The movie ('Night of the Lepus', aka 'Year of the Angry Rabbit') that made me want to make movies? Not quite, but I will say that this film (and yes, it is a 'film' in that Cahiers du Cinema sort of way) has probably been one of the greatest influences on me (alongside that other, more infantile regressive, fear fest 'Prophecy') as a burgeoning filmmaker. And that's not saying much for me. **This blog is quickly devolving into my Animal Rampage Page** Really, when it comes down to it, what else truly matters?
I wrote a pre-thesis film based on this in my final year of film school. I wish I was joking about that. I really do. Because of that, I discovered (pre-youtube, pre-obsessive blogs) a small but devoted cult of NOTL fans. I discovered private fan fiction written to advance certain plotlines and characters not fully reconciled in the original work of art.
This flick really has a hold on me. Last year I wrote another feature script as a sort of love poem or sonnet to this majestic feature.
It's easy to say I'm being cute or ironic. If you didn't know me, that is. I truly and deeply love this film. My enthusiasm for this film, I believe, has made converts of other (possibly less inclined) viewers. I could name several other devotees off the top of my head, but I'm sure they'd appreciate having their anonymity kept intact.
You really need to see this if you haven't. It's truly a work of accidental art. The sort of thing where intention and result don't quite meet up, but somehow create a mutant fusion (like a reverse black hole---which would be a star, obviously) that shines on with its own unique light.
I'm not really sure what sort of crack filmmakers William Claxton and Don Holiday were smoking when they made this, but you've gotta take the time into context. It was the 70's. Ecology was on everybody's mind. There was that whole crying Indian, 'Keep America Beautiful' commercial. And a 'hit' novel by Russell Braddon, for source material. Sometimes you can't see the forest through the trees. Especially when those trees are being deforested by GIANT RAMPAGING BUNNIES!
They took this film deadly serious. It even begins with a micro-doc about the impending rabbit-vs-man future war that WILL occur if we don't change our wicked ways. Hey, you really can't rule it out....can you?
Who knows what sort of heavy-handed bullshit today will become the next Lepus tomorrow. People in glass houses, you know.
Anyway, for the unindoctrinated, check out this clippy-poo and judge for yourself!
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