous. The rabbit from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is more threatening than any of these beasts, and that was meant to be a joke.

But I’m not going to lie; when the movie doesn’t feature the monster bunnies, it gets very, VERY boring; there’s at least a little bit of suspense before they show up, but so much of the run time is spent on characters just standing around talking, and the Western setting really doesn’t work for me, although that’s more of a personal preference. Director William F. Claxton, producer A.C. Lyles and much of the cast were well-versed in Westerns like “Stagecoach to Fury,” “The Quiet Gun” and episodes of “The Riflemen.” You know what the novel was about? It was about the Australian Prime Minister creating a superweapon that ends up using rabbits as carriers; this is just a standard monster flick that’s too smart to realize how dumb it is. Also, what drive-in theater showed “Tom and Jerry” cartoons in the 1970s? Was that ever a thing?

“Night of the Lepus” is not a movie bereft of craft, especially in its use of shadows; in fact, production designer Stan Jolley went on to become a respected name for his work on “Superman,” “Caddyshack” and “Witness,” which earned him an Oscar nomination. But ultimately, the concept is just too goofy to elevate it any further than being a farce, yet much like with “Zaat,” I went in expecting to laugh my ass off, but only did so sporadically. The 1950s did just about every giant monster idea there was, so I guess somebody decided, “Well, they never did one with rabbits, so let’s go for it.” The effort is there, and there are “so-bad-it’s-good” moments, but the time spent between them is so drawn-out, it doesn't hold my attention enough to give it much replay value.

My rating: 4/10