Night of the Lepus

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Night of the Lepus
Theatrical poster for Night of the Lepus
Directed by	William F. Claxton
Produced by	A. C. Lyles
Written by	Russell Braddon (novel "The Year of the Angry Rabbit") Don Holliday Gene R. Kearney (screenplay)
Starring	Stuart Whitman Janet Leigh Rory Calhoun DeForest Kelley Paul Fix Melanie Fullerton
Music by	Jimmie Haskell
Cinematography	Ted Voightlander
Editing by	John McSweeney Jr.
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	October 4, 1972 (USA)
Running time	88 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Night of the Lepus is a 1972 B-movie horror film in which giant mutant rabbits terrorize the Southwestern United States. The film was directed by William F. Claxton, written by Don Holliday and Gene R. Kearney, and starred Stuart Whitman as the main character, as well as Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun, and DeForest Kelley, best known for his performance as Dr. Leonard McCoy on Star Trek. It was adapted from the novel The Year of the Angry Rabbit written by Russell Braddon.

The film is relatively obscure, but maintains a small but devout cult following, and has even been referenced in some more mainstream, popular films. For instance, footage appears briefly in the science fiction film The Matrix, 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).

In 2005, it was released to DVD in North America.

[edit] Plot

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.

[edit] Main cast

Actor	Role
Stuart Whitman	Roy Bennett
Janet Leigh	Gerry Bennett
Rory Calhoun	Cole Hillman
DeForest Kelley	Elgin Clark
Paul Fix	Sheriff Cody
Melanie Fullerton	Amanda Bennett