Night of the Lepus (1972)

"Attention! Attention! There is a herd of killer rabbits headed this way!" - Officer Lopez

Giant mutant rabbits terrorize a small town!!
Starring: Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun, DeForest Kelley

Link to IMDB

Tonight's movie opens with a somber history lesson on how the existence of humankind relies on maintaining a balance with all the animals in the ecosystem, especially rabbits. It's some heavy truth, but nothing compared to what happens next.

Cole Hillman owns a ranch, but his land is being ruined by a damn rabbit explosion. They're eating his crops and digging holes everywhere, so he decides it's time to get rid of them. Cole doesn't want to resort to poison, so instead he seeks advice from his scientist friends that are researching new ways to dispose of pests. They decide to try some hormones that will stunt the rabbit's mating habits, but they need to do lots of testing first because the side effects are unknown. Unfortunately, the scientist's daughter is an idiot, and she secretly lets one of the infected test rabbits loose.

How many people does it take to kill a rabbit ?

Soon enough, some of the wild rabbits grow large and they burrow into an abandoned mine shaft. The plot moves along pretty fast, and we get to see that the mutant rabbits are indeed killing people, always with extreme close-up shots of rabbits licking blood off of their faces. I was skeptical at first if we would see humans directly interacting with the rabbits, but with some crazy puppets, camera tricks, and even a guy in a rabbit costume, they manage some pretty hilarious action. It becomes all out war as the rabbits keep getting bigger, and the whole town is panicking.

The movie takes itself very seriously and the actors try hard to make it all believable, but it's just so damn silly seeing killer rabbits hop around. Eventually the movie begins to drag, as the rabbits mostly just run slow-mo through a miniature town for the last 20 minutes. But giant rabbits will require a giant method of extermination, and even the army gets involved in the crazy climax!

Be sure not to miss:
- Cole never really wears his hat, it just sort of hovers over his head the whole time.
- Rolling up your car window is essential Rabbit War protocol.
- Not sure which is more notable, DeForest's moustache or Stuart Whitman’s eyebrows.

Internet review:
"You may love it, you may hate it, but I promise you, you will NEVER forget it!" - MetalGeek

Should I watch it?
It's worth checking out, but has some slow bits.

Where can I find it?
Viable links here

Night of the Lepus gets...