 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. So this is for the 1972 film Night of the Leapest and actually when I'm recording this review It's on Easter. I'm definitely releasing it after that But it just feels very appropriate now I watched it days before this and this is my first time seeing Night of the Leapest It's a film that's been on my list for quite some time because it's one of those films that I've heard about here and there over the past many years And it's just been on the list for a while and Shutter just added it for the month of April So I was very excited to finally check it out And Shutter actually has a bunch of these films that have been on my list So I'm gonna slowly be working through those Now let me go ahead and say if my energy level seems lower on this than usual I'm not feeling the best My allergies are out of control plus. I haven't slept all that well the past few nights So my energy level may be lower. That also goes for the review I'm putting out for the film Chakma also on Shutter. I just recorded that same day right before this, so Just a disclaimer there Anyway Night of the Leapest directed by William F. Claxton who also directed Half Past Midnight Young Jesse James The Twilight Zone episodes a few of those I think like four or something Lots of episodes of the show Bonanza It's an older show if you're much younger you were like what's Bonanza And lots of episodes of Little House on the Prairie Which I was subjected to a lot when I was a young kid because my sister really liked to watch it And I was there and she had the remote so It's crazy thinking that I watched so much Little House on the Prairie then And now I finally watch Night of the Leapest and it's the same director It's just kind of interesting how those things connect Written by Don Holiday and Jean R. Kearney Now Holiday didn't have any other real credits Kearney had done scripts for Night Gallery as well as a bunch of episodes of the show Kojak Which I've heard really good things about Kojak and I've been meaning to get to it Also that is one that's been on my list, you know, not a movie but a show But that's been on my list so gotta get to that eventually So this was based on a novel by Russell Braden The novel was actually named The Year of the Angry Rabbit Which I think is a better title than Night of the Leapest Obviously they went with Night of the Leapest because they wanted to Capitalize on the Night of the Living Dead phenomena Which a lot of films ended up doing that because, you know, marketing it's a thing But this film had a few different titles over the time that it was being worked on Initially, I think it was just called Rabbit They got away from that then it was called Leapers at one point Actually, I think when it was in script form It was just called Leapers and then when they were working on it, they were calling it Rabbits But then they ended up going with Night of the Leapest Now, apparently the term for Leapest came up when And this is just what I found online So take it for what it's worth It was a situation where one of the producers was reading the script He spilled some wine on it So he couldn't actually read that said Leapers And he thought it said Leapest Which by the way, Leapest, I believe in it, Latin means rabbits basically So that's, you know, that's where it comes from Now, one of the big things is they wanted to kind of steer away from With it like the marketing material and everything prior to the film coming out They wanted to get away from really mentioning rabbits all that much So that's why when you see the poster art for the film It just has all the eyes in the dark It doesn't actually show rabbits It doesn't say anything about rabbits because They felt that if they were marketing with the whole rabbit thing That people would just think it's so dumb and ridiculous and not see the film Now that said, when they were showing the film as little promos They did give out little rabbits feet with fake blood on them So I guess cool promo thing I kind of miss the days of Well, first of all, I miss the days of theaters But I miss the days of theaters kind of doing promo type stuff like that I wish that would come back once theaters are fully open and we're going back to them Janet Lee, who is one of the main female lead in this film She did not want her kids showing up on set because she didn't want them to be Subjected to horror films. They she thought that would be too scary potentially It was too much of a problem So she intentionally kept her kids away from horror films Now the funny thing about that is that yes This is the Janet Lee from the film psycho the original psycho, which is a wonderful film as we all know And one of her kids was Jamie Lee Curtis who would go on to be very famous for horror films So I just found that tidbit of information pretty funny Lee actually didn't care for the film She in many interviews had kind of said she's forgotten a lot about the film She seemed very disinterested in it And in fact, she's even stated in the past that she had Only taken the job because it was pretty close to her house So it was a paying job pretty close to her house And she wanted to be able to spend plenty of time with her family during that time But other than that, she wasn't really a fan of the film Which can't really blame her because it's not like a great film You know, it's it's a weird dumb concept and it's ridiculous and obviously it's like fun to watch now But back then people were probably like eh and actually people were like eh because when it actually came out It didn't do super well And critics didn't really like it either They it got pretty much dismissed as being ridiculous Which is you know kind of what they were afraid of If they led with the whole idea that hey it's killer giant mutant killer rabbits It doesn't sound like a good concept really But yeah Um the rabbit roaring in this film whenever there's roaring going on with the rabbits What was actually going on is they were filming a rabbit yawning And knowing that and watching the film you can definitely see it So you're just kind of like oh that's cute when it's supposed to be you know scary But in general I just think rabbits are a type of animal that like they're just So cute and fluffy and wonderful that anytime you see them You're just going to think cute and fluffy and wonderful and that's what happens in this film too Is when they're supposed to be menacing