NIGHT OF THE LEPURS (REVIEW)

Dir. William F. Claxton

Reviewer. Dan Cook

You see a razor sharp claw. You see a jet black eye. You see a pair of extraordinarily long ears. You see a cute little fluffy white tail. Could you survive the adorable horrors of the NIGHT OF THE LEPURS? Well yes, if you had a particularly large carrot. Or the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

Usually considered one of the worst creature features of all time, this ridiculous yet highly entertaining slice of hare-raising nonsense sees a horde of giant rabbits running rampant through an Arizona town after becoming genetically mutated, turning the cute critters into ravenous rodents that eat everything and everyone in their path.

Long thought forgotten having never been released on home video, the film gained a considerable cult resurgence following a 2005 DVD release and a subsequent Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory. And, for what it’s worth, NIGHT OF THE LEPURS is great deal of trashy fun. Sure, the performances from the likes of Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun and an impressively moustached Deforest Kelley are universally bad and the monster effects are especially rubbish.

But it’s almost impossible to not fall for a movie which features normal sized bunnies scampering around in aimless slow motion through miniature sets of houses and streets while accompanied by ominous music and hilarious growling sounds. NIGHT OF THE LEPURS may be as scary as a Bugs Bunny cartoon but if you’re a fan of B movie schlock, then you’d be hopping mad to miss this.