Yet again, Hollywood has taught us that animals want nothing more than to devour us. As Piranha 3D hits movie screens, lets a look at some of cinema’s other memorable killer-creature flicks.
#10 The White Buffalo
Deemed Jaws’ western equivalent, The White Buffalo stars Charles Bronson as Wild Bill Hickok, a man tormented by his recurring nightmares of a savage albino beast. The giant buffalo’s first appearance finds it charging into an Indian village, wreaking havoc and killing bystanders, including Chief Crazy Horse’s daughter. Wild Bill sets out across dusty ghost towns and deserted landscapes in search of his tormentor, teaming up along the way with Crazy Horse, who confirms Bill’s fears. The buffalo does not exist merely in Wild Bill’s dreams but is an actual murderous beast. Bill proclaims, “if I don’t kill this buffalo, this dream is going to kill me.” The animal itself remains onscreen for only seconds at a time, just long enough to make us realize that sometimes it doesn’t matter if it’s all in your head — it’ll still get you in the end.
#9 Night of the Lepus
When it comes to the genre of eco-horror films, viewers generally have to approach movies with a different set of expectations than those they would bring to, let’s say, Citizen Kane or even, let’s be honest, Con Air. Things like logic, cohesion, ambition and sophistication often go straight out the window. This is important to keep in mind when watching the massively entertaining train wreck that is Night of the Lepus. Based on the sci-fi novel Year of the Angry Rabbit, Night of the Lepus is the story of a town with a rabbit problem. Two scientists are charged with the task of developing a serum to disrupt bunny breeding patterns and decrease their population. Somehow (does it really matter how?), the serum turns the rabbits into gigantic, ravenous killers who proceed to terrorize the town. This sounds like a pretty typical plot for a horror film, but what makesNight of the Lepus a diamond in the rough is the utter absence of any scares. The scenes (of which there are many) of a herd of supposedly deadly rabbits running through the town are just images of normal-size bunnies running through small sets to make them look large. And unlike spiders and snakes, which are naturally scary-looking, a pack of fuzzy little bunnies is completely nonthreatening. Stick around for the climactic killer bunny–electric fence faceoff.