they don't really look that menacing to be honest And in the moments where they had red on their faces, which is supposed to be blood That was ketchup So it is good to know they didn't do anything like using paint because there were not great things done in the past Uh, especially You know many decades ago as far as using animals on sets. Hopefully the bunnies were treated relatively well Um, I do know that they used about two dozen rabbits and the shoot took about two months And over that time they were just kind of holding on to these rabbits It changed from being about two dozen rabbits to being close to a hundred rabbits Because yes, they are well known for breeding and yes, they did breed over those two months So that's crazy. So, um, I guess it helped the film in a sense Apparently there was a the mystery science theater 3000 guys slash rift tracks guys Uh, apparently they did an episode on nine of the leaps, but I couldn't find it on the rift tracks app that I have So I wonder if it was a mystery science theater 3000 thing and it's not really available anymore But if you know about that put it in the comments Let me know because I would love to see this with the rift tracks Treatment to it. It screams for it All right So the news report in the very beginning of the film kind of really does set the tone in in quite a few ways for the film Really, it's a pretty good example of kind of an invasive invasive species issue Which obviously they set up as talking about in the context of australia But the film ends up taking place in arizona But they use the australia situation of overpopulation of these rabbits and destruction of crops As kind of the the stage to set of saying well over here It's a huge problem And then they introduce it in arizona and you're supposed to remember basically from that report It could become a huge problem now It goes to a problem of epic proportions because of the intervention of science in this film because science decides to get involved Do some experimenting and accidentally cause a much larger mutant rabbit problem Which goes to kind of the heart of the theme of this film, which is Humans messing with nature and what can end up happening because of that I mentioned my review on the film shakma that's coming up Same type of theme in that film as well, which is humans ability to Think that they can control nature completely But they really can't and also just doing experiments on nature for their for humanities gain and Really what can end up going wrong when that happens? There's also a bit of a point of Kind of you know testing on animals and it not being great Especially with the little girl manda Wanting to save the rabbit who had been tested on and that's what you know He gets loose and that's what ends up causing this whole big literally big problem So yeah, there's also a question about human overpopulation In the during the news report in the beginning because there is something said very briefly in the very beginning of it About human population getting a little bit too large as well So there's a bit of a parallel between rabbits breeding and humans breeding and yeah, that's always been a problem We've always been Conscious to a degree of overpopulation, but not willing to talk about it so much and we're still going there So just just so you know I know the guy shooting his horse in the beginning was actually supposed to help demonize the rabbits from the get go But they show the rabbits they look so cute and I was just thinking Isn't this kind of more the fault of the horse because the horse is running There aren't blinders on or anything it can see where it's going and it steps on the rabbit holes And falls and the guy shoots it so I understand the intention But for my brain I was like isn't it kind of the rabbit's fault or the not the rabbit the horse's fault for not watching where it was going And also to a degree the the guy riding it. I think it was roi No, that wasn't right. That's coal coal. That's who it was Just saying so roi and he's the scientist. He ends up bringing up dbt Uh and using natural ways to control invasive species now He makes that kind of comparison saying that dbt is a problem Trying to get away from it talking about using more natural ways to control Species issues, especially invasive species now you need to keep in mind that rachel carson's book silent spring came out in 1962 for people who haven't read that book or are unaware of it It's an environmental science book that was groundbreaking that Brought to light a bunch of information very negative about the chemical dbt that was used to control Lard overpopulation or pest pest issues And it had all these negative effects on all sorts of other wildlife that Became a very big issue. So people you know society was really trying to get away from dbt was very Um it was dbt was very much in the minds of people So when they reference dbt in this film that's something that's been talked about for many years Leading up to this film as being a bad thing So they kind of use that to pivot and go to like well, let's try and do things a little bit more natural But then roi ends up using science and messing around with the rabbits Which causes the problem. So and I think he was just doing hormones is what he was doing with the rabbits Uh when the rabbit bites when there are a bunch of rabbits being moved over Roy and coal are working on that ones that they had caught because they were going to test them Uh when the rabbit bites roi, I think it was roi or may have been coal I can't remember I felt like that was kind of foreshadowing the issues that were about to come of the rabbits being a little bit aggressive And then what happens when they become so much bigger? And they're even more aggressive because they're super pumped with hormones Why the hell would this kid switch the rabbits? Yeah, so I didn't really fully understand why amanda decided to switch the rabbits in their cages It didn't really make full sense to me, especially when she was asking if she could take a rabbit home My only thought is maybe that she Wanted to in her mind kind of save the rabbit who she thought was going to be in peril Because she didn't really like the idea of the testing. So I guess But when she didn't just think that the other rabbit would end up being tested on because I don't know It didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me And then what makes even less sense to me