Night of the Lepus (1972)

Giant mutant rabbits terrorize the south-west.

Director:

William F. Claxton

Writers:

Don Holliday (screenplay), Gene R. Kearney (screenplay)

Stars:

Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stuart Whitman	...	Roy Bennett
Janet Leigh	...	Gerry Bennett
Rory Calhoun	...	Cole Hillman
DeForest Kelley	...	Elgin Clark
Paul Fix	...	Sheriff Cody
Melanie Fullerton	...	Amanda Bennett
Chris Morrell	...	Jackie Hillman
Chuck Hayward	...	Jud
Henry Wills	...	Frank
Francesca Jarvis	...	Mildred
William Elliott	...	Dr. Leopold
Bob Hardy	...	Professor Dirkson (as Robert Hardy)
Richard Jacome	...	Deputy Jason
Inez Perez	...	Housekeeper
Roy Gaintner	...	Walker (as G. Leroy Gaintner)

Storyline

Cole Hillman's Arizona ranch is plagued with 'mongrel' rabbits, and he wants to employ an ecologically sound control method. As a favor to college benefactor Hillman, college president Elgin Clark calls in zoologist Roy Bennett to help. Bennett immediately begins injecting rabbits with hormones and genetically mutated blood in an effort to develop a method of disrupting rabbit reproduction. One of the test subjects escapes, resulting in a race of bloodthirsty, wolf-sized, man-, horse-, and cow-eating bunnies. Eventually the National Guard is called in for a final showdown with the terrorizing rabbits.

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Plot Keywords:

giant rabbit | mutation | rampage | killer rabbit | giant animal | 

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Taglines:

How many eyes does horror have? How many times will terror strike?

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 October 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rabbits

Filming Locations:

Sonoita, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$900,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,711,923

Company Credits

Production Co:

A.C. Lyles Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Goofs

At about 42 minutes in when the pack of rabbits is chasing the pickup truck back to the ranch, you can see an animal wrangler in the background in a white t-shirt herding the rabbits. Maybe he was actually a giant and they were preparing for a sequel, "Hominum".

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Quotes

Husband in Car: Picking up no strangers, Susan. I said that when we left Denver, and I'm sticking with it. Especially a man carrying a gun!

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Connections

Featured in Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 1 (1996)

User Reviews

Just when you thought it was safe to back into the carrot patch!

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 feature every imaginable kind of vermon 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 part of 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 (numerous westerns).

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 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.