The Monstrous Movie Clip Of The Day: Wabbits Wabbits Wabbits!

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Happy Easter Monster Maniacs! Everybody loves rabbits right? They are cute, cuddly and make great pets. I'm sure that many of you gave a rabbit as a gift to innocent child this Easter didn't you?

Well you may want to rethink that gift after watching this clip from the classic (?) horror film "Night of the Lepus". It plainly illustrates just how vicious those cute little critters can become! One little science experiment goes awry and bingo ... you have a herd of giant mutant bunnies running around killing campers and chowing down on local cattle.

"Zillions and twillions of wabbits! Where are they all coming from?" - Elmer Fudd

Indeed there are "zillions and twillions" of real bunnies running around miniature sets in "Night of the Lepus" which was one of a group of "critter on the loose" films produced during the 1970s that included "Empire of the Ants", "Food of the Gods", "The Giant Spider Invasion" and "Kingdom of the Spiders".

In the end the residents of Tucson, which include cowboy actor Stuart Whitman, Psycho alum Janet Leigh, Star Trek doc Deforest Kelley, and the dashing Rory Calhoun, decide to electrify a set of railroad track like some giant Lionel train set and "fwicassee" (Fudd) them all. Of course the plan works and the world is saved!

Certainly it would have been in better taste to post a clip from a spiritual film like "The Ten Commandments", "Ben-Hur" or "The Greatest Story Ever Told" on a day like today, but that's not how we roll here at Monster Island News. Instead we like to leave you with visions of giant rabbits covered in fake blood running and running and running .....

Celluloid Philosophers - Kirk, Spock And McCoy

Kirk: What does God need with a starship?
McCoy: Jim, what are you doing?
Kirk: I'm asking a question.
"God": Who is this creature?
Kirk: Who am I? Don't you know? Aren't you God?
Sybok: He has his doubts.
"God": You doubt me?
Kirk: I seek proof.
McCoy: Jim! You don't ask the Almighty for his ID!
"God": Then here is the proof you seek.
(Hits Kirk with lightning)
Kirk: Why is God angry?
Sybok: Why? Why have you done this to my friend?
"God": He doubts me.
Spock: You have not answered his question. What does God need with a starship?
"God": [hits Spock with lightning; then addresses McCoy] Do you doubt me?
McCoy: I doubt any God who inflicts pain for his own pleasure.

- Captain James T. Kirk, Captain Spock, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

See Also: Celluloid Philosophers - Major T. J. "King" Kong / Celluloid Philosophers - Elvira / Celluloid Philosophers - Varla / Celluloid Philosophers - The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy / Celluloid Philosophers - Ash / Celluloid Philosophers - Shaun / Celluloid Philosophers - Spock / Celluloid Philosophers - Jack Burton

Star Trek Original Series - Captain Kirk (Style) Wired Keyboard / The Klingon Opera "u" Set To Premiere Here On Earth / Wesley Snipes, Jenny Augutter And Michael O'Gorman Almost Cast For STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION! / King Kong, Godzilla, And The Starship Enterprise All Made From Recycled Printer Cartridges /Star Trek Nemesis - USS Enterprise Class E Starship / Star Trek Retro Figure Series 8 - Christopher Pike And Salt Vampire Set / STAR TREK XII To Be More Like THE DARK KNIGHT / Cloverfield And Star Trek 2 Updates......Does Abrams Read MIN? / Star Trek 2 To Join An Already Busy 2012 Summer Of Sci Fi / For Your Oscar Consideration - Star Trek / The Top Ten Hottest Women Of 2009 / Does The 'Star Trek' Sequel Have To Have A 'Message'? / New Hot & Sexy Photos Of Chase Masterson / See Chase Masterson Sing At Universal Citywalk For Free / Interview - Chase Masterson / Star Trek Gets Another Imax Release - Special Screening At The Egyptian Theater / Star Trek Hot Wheels Klingon Bird Of Prey Scale Vehicle / Star Trek Comes To DVD And Blu-Ray November 17th / Star Trek (2009)(Paramount) / Star Trek News - The Two Kirks Bury The Hatchet And Roddenberry Money Is For The Dogs / Behold Star Trek's Big Bad Monster / The Poster For The Berlin Premiere Of Star Trek / New Star Trek Film Blows Away Surprised Fans In Austin / William Shatner Set For Cameo In Star Trek 2 / The Sequel To JJ Abrams Star Trek Reboot Is Already In Spacedock / Star Trek Classic Captain Kirk Chair Replica / Star Trek Movie Enterprise Bridge Playset / EE Exclusive Star Trek Original Series Medical Tricorder / Is Star Trek Set To Return To Television? / Star Trek Movie Enterprise Vehicle / The First Lady Of Trek Passes - Majel Barrett-Roddenberry 1932-2008 / Star Trek's Big Bad Monster

