Night of the Lepus

William F. Claxton
1972

"Psycho" shower victim Janet Leigh and DeForest Kelley (Dr. Bones!) somehow make their way into this drive-in chiller about bloodthirsty cattle-sized rabbits run amok in the American Southwest. Despite the seemingly goofy subject matter the flick's played poker-faced serious and boasts high quality special effects, camerawork, and acting. The carnivorous rodents in question are effectively brought to the screen in a variety of ways, mostly relying on live rabbits with miniature backgrounds(!), and the occasional matte shot. The attacking bunnies usually pounce in puppet form, and there's gloriously grisly quantities of blood used in the assaults, and scenes of grim aftermath. This one reminds me of 1959's "The Killer Shrews," which is also fairly serious in spite of it's seemingly comical titular monsters. Of course the big difference between "Lepus" and "Shrews" is the vast gulf in visual sophistication - these wascally wabbits are head and shoulders above the dressed up dogs (with prosthetic chompers) passed off as shrews.