NIGHT OF THE LEPUS

Carnivorous rabbit on the rampage!

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (1972). Director: William F. Claxton. 

Husband and wife scientist team Roy (Stuart Whitman of Tender Flesh) and Gerry (Janet Leigh) Bennett are called in to see what they can do about the population explosion of hungry rabbits that are destroying crops in Arizona. Rancher Cole Hillman (Rory Calhoun of Thunder in Carolina) is hoping the couple can come up with something that is ecologically sound. A test bunny escapes from the lab and before you know it there is a new breed of outsized, carnivorous, vicious and very hungry rabbits munching down on horses, cattle -- and people. Oops!

Inept scientists? Leigh and Whitman

Night of the Lepus is played perfectly straight, which is why I've always found it rather charming. There is no attempt to turn the rabbits into monstrously mutated horrors with gigantic fangs and claws -- they just look like bunnies -- but in spite of that the clever editing, close-up photography, and especially the eerie sound FX with squeals and the thumps of heavy footfalls give the rabbits a genuinely menacing aura at times and there are some creepy and suspenseful sequences. There are also hilarious scenes, such as when a cop tells a crowd at a drive-in theater that "there is a herd of killer rabbits heading your way."

Really big bunnies take after pitiful victim

The rabbits are described as being the size of wolves, but in most process shots they appear to be much bigger, at least man-sized, and more often as big as horses or even baby elephants. There are also a lot of shots employing miniature buildings, cars and trucks for the little darlings to play around in. DeForest Kelley of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country plays a friend of the Bennetts. Jimmie Haskell's score is spookily effective. While I can well understand why many people feel this is a terrible movie, I have to say I've always gotten a kick out of it! William F. Claxton also directed Rockabilly Baby.

Verdict: Bugs Bunny's least favorite movie. ***. 

TENDER FLESH / WELCOME TO ARROW BEACH

TENDER FLESH /WELCOME TO ARROW BEACH (1974). Director: Laurence Harvey. 

Hitchhiker Robbin Stanley (Meg Foster) runs into Korean war veteran Jason Henry (Laurence Harvey, who also directed the film) on the beach in front of his large California home. Jason invites Robbin in for a meal and she is introduced to his sister, Grace (Joanna Pettet), who is jealous of the women he brings home due to her incestuous relationship with her brother. Although this is not spelled out in any detail, apparently Jason developed a taste for human flesh when he was lost and isolated during the war. Nearly becoming his next supper before escaping, Robbin tries to tell the authorities -- Deputy Rakes (Stuart Whitman) and Sheriff Bingham (John Ireland) -- how crazy and dangerous Jason is, but they think she's on drugs and don't believe her. With the help of a medical technician named Alex (David Macklin), Robbin re-enters the house of horrors to get more evidence. But both of them may have bitten off more than they can chew (pun intended). 

Laurence Harvey

Welcome to Arrow Beach was originally entitled Yellow-Headed Summer and Walter Pidgeon and Donna Reed were supposed to have been in the cast. The film was re-released under the more exploitative title Tender Flesh and had a major and more explicit advertising campaign: "You won't believe what's behind the meat locker door" and so on. In truth the movie definitely has its gruesome moments (in the uncut version) and there's actually more gore than in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which came out the same year. The horror highlight of the film is a basement murder where the killer takes photographs of the victim, and then literally butchers the woman with an ax, the whole slaughter tableau presented as brutal still pictures with flashing strobes, something that doesn't diminish the disturbing aspects of the sequence one bit.  

Gloria LeRoy

This was Laurence Harvey's last picture, and only one of two that he directed. His performance is excellent. He gets solid performances from Meg Foster and Joanna Pettet, and veterans Ireland and Whitman are typically professional. David Macklin makes a nice impression as Alex, as does Gloria LeRoy as an ill-fated middle-aged model that Jason also encounters on the beach after her paramour has robbed her. Altovise Gore Davis, the wife of Sammy Davis Jr., plays a deputy named Molly. By any name Welcome to Arrow Beach is an interesting if imperfect picture, with both pacing and structural problems, and a score that does very little to create needed suspense or terror, but it's worth a look if for no other reason than the presence of Laurence Harvey both behind and in front of the camera. 

Verdict: You will believe what's behind the meat locker door after that rather savage murder sequence. **1/2.