poster

Night of the Lepus
Director: William F. Claxton
Year: 1972
TRT: 1:28

Reviewed: 9/8/2026
VIDEO REVIEW

Straight up, I Never particularly liked rabbits. Even when a buddy of mine had one for a short film about a magician he bought as a prop, but the pet store wouldn’t let him return it afterwards, so he kept it and named it “Prop” and it just got in your way but at least mostly pooped in the one corner. But otherwise, They are chewy, destructive little bastards, especially when it comes to suspect wire coatings in your car. But.. Being actually Fearful of rabbits? Now. Now I understand. And can only stand vigilant when the wave of giant mutant rabbit hordes deploy upon us mere humans!

Basic Plot: Regular Rabbits, wreaking havoc. Solutions to take out said rabbits goes poorly. A lot of people die. Because. Mutant Rabbits.

This is a deeper movie than most people Realize. It’s the double-entendre of movies, with a message within a message. At least, I think that’s what double-entendre means, I could be wrong. This starts as one of those ‘ecological horror’ kind of films to teach about the dangers of poisoning of nuisance pests, only to fuck up a lot bigger ecosystem and potentially get wiped out by giant rabbits. Worst Case Scenario, but, you know, still relevant. There’s a natural balance of smaller and larger prey for a reason. Throw some questionable untested chemicals into the mix, yeah, all bets are off. Mutants will eventually dominate and eat you. That’s just science. But fortunately for us, totally doesn’t apply to MRNA vaccines deployed on a global scale, that’s just silly! I mean, c’mon, we’re just talkin about rabbits here, right? But there is a weird quote in the movie, a potential shut-down of the bunny ecosystem without harming anything else. “Make Jack more like Jill, and Jill more like Jack.” And it has...devastating effects. Well, fortunately that’s just a silly movie. But then I look around when I hit the grocery store and wonder… “Should I get white bread or wheat?” And try to ignore all the unisex people with green and blue hair.


Post Mortem: Janet “Psycho” Leigh admitted after the fact, yeah, well, how scared can people actually be of rabbits? They’re...rabbits. Little did she understand the potential metaphor of immigration. Or, well, chemical and social implications!!!! So, really a double warning here! Well done, William F. Claxton! Now I have another Rabbit Movie to haunt my nightmares besides Watership Down. And Donnie Darko, but for mostly different reasons.

Seems a little dated, maybe could use an update or a sequel or something, just to remind people. Would be kick ass if it starred Nicolas Cage. Damn. That would be Sweet.

Thespian Notes: This was actually slightly better done than I thought it was going to be, but I didn’t really set a high bar for it. But don’t try to fool me with that mustache, DeForest Kelley! I know you’re a Space Doctor!



STORY

Story rating: 6 out of 6 beers

LOOK

Look rating: 3 out of 6 beers
Video review of Night of the Lepus (1972) by theDMR

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