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.

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!

Peter Graves went to the University of Minnesota!

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

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.

I also really like the 39 Steps (particularly the rawther kinky handcuff scene)

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?

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.

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.

There are a lot of bottom-feeder SF movies because movie execs know they can count on an audience that has low expectations.

It's the same thing as the Sci Fi channel's original movies. Which I have discovered are great during a migraine (thank you Brad Johnson and some poorly articulated vivisection metaphors).

In Corman's school, you had ten days and ten thousand (I think) dollars to make a bad horror movie.

Often, you'd start with a title and a "star" of some sort or another (if you consider Lee Van Cleef or Peter Graves stars). Not even a premise necessarily, just a title and a poster. They'd sell the theaters on that, then make the film.

If you finished with time to spare and budget left over, you made another one with what was left over.

Heh, this is what happened when Corman had Boris Karloff and 3 days left over after THE RAVEN, so he drafted Jack Nicholson (who played Peter Lorre's SON in THE RAVEN!) to star, as well as do some uncredited co-writing and directing (and I guess a couple other folks lent a hand in those departments as well). They got the film done, and it's actually worth watching. It looks like a random Poe mash-up. It's not good, but it's interesting.

A LOT of interesting folks got their start working for Corman.