Rabbits give punch to parodies

A few years ago, Los Angeles-based independent flash animator Jennifer Shiman decided to create a 30-second version of “The Exorcist” -- starring bunnies. “At that time, my website was getting 25 hits a day,” she says. “So I posted it on my site thinking it was just for my portfolio. I sent it to friends and family and a few business contacts. A couple of days later, I got a call from the Web host saying, ‘What did you do?’ ”

Suddenly she was getting 3,000 hits an hour.

“I didn’t expect that kind of reaction. Today my site -- www.angryalien.com -- gets something like 65,000 visitors a day.”

Cable’s Starz on Demand got involved with Shiman two years ago when it commissioned some Halloween-themed spots.

Shiman went to work on “Bun-O-Vision” versions of “Freddy vs. Jason,” “Scream” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” She’s worked for the outlet since, creating parodies that first appear on Starz on Demand and debut on her site a few months later.

“Caddyshack,” “Rocky” and “Brokeback Mountain” are among her recent spoofs, and she’s working on “Superman.”

In choosing projects for Starz, she takes into account factors like viewer requests, and how easily it’ll be to “bunnify” a movie.

Shiman, her partner Douglas McInnes and John Mathot supply the high-pitched, squeaky bunny voices. “We all just love having fun and joking around,” she says. “I definitely don’t consider myself a performer by any stretch, but I make a good bunny.”

-- Susan King