is when her friend It's a dumb scene too when her friend is just like, oh, let me see that rabbit And then he just like lets it loose and obviously that's where you know It runs into the ground start breeding with other rabbits and that's where the problem comes But that scene just felt so weird like it didn't feel natural It didn't feel like it really fit and that kid doesn't even really play much of a role in the film either He's just there to Be the catalyst for the problem, you know, like he caused the problem Which you know further backs up my kids are terrible thing because amanda took the rabbit and that stupid kid released the rabbit Granted he didn't know what he was doing. But still it was a jerk thing to do. So at any rate After finding capped captain billy dead the nightmare amanda has is actually pretty funny Um, I just found that whole montage of her having that nightmare pretty hilarious There are some moments in this film I genuinely laughed at and that's why this is a pretty good so bad. It's good film in my opinion I like how the rabbits are sneaking around in the dark It's interesting because they're not nocturnal. Some people think they are nocturnal. They are A bit more active in in the evening and night supposedly, but they are seen plenty during the day as well And that the film even starts that way obviously before the the horses shot But um, I just did find it interesting how like for a lot of the time They're just like lurking in the shadows, especially in the cave I think that was mainly done because they want to kind of They wanted to keep it darker where the rabbits were because they didn't want to expose so much How potentially bad like the the miniatures that they set them on So that when they were bigger they could like terrorize the town I think they wanted to kind of minimize how well lit those scenes were so people wouldn't Recognize as much that they were like painted miniatures They wanted to keep up the illusion that these were actually gigantic rabbits so that when you're watching the film You could get more sucked into it. So I get it. I get it. It's just kind of funny that they're just like sneaking around The truck driver's body is actually pretty grizzly seen and I was impressed for this time period And for what I assumed they would be doing as far as the practical effects go Especially with already seeing, you know, just the catch up on the mouths of the rabbits But I was impressed by that the the truck driver who was mutilated now that said whenever there are mutilated bodies That show up after that one. They're not really mutilated. They're literally still intact Even though they say they're mutilated just with, you know, fake blood on them. So I think that kind of sucks They went big and then they stopped I like how they say the dead people. Oh, I literally just said that I like I like how they find the breeding ground in the cave like rabbits kind of need privacy to bone That's another funny thing. I thought they literally called a breed or like, oh, it's their breeding ground in the cave I don't you know, I don't think rabbits feel like they need privacy But I don't know maybe maybe you know put in the comments do do rabbits primarily have sex underground I don't know. This isn't something I looked into. Maybe it's Something I should have the attacks on people they show are awesomely funny It literally was a guy in a fake rabbit suit Um, obviously they do as much as they can to not show as much like they just show like blurs and bits and pieces But it's just funny like you see the rabbits coming at them and they cut to like the the fake rabbit being thrown at them And then the guy in the suit like wrestling with them. I just love those scenes. They're they're so like corny and stupid But I love it It's funny because a lot of the footage of the rabbits just looks the same That's another thing and and that's one of the things I kind of think gets a little boring about the film Actually is that you're seeing the same type of footage over and over and over of the rabbits Just you know coming at the camera or just looking around on the miniature set Although I will say that the miniatures and like the the miniature town that they created Did look pretty good for the film in my opinion. They really did Oh, excuse me Between attacks it does get pretty boring. Like I said, there's a lot of the same type footage It gets boring the film really does drag because it's just people trying to run from these gigantic rabbits And the film is like an hour and 28 minutes I want to say and it does feel like it drags a little bit. So that kind of sucks I also would not pick up a hitchhiker in a desolate road waving a rifle around That's a really small part. But there's the part where I think it's Cole is trying to get a Get a ride and he's literally waving his rifle There's no one around and there's one car coming and he's just like trying to flag him down And they're like, I'm not picking that dude up and I'm like, I wouldn't pick that dude up either either There's nobody around you don't know him and he's waving a rifle Nope I don't blame that family I love the shot of all the bloody rabbits just hanging out around the body of the lady in the general store And by the way, when that lady in the general store first gets attacked That's probably one of my favorite scenes Because you're seeing the rabbit coming and then all of a sudden you see the fake rabbit like break the window and come through at her It's just the way it's cut together It's really funny and then that after scene of all the rabbits just kind of a rounder with all the ketchup on their faces Just like they're supposed to be eating her body. I guess it just looks funny and I I enjoy it Ah, yes, the typical hit the whole town with rockets approach To solving things that always shows up in these types of films Especially with large-scale problems like giant animals or giant insects or whatever it is and that was a whole period Like there were for the for decades for a few decades There were a bunch of these films of like giant creatures of different Types, you know, like the giant ants from them and stuff like that That's one that my mom would talk about a lot. She remember seeing that and it was scary to her back then Um, the officer with the bullhorn yelling that a herd of killer rabbits are on the way Just seems like something people wouldn't pay attention to I guess when he was yelling