Zombeavers (2014)

Are you a fan of the great outdoors? In October 2014, we saw a new reason to fear the wildlife… and dam it was funny to watch.

Directing this 85 minute action/comedy/horror is Jordan Rubin.

Some of the cast is: Lexi Atkins as Jenn, Hutch Dano as Sam, Cortney Palm as Zoe, Peter Gilroy as Buck, Rachel Melvin as Mary, Jake Weary as Tommy, Rex Linn as Smyth, Bill Burr as Joseph, Brent Briscoe as Winston Gregorson and Phyllis Katz as Myrne Gregorson.

It was just supposed to be a fun girls retreat out to a cabin in the country to help Jenn with her heartache. Catch some sun, maybe swim and forget some troubles. Instead, the girls retreat was quickly invaded by their boyfriend’s surprise visit. After such a long drive the girls decide to let the guys stay. Unfortunately, the guys weren’t the only surprise in store for the girls this weekend. A toxic barrel found it’s way into the water and has turned the beavers into something no one has ever seen before… zombeavers! Now, these once fun loving wood chomping builders of nature crave to sink their teeth into something, with some meat on it’s bones.

A script was started back in 2012 for an idea that… well, you just have to see it for yourself. I will say, it’s rare to see a new idea being spun off of something we’ve seen a hundred… actually, more like a ba-trillion times already. Writers Al Kaplan, Jordan Rubin and Jon Kaplan took zombies to a whole other place, and I freaking dug it! The story falls under your basic out-numbered survival flick, with a small furry twist. The hoards of evil looking to take a bite out of humanity is, well the title calls it, beavers. Not only did the writers make those dam building furries the next undead threat, they snuck in one more surprise that I never saw coming. This last curve ball they threw was freaking cool, which sucks because I don’t believe in spoilers, but I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. However, I think the last twist around the bend was even better than the zombeavers. Yeah, I know what you’re think, what could be better than zombeavers? Well, my spoiler free answer is… watch and see.

The beginning of the flick was kind of getting on my nerves at first. Mainly because I was getting so annoyed by the characters. Little did I know, that was a build up so I would enjoy their demises that much more. At least, I think that was the writer’s plan. If so, then it was brilliant and it worked out perfectly! If not… then I was just getting annoyed and luckily the beaverpocalypse showed up to finally get things going. Now, once everything kicks off, the pace runs the typical survival horror pace. Run for your life, try to hide, try to fight, and of course, try to survive.

Another cool thing about this one was instead of going with CGI they went with animatronics. Yes, it looks and moves like something from the popular pizza eatery for kids. If you’re as old as I am, it was called Showbiz Pizza and Billy Bob was the b-bomb! Anyway, I think Creature Effects did a cool job on those ankle mauling beavers they made.

The cast was filled with over blown characters and bad acting, which only made everything shine brighter. I do have to give it to the cast for selling the fear of the “dangerous” wild life. Also it was cool seeing Burr, Gregorson and Linn even though they had small parts, they’re good actors.