The rabbits make their way to the general store, killing shopkeeper Mildred and eating and killing everyone else they find in the small town of Galanos before taking refuge in the buildings for the day. The explosives fail to kill the rabbits, and that night they attack Cole's ranch, killing Jud while Cole, Frank, Jackie, and Cole's housekeeper Dorothy escape into the storm shelter. Roy and Frank escape the rabbits in the mine and run outside as the explosives are detonated. Outside, a rabbit surfaces and attacks Jud before Gerry can shoot it.
As Elgin and Cole set charges on top of the mine, Roy and Frank enter the shaft to get pictorial evidence. Elgin, the Bennetts, Cole, and Cole's two ranch hands Frank and Jud go to the mine to try to kill the rabbits with explosives. Mutilated bodies begin to crop up around town, including those of Billy, a truck driver, and a family of four. Screaming in terror, she runs from the mine.
Jackie finds more of the animal tracks in Billy's shed, while Amanda goes into the mine and runs into an enormous rabbit with blood on its face. Meanwhile, Cole's son Jackie and Amanda go to a gold mine to visit Jackie's friend Billy, but find him missing. While inspecting the rabbits' old burrowing areas, Cole and the Bennetts find a large, unusual animal track. Amanda is then given the injected rabbit as a pet, but it soon escapes. However, the Bennetts' daughter Amanda loves the injected rabbit, so she switches it with one from the control group. One is injected with a new serum believed to cause birth defects. Roy proposes using hormones to disrupt the rabbits' breeding cycle and takes some rabbits for experimentation. Elgin asks for the assistance of researchers Roy and Gerry Bennett because they respect Cole's wish to avoid using cyanide to poison the rabbits. Rancher Cole Hillman seeks the help of college president Elgin Clark to combat thousands of rabbits that have invaded the area after their natural predators, coyotes, were killed off. Night of the Lepus has since gained cult status for its laughably poor quality. Widely panned by critics for its silly premise, poor direction, stilted acting and bad special effects, the film's biggest failure is considered to be the inability to make the rabbits seem scary. Shot in Arizona, Night used domestic rabbits filmed against miniature models and actors dressed in rabbit costumes for the attack scenes. Character actors from Westerns the pair had worked on were brought in to star, including Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun and DeForest Kelley. The film was the first science fiction work for producer Lyles and for director Claxton, both of whom came from Western film backgrounds. Based upon Russell Braddon's 1964 science fiction novel The Year of the Angry Rabbit, the plot concerns an infestation of mutated rabbits. Night of the Lepus (also known as Rabbits) is a 1972 American science fiction horror film directed by William F.
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