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See Also: Is Star Trek Set To Return To Television? / Star Trek Movie Enterprise Vehicle / The First Lady Of Trek Passes - Majel Barrett-Roddenberry 1932-2008 / Star Trek's Big Bad Monster / Star Trek Retro Series 1 Kirk & Klingon Action Figure Set / The First Photos From Abrams Star Trek / Pegg Makes His Portrayal Of Scotty A Tribute To Doohan / Okay Trekkies Do You Think That You Can Outsmart 20Q? / Simon Pegg Reaches Out To Star Trek Fans / Actress Profile: Rachel Nichols / Shatner Beams Into The Los Angeles Comic Book & Sc Fi Convention / Sci Fi Acquires Ghost Whisperer, Star Trek TNG, Charmed And Mork & Mindy / Star Trek (1966-1969) / Interview - Chase Masterson

Night Of The Lepus (1972)(MGM)

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Wabbits! Wabbits! [crying] Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! - Elmer Fudd

In the early 1970s the cinemas of this great country of ours were overrun by a mass of cheaply made B movies about common everyday critters, that for one reason or another, grew to enormous size and began eating everyone in sight. These films featured all kinds of animals and insects. Bees, spiders, rats, cats, you name it, all ready to devourer mankind.

All these films seemed to follow the same formula. All had some sort of man-made folly that would lead to creation of the giant animals. All had shots of "real" animals superimposed over tiny sets to create the illusion of gigantic size. And, most notably, all....well some....had ex Star Trek actors.

Now that I have made a point about the general similarities of the "Giant Critter Invasion" of the early 70s, lets get to the film at hand. Today I bring you the cult-classic film, "Night of the Lepus." A film that would give Elmer Fudd nightmares for the rest of his life if he ever saw it, because it features an endless horde of...you guessed it!.....giant killer bunny rabbits.

Before I forget, let me get to that whole "Star Trek" actor statement I made earlier. "Night of the Lepus" would star veteran "Trek" actor DeForest Kelley, fresh from role as Dr. Leonard McCoy (Bones), as Elgin Clark. Now, a mere five years later, Kelley's "Star Trek" co-star, William Shatner, would star as Rack Hanson, a small-town sheriff who finds himself knee-deep in tarantulas, in the 1977 film "Kingdom of the Spiders." You see, hordes of killer critters, B movies, "Star Trek", ....it all fits, trust me.

To tell you the truth, "Night of the Lepus" has a pretty darn good cast come to think of it. Besides DeForest Kelley the film also features the acting talents of Stuart Whitman, Rory Calhoun, and Janet Leigh, who I'm sure everyone reading this knows from her role in Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Psycho". It wasn't too uncommon to find "name" actors in films of this caliber at around this time. In fact, Joan Crawford, who many could argue as one of the best actresses of all time, ended up in the clunker of a monster movie, "Trog", in 1970. Hey, a paycheck is a paycheck.

But, I digress......lets get to the bunnies eating people part....

"Night of the Lepus" was directed by William F. Claxton, and co-written by Don Holliday and Gene R. Kearney. The script was adapted from the novel "The Year of the Angry Rabbit" written by Australian author Russell Braddon.

The film is relatively obscure, but maintains a small but devout cult following that probably stems from the casting of Kelley and Leigh, and the absurd images of herds of giant rabbits running amok. Notably "Lepus" has been referenced in some more mainstream, popular films. For instance, footage appears briefly in the science fiction film The Matrix, makes a quick appearance in the movie Pulp Fiction. and throughout the drama film Natural Born Killers. It has been referenced in Judge Frank Easterbrook's opinion in ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg, 86 F.3d 1447 (7th Cir. 1996).

Rancher Cole Hillman is having problems with the rabbit population on his ranch, who are destroying his crops. College president Elgin Clark, as a favor to benefactor Cole, calls in zoologists Roy and Gerry Bennett, who create an (untested) serum for disrupting the breeding cycle of rabbits. However, their daughter Amanda has become attached to the rabbit that has become the serum's test subject and switches it with a rabbit from the control group; she is thus able to take the injected rabbit out of the controlled environment of the lab. The injected rabbit gets away and breeds. The serum doesn't disrupt their breeding cycle, but does something worse: it causes the rabbits to become gigantic meat-eaters. When several people are slaughtered by the carnivorous carrot-munchers, Roy and Gerry attempt to find a solution before the whole of the American Southwest is overrun by giant rabbits.

Trust me, you will never look at harmless little bunny rabbits the same way again!