Night Of The Lepus.

Nice synopsis, duds. This is a flick I caught on tv years back with my pop and we both enjoyed the hell out of it. Saw it on the rack at work the other day and immeadiately put it on the shortlist (cash is a little short now in anticipation of two upcoming $200 DVD release days this year).

In a similar vein, try Frogs. Never has so much stock footage of amphibians been used to such ludicrous effect.

Although (strangely for a movie called FROGS) there is one utterly creepy tarantula scene that I've always found incredibly hard to watch.

This thread reminded me of a movie I caught on the local horror show as a kid, called Day of the Animals, about animals taking revenge, I guess, and it had the god known as Leslie Nielsen in it. Anybody else remember this thing?

Oh yes. Hilarious scenes of people intercut with animals moving incredibly slowly, to indicate that they're evil. Again, it's a flick I remember mostly for the tarantula.

That's about all I remember, too. Except for some scene where Nielsen takes of his shirt and gets all primal.

Tarantulas freak me the hell out, too, but I blame that on the beginning of Raiders. I can still remember feeling around the back of my seat in the theater to see if there were any crawling up to get me.

I think they realised the elusive truth that frogs just aren't scary. Of course, you should probably realise that before you start making a horror film about them...

I like the fact that Frogs poster showed a gigantic frog with a human arm dangling out of it's mouth. Talk about misleading advertising.

In the same vein is "Day of the Triffids"

This time it's giant plants that come to life and terrorize mankind - not the best flick although I did enjoy it. Maybe a little more than I should have. LOL

I really hope this post is a joke.

First caught this many years ago on Joe Bob Brigg's MONSTERVISION. Very amusing. I've been meaning to buy the DVD.

Truth be told, Triffids is kinda clunky.

Why?

Because putting "Night of the Lepus" and "Frogs" in the same vein as "Day of the Triffids" is kinda uninformed.

Maybe as I admittedly haven't seen Lepus or Frogs. I was more going on the whole "random lifeform terrorizes mankind" and "so bad it's funny" aspects. I'm not saying Triffids was good filmmaking, but I enjoyed it because of its flaws, which alot of people seem to be saying about Lepus.

That's where I drew the comparison. Apparently I was mistaken.

Triffids is good filmmaking.

The movie version, sure. But it's still based on one of the classic sci-fi/horror novels, and doesn't belong in the same category as killer frogs and rabbits.

I liked Triffids, I liked it a bunch. There were a few things that didn't work for me though. Mainly, that the plants were fireproof (am I remembering that correctly?) I mean what the hell - they're plants. And I thought the whole ice-cream truck, pied-piper ending was sort of a copout.

I did, however, like the lighthouse battle as it was somewhat realistic (well, as realistic as it could be anyway), and the whole trapped in the house thing with the little girl and the other people.

Oh and the whole pollenation scene. That was good stuff.

If by "good" you mean all shots were in focus and the soundtrack was in synch.

It's a far damn cry from Night of the friggin' Lepus, that's for sure.

I give it a 6.3 and Lepus a 4.6, making Triffids 1.7 units better.
A "far cry"?
I think not.

Oh, ha ha ha. You're a regular laugh riot today, Bob.

It's hard to not look at Night of the Lepus without laughing. The rabbits used in the film are too cute to be scary. Then again, a film about giant rabbits is bound to be silly. How did they get so big again? I vaguely remember a little girl being the cause of it all.

Speaking of which, are there two versions of Triffids?

Yeah, there was a TV movie released in 1980 I think.

day of the triffids

anyone in this thread who thinks that triffids is inept should buy the BBC mini series that came out in the 80s, along with THREADS this pans out as one of the best and harrowing pieces that the beeb ever produced, A world in which 99 percent of people have died leving a few people who can see and a rampaging mob of blind people and the actual triffids on top of all that was filmed to prefection. The original Wyndam novel is very "well read" and as a result the movie version does not deserve to be lumped in with lepus or day of the animals. That said day of the animals is a great B movie, the scene where neilson fights a bear in a thunderstorm is unreal.

Totally agree. While I've never seen the original film for comparison, the BBC Triffids mini-series is superb. Very atmospheric and super creepy vison of the apocalypse, although the triffids themselves look a bit silly in a few scenes. I imported it from amazon.uk for less than $20 US. God bless region free players.

For the record, the only version I've seen is the 1962 film starring Howard Keel.

Hi there.

The BBC version was an Anglo-Australian production shown in 6 parts in the UK and as a 3-parter overseas. Here's a site covering the programme:

http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/triffids.htm

I always liked the 63 movie version of the book even with its any shortcomings. The scenes where the lead character wander through a devastated London and later Paris are very atmospheric. There's a surprising amount of tension in the attack sequences by the Triffids even if the plants themselves are very ungainly.

The film had a troubled production history. When original director Steve Sekely handed in his completed work it was found that the usable material ran well short of that required by the film's backers and distributors. So new footage featuring Kieron Moore and Janette Scott set in the confined space of a lighthouse was shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer turned regular Hammer and Amicus contributor Freddie Francis. Although it's never been mentioned by anyone else I suspect that the scene where the security guard is attacked in a greenhouse may also be the result of Francis's efforts mainly due to the prominent use of subjective camera which the director had a penchant for.

For many years the script was credited to Philip Yordan, the movie's producer. It was in fact largely the work of HUAC blacklisted writer Bernard Gordon (Earth vs the Flying Saucers) with some additional input from Jon Manchip White. Yordan was based in Europe (primarily Spain) throughout the 60s and 70s and employed several blacklisted US talents either uncredited or under pseudonyms or using his own name as a cover. Reportedly Triffids was originall to be shot in Spain. More recent prints of the film have Bernard Gordon's name restored as screenwriter.

This film crops up again and again in newsgroups and forums that I'm involved in so it's surprising that a good print seems to be completely unavailable. The print the BBC shows every so often is atrocious and largely unwatchable. The British version of the Sci-Fi Channel sometimes shows a rather nicer looking widescreen print from time to time but it is far from ideal. I've not seen it but apparently the DVD of the film has the correct aspect ratio but that's it. Surely some enterprising label out there wants to make some money out of this title.

Going back to Night of the Lepus. Most of the cast and crew of this work worked mainly in the western genre in cinema and on TV, notably producer AC Lyles, director William F. Claxton and De Forrest Kelley pre-Star Trek. That and the fact that much of it appears to have been shot in or around Old Tucson gives the appearance of a displaced Western. Check the credit sequences for an example. That's probably the most interesting aspect of the film itself. If it featured any other (more sensible) giant creatue it would be considered mediocre at best. As it happens the presence of its very daft oversize monster bunny/thingies is probably its most notable feature. The film (contrary to popular misconception) is not camp enough or inept enough to be unintentionally funny. Everyone in the cast plays it really straight which under normal circumstances would be entirely commendable but here it just highlights how bizarre the whole venture is.

I actually did a fairly detailed review of the movie on my website at:

http://www.geocities.com/bigfatpav20...fthelepus.html

This was based on my viewing of an off-air recording from the British version of TNT (later TCM). If someone can talk me into securing a DVD of the title I might possibly watch it again and update the review. Maybe.

Cheers.

Iain

Holy shit, that IS the same time my dad and I watched this. I had all but forgotten about Joe Bob. But who could blame me?