this this was It was supposed to be at all people who are already fleeing these giant rabbits But it just made me think if there's someone who even a police officer who shows up and is like You need to get out of here. They're a giant killer rabbits coming Who's gonna be like, oh, yeah. Yeah, people are just gonna be like What is this guy nuts? And then you start thinking this probably isn't even a police officer It's probably just some crazy person who's dressed as a police officer I like how the military shows up really quick even if they believe what was actually going on It probably would have taken them quite some time to get there It seems like they get there like the same day that the giant rabbit issue happens Um, I don't know if that's how it was supposed to be but that's what it seems like because of how they edited it together, but uh Response would not be that fast The electrified train track solution. I think was pretty creative. I did like it and I will give them points for that I thought that was kind of cool. It's a good way to kind of bring the film to a close in my opinion Like what else are you going to do for giant rabbits? I don't know. I mean, I guess that's all you could do Um, obviously this is about population control and how fragile ecosystems can be especially with uh, the introduction of invasive species This is actually a problem not from back not just from back then But it's a problem now you hear all the times about things like the murder hornets We just heard about murder hornets that it's shown up But I live in the state of Maryland. We have a big problem with snake heads There are a type of fish that are invasive and they overrun areas and eat All the food for local species Uh, they were they were supposed to be able to have and it causes a big problem It's causes huge depletions in native Fish populations. It's it's not it's a problem. It's it's a bad thing and they have been, you know Really encouraging people to go out and catch snake heads so much so that they've actually this I think the state released a Cookbook of recipes for snake heads. They also did that with nutria. We have a problem with uh, they're kind of like muskrat like creatures Nutria in Maryland and they encourage people go out and shoot shoot Nutria and once again, they put out a cookbook of here are some recipes to use for nutria. It's interesting It's also about humanity versus nature and how humanity can make things so much worse when trying to overcome nature That's another thing There's always been this situation of humanity feeling like it can control nature and it should rightfully be able to control nature Now You can't always win though And that's the problem and we see that in real life when it comes to, you know We build structures as best we can to withstand the harshness of weather But inevitably there are always those times where tornadoes, hurricanes, you know, whatever they hit and it can't be stopped So this is kind of one of those themes where You can do whatever you can to try and get around the issues that are created by Aspects of nature in this case the overpopulation of this invasive species of rabbit But you could either end up trying to end up making it worse Or it's just not going to work and inevitably you're going to have to pay the piper so to speak And it's not going to be good If you want a good double feature for this I would recommend the film octoman Because watching this film it had a lot of that same feel so and if you haven't seen octoman look for it It's it's ridiculously bad, but so bad. It's good. Now if you want a triple feature I'm going to recommend tacking on to that the film squirm about killer worms It's amazing. It's amazingly bad. I love that film. It was on shutter I don't think it's there anymore unfortunately, so you'd have to try and find it somewhere else And then if you want to get crazy and have a quadruple feature Tack onto that one giant spider invasion, which I know for a fact got the riftrax treatment And that's a really fun time plus. I mean, you don't even need the riftrax Honestly, it's hilarious on its own. Oh and actually octoman also had a riftrax So I'm just saying that's a great quadruple feature Uh, especially if you do that put some comments down here and let me know if you do a Double feature triple feature quadruple feature on my recommendation Let me know how that goes if you do but would love to hear your opinions on knighted leapus I'm glad I finally watched it don't really feel the need to watch it again Especially not now. Maybe if I have like a friend who really wants to watch it I'd sit down and and watch it with them and kind of laugh a bit Make some comments here and there to pass the time, but It was good. It was a good watch once over so out of five stars with half stars in play I'm gonna rate this two ways In the pantheon of all film. I'm gonna give it One and a half stars and I'm gonna give it that extra half because I think the miniatures actually looked good quite good But as a so bad, it's good film I could put it at a Like a three I think I think it's a solid three with as far as so bad It's because I was between two and a half at three, but I'm gonna give it the three because it is pretty funny Those giant rap those giant rabbits are definitely not really menacing. I'm just saying they tried their hardest But they're just not menacing But I really appreciate you taking your time to check this out. Go ahead and put comments down there Let's talk about it. Do me a favor though. If you're watching this and you are not a subscriber Please hit that subscribe button It really does mean a lot to me and it helps to drive me to continue to do this because I'm not making money or anything I'm just trying to put my opinions out there. Hopefully people find them a useful or entertaining And also looking for comments. I want to talk and get nerdy about horror stuff where I live I don't have many people I can talk to about that And that's been one of the reasons I created this channel because I want to talk horror with people and in depth too So please subscribe. I do appreciate it Also hit the notification bell if you do and that way you'll know that when I'm putting up another review Like this or an unboxing or call video or opinion piece or whatever. I'm always doing all sorts of stuff But regardless, like I said, I really thank you for taking your time to watch this and until next time keep it brutal