Night of the Lepus (1972)
If there were a prize for the least-scary killer animal movie, it would have to go to the sci-fi cult classic Night of the Lepus, about a town besieged by… giant killer rabbits. After a rabbit infestation, scientists make the foolish decision to try to use hormones to slow the breeding of the local population, which only makes the rabbits grow bigger, stronger, and deadlier.
The killer rabbit effect was attained by filming (often very cute and docile) rabbits in front of miniature sets, sometimes with ketchup smeared on their faces to simulate blood. And there were some people in rabbit costumes, too.
The cast was pretty solid, including Star Trek veteran DeForest Kelley and Psycho star Janet Leigh. There was just one problem, as Leigh later explained to Starlog:
“How can you make a bunny rabbit menacing?”
Share:
