Cute Little Buggers begins as any great culturally relevant piece of art would; namely with horny fish aliens (with British accents) flying down to Earth in their U.F.O. in an attempt to impregnate any human female they can possibly get their hands…err, flippers…fins…whatever…on. To achieve this they splice alien D.N.A. into the local rabbit population which causes them to become ultra violent mutant killing machines…you know something, is it possible to fall in love with a film…like real, human love…because I think that is happening to me right this very second…
Moving on, we have the tale of a prodigal son returning to his bucolic hometown and rekindling a lost love as townsfolk begin being brutally slaughtered by those laceratin’ lepus. It basically becomes an all out fight for survival as the bunnies begin chewin’ folks a new asshole (and I mean that literally).
First things first, Cute Little Buggers is a flick with it’s tongue very firmly in it’s cheek…and it’s actually very funny, while still telling a damn tight lil’ sci-fi yarn (with plenty of throwbacks to the tropes established in classic ’80’s fare such as Critters and Gremlins). Also admirable is the fact that the picture is filled with actual, fleshed out characters…which has the effect of actually giving a damn about what happens to them (no matter how ludicrous those situations may be). Speaking of characters, they run the gamut (with acting styles to boot) from sincere to sincerely over-the-top, yet all fit in thanks to the anything goes premise of the flick. Finally, this film features a cameo from one of my all-time favs, Caroline Munro (Starcrash) as a psychic…so major bonus points there. Oh, and it should be noted that there are ample amounts of both naked flesh and grizzly gore…in other words just what a horror hound ordered!
On the negative front, this film has some super dodgy CG, especially involving the aforementioned rabbits. If this flick had utilized some full on practical rabbit puppets (no matter how cheap…actually, the cheaper the better) it would have been even more dynamite than it is (and that’s sayin’ something), and would have had the vibe of the films it so lovingly homages down to a pitch perfect “T”. Also at an hour and forty eight minutes, this film runs on a tad too long…if it hit that ninety minute sweet spot this could easily become a new cult classic, but at it’s current length it may be too long (and slightly slow in spots) for some to revisit frequently.
Let’s not mince words; Cute Little Buggers is filled with what cult connoisseurs love…boobs, blood, and…bunnies (that last one is a stretch, but these are toothy tentacled mutants so I think they’ll dig ’em) and is definitely worth givin’ a go my creeps!
For more on Cute Little Buggers from Horror Fuel head here!
