I don't care if it is an orgy of death, there's still such a thing as a napkin.

Willow ,'Lies My Parents Told Me'


Buffista Movies 5: Development Hell  

A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.


sumi - Jun 20, 2007 4:47:42 am PDT #9319 of 10001
Art Crawl!!!

But they weren't a human/bunny mix? Because that's how the Scifi channel would do it.

(P-C - a flock of passenger pigeon/human hybrids = ecological disaster.)


askye - Jun 20, 2007 4:54:20 am PDT #9320 of 10001
Thrive to spite them

No they aren't human/bunny hybrids. They are giant bunnies though. I'm sure they didn't have a budget for anything like costumes, even leftover Easter bunny costumes. They have the bunnies hopping through a model train set to show how big they are.


Theodosia - Jun 20, 2007 5:16:20 am PDT #9321 of 10001
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"

There was one movie that SFX'd their giant locust by taking a picture of grasshoppers on a picture of a building. I'm not making this up.


Frankenbuddha - Jun 20, 2007 5:19:05 am PDT #9322 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

There was one movie that SFX'd their giant locust by taking a picture of grasshoppers on a picture of a building. I'm not making this up.

MST3K did that one. THE BEGINNING OF THE END, I think. With Peter Graves as the scientist hero.


Tom Scola - Jun 20, 2007 5:23:49 am PDT #9323 of 10001
Mr. Scola’s wardrobe by Botany 500

MST3K did that one. THE BEGINNING OF THE END, I think. With Peter Graves as the scientist hero.

Peter Graves went to the University of Minnesota!


Frankenbuddha - Jun 20, 2007 5:32:01 am PDT #9324 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

Peter Graves went to the University of Minnesota!

Yeah, didn't somebody write a play about that?


askye - Jun 20, 2007 6:01:07 am PDT #9325 of 10001
Thrive to spite them

I've always wondered -- how do movies like this greenlighted? I understand that people take jobs to pay the bills, but how does someone read a script about Radioactive Giant Rabbits Terrorizing the Desert and decided to make it and sell other people on the deal.


Strega - Jun 20, 2007 7:24:40 am PDT #9326 of 10001

I also really like the 39 Steps (particularly the rawther kinky handcuff scene)
Have you seen The Lodger?

sure they didn't have a budget for anything like costumes

They did so! When the giant bunny attacks a… miner? They mix together shots of the bunny in the toy house with close up shots of the miner being swatted at by a guy in a bunny costume. Like, the kind you can rent?

I like the part where the matte effect was messed up so one rabbit hops through a fence or a log or something.

Yeah, didn't somebody write a play about that?
Heh. Yes. It was very educational.


Frankenbuddha - Jun 20, 2007 7:35:13 am PDT #9327 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

My former project manager burned me a copy of NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (which he rented after I told him about the movie's existence; this came up after I told him to watch the BLACK SHEEP trailer). I still haven't watched it yet, apart from the trailer, but I'm going on the assumption that I need a group of people and some form of booze in generous quantities to maximize the experience.

I almost brought it to the Atlanta F2F, but I don't think it would have stood a chance with the vids and the SPN. A shame; it seems like it would be primo Buffista fodder.


Sean K - Jun 20, 2007 8:21:24 am PDT #9328 of 10001
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

I've always wondered -- how do movies like this greenlighted? I understand that people take jobs to pay the bills, but how does someone read a script about Radioactive Giant Rabbits Terrorizing the Desert and decided to make it and sell other people on the deal.

In the '70's, studio execs were doing a METRIC SHITLOAD of coke.

Actually, there were a couple of outfits (most notably Roger Corman's film school) that would not only green light a picture like this, if it looked like it could be done for under $10-50,000, but specialized in making cheap-ass films like this.

In Corman's school, you had ten days and ten thousand (I think) dollars to make a bad horror movie. If you finished with time to spare and budget left over, you made another one with what was left over.