NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (1972) Blu-ray
Director: William F. Laxton
Scream Factory/Shout! Factory

One of the kookier cult items from the Warner Brothers’ vault, Shout! Factory’s invaluable Scream Factory arm now licenses the 1972 killer bunny epic NIGHT OF THE LEPUS for the surprise Blu-ray release of the summer.

At the request of fed-up rancher Cole Hillman (Rory Calhoun, MOTEL HELL), the "young" scientist couple of Roy (Stuart Whitman, THE MONSTER CLUB) and Gerry Bennett (Janet Leigh, TOUCH OF EVIL) attempts solving his current epidemic of massive bunny herds that are eating all the crops. They attempt to do so, however, their experiments with hormones don’t seem to be working. Their young daughter (Melanie Fullerton) accidentally lets one of the altered rabbits escape, and only then do the hormones begin to take effect. Somehow this bunny mates like crazy, grows to mutant proportions (150 pounds or so), and its entire family begins to wreak havoc on the small desert town.

Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) when they were falling apart and being destroyed by rival studios and independent films at the box office, this is a skeleton in their closet that was pretty much forgotten for years. Frequent cable airings (especially on Ted Turner’s various super stations) and a mythos surrounding the actual existence of this curiosity brought it back into the spotlight in more recent years, and it was often listed when fans were asked to think of Warner titles which the company would never have the cajones to release on the digital format. It was quite a surprise when LEPUS (which was never given a VHS release) made its home video debut on DVD in 2005, and it’s of course an even bigger thrill to see this notorious monstrosity get a Blu-ray release via Shout! Factory’s recent licensing deal with Warner Bros.

Yes, that’s right: killer bunnies. Giant mutant bunnies with long teeth, sharp claws and a fierce growl to send chills down your spine (these monsters are seen as real rabbits trampling over miniature sets as well as actors wearing “rabbit suits” in a handful of close-ups). There are few experiences as sublime as watching NIGHT OF THE LEPUS unfold on the screen. It’s a one-of-a-kind motion picture which tanked at the box office and was pushed under the carpet by MGM after its abysmal theatrical run. Who thought that making a movie about killer rabbits would be successful? Director William F. Laxton, producer A.C. Lyles, and screenwriters Don Holliday and Gene Kearney, that’s who. Technically speaking, LEPUS is a pretty well-made affair, with nice camerawork and good editing. It's admittedly enjoyable, but all credibility flies out the window within the first 20 minutes when the first bloodthirsty rabbits appear. Laxton and Lyles were more accustomed to westerns (TV’s “Bonanza” for Laxton, and low-budget big-screen cowboy operas for Lyles), so at least they seem to feel at home in the desert locales.

Not all of LEPUS is fodder for jeers and jokes. The opening Mondo-esque newsreel footage of farmers madly slaughtering rampaging bunny herds all over their ranches and farms is pretty disturbing. There’s also a surprising amount of grisly gore effects in the film, which seem really out of place in a PG film. But then again, this is 1972, when the ratings system was in shambles. Startling scenes of a dismembered truck driver strewn all over the side of the road, a butchered family of four decorating a campground, close-ups of viscera and guts hanging from rabbits’ mouths, and various other blood-spurting deaths mix the ridiculous with the horrifying. Additionally, scenes of a guy in a rabbit’s suit tackling the actors, more close-ups of rabbits’ teeth with a lion’s roar dubbed in, and slow-motion photography of bunnies hopping through the countryside seeking their next meal have no rival in screen goofiness. The scariest thing about the film is that there is no “No Animals Were Hurt During the Making of This Film” disclaimer! Think about that during one scene where a rabbit is set on fire (although The Humane Society was reportedly on the set during the shoot, so perhaps looks can be deceiving).

Examine the respectable names in this film: Rory Calhoun, Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh and STAR TREK’s DeForest Kelley. Even though most were B-list actors by 1972, it’s an amazing feat that the head honchos at MGM were able to entice them into their killer rabbit film. What could have possibly been this cast’s motivation in taking this project, other than the quick paycheck? They would go on to do a fair amount of these types of movies in the subsequent years — save perhaps Leigh who usually steered clear of trashier outings — but it’s nice to think of this as their first dip into the pool of true exploitation cinema. Melanie Fullerton gives one of the most cloyingly sweet child performances in horror film history, and reliable veteran character actor Paul Fix (THE BAD SEED) plays the local sheriff. Everyone involved takes the material so deathly serious that the camp level goes through the roof. Until Irwin Allen’s THE SWARM six years later, this was hands-down the most embarrassing “all star” nature-strikes-back film of the decade. And it’s based on a novel to boot: The Year of the Angry Rabbit (!).

Warner did a fabulous job in terms of quality when releasing the film on DVD in 2005, so you can imagine how good this new Scream Factory Blu-ray looks. Utilizing a new 2018 2K high-definition transfer made from an archival interpositive, the film begins with the vintage Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer "lion" logo. Presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the transfer is impeccably clean with vivid colors that pop and black levels that are deep (no severe crush is apparent). Detail is also nice, boasting good textures especially in skin tones, and proper grain levels are also evident (grainer of course in the darker scenes, as well as scenes that take place inside the bunnies’ cavernous dwellings). All in all, this is a terrific-looking Blu-ray and is hopefully a sign of further good things to come in terms of Shout! Factory tapping some hidden gems from the Warner back-catalogue. The Blu-ray contains a very strong English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, with dialogue being crisp and clear throughout. The sound effects (including those monstrous noises the killer bunnies make) and the haunting score by Jimmie Haskell (GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED) also come through nicely. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.

Furnished for this Blu-ray are two new commentaries. The first is with author Lee Gambin (Massacred By Mother Nature: Exploring The Natural Horror Film) who examines this “animal-centric” horror movie and thankfully champions it for the fun escapist cinema that it is and doesn’t buy into the cynical “so bad it’s good” mentality or the whole MST3000 thing. Gambin mentions the film’s social commentary (in this case overpopulation) and that it doesn’t have much to do with the book (by Australian author Russell Braddon) that it’s based on. Gambin also covers the film’s cast and crew, the score, its promotional campaign, the surprising amount of gore, as well as other killer animal films of the period. The second audio commentary has pop culture historian Russell Dyball, who starts off by revealing that Jerry Dunphy, who plays a newscaster in the opening footage, was an inspiration for the Ted Baxter character on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”! Dyball shares specific production information, as well as correlating factual (and occasional scientific) tidbits and pop culture references (including more than a few links to the “Star Trek” universe) connected to LEPUS. The second commentary (which too is never condescending to its subject) covers different bases and is different from the first one, so the inclusion of two “historian” discussions works perfectly fine for this disc. Included is the original theatrical trailer (1:45), which wisely avoids showing any footage of the film’s monsters. A few brief shots of a rabbit’s nose erupting from the ground and close-ups of bunny eyes are the only hints that the horrifying “Lepus” of the title could be found at any pet store next door! The only menace really shown is a never-ending series of wide eyes jutting out from the dark. Rounding out the extras are a television spot (:22), a radio spot (:34) and an image gallery (4:46). (George R. Reis and Casey Scott)

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