Zombeavers (2015)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Some things I liked some I did not.

One of my all time favorites.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

"Nice beaver!" – Lt. Frank Drebin. "Thanks. I just had it stuffed." – Jane Spencer.That famous (or maybe, just to me) Naked Gun joke is my contribution to a lake of more "beaver" references in Zombeavers.There's not much to report to a film called "Zombeavers" other than: if you like When Animals Attack films like I do, you might like this. If you like zombie movies, well, eh, I guess? And if you like horror- comedies, this worked for about half the jokes. (That half actually made me laugh out loud – mainly the two truck drivers, but sadly the other fifty percent was either unfunny, overkill or missed the mark…and many opportunities.)Someone I know compared this to a Syfy Channel movie, like that godawful Sharknado. I disagree. While the premise: "Return of the Living Dead meets The Evil Dead having Cabin Fever inside The Cabin in the Woods near The Raft" sounds suspect, it's moderately above that trashy schlock/CGI the Syfy channel spits out in seconds.Granted, the budget didn't seem that high and some of the Zombeaver- attacks seemed either intentionally funny or not, but at least the cast was taking it dead-serious. That part, and the 50% humor that really worked, I admired. Going by the title alone, you know what you're getting yourself into. It's not the best horror-comedy, in fact, it ranks pretty low in that subgenre, but you could do a bunch worse. Like said (ALL) Syfy Channel movies. ***Final thoughts: Stay through the credits for two Marvel-esque post film/credit scenes. They're both worth it. Well, if you made it that far in the film, anyways.

I heard about this some time ago and searched for it, first it said that the project/film had been canceled so I didn't think much of it, until somebody mentioned it, searched again and found it had been released.I am a sucker for b-movies, I love the originality, the bad effects, the acting and most of all the fun they have making them, that always shines through. If you are not into these kind of films, this will really not be for you, it is a bit amateurish, but has lots of effects, fun and strange things that fits perfectly into the genre. There are attractive girls off course in summer time so they don't need to have much on, stupid "sidekicks" that tries to help but doesn't do very well.All-in-all an entertaining movie, a bit amateurish in the acting and could have had better effects, but it is an okay b-movie that delivers on the strange plot it promises, Beaver zombies :)

Zombie beavers. Do I need to say more? Unfortunately, yes. Needless to say, a film like Zombeavers can't be taken seriously, and I appreciated the affection for the horror genre with which this film was made. However, the screenplay isn't very satisfactory, the performances are irritating and the general narrative laziness wastes the opportunity to make something genuinely innovative and subversive (as an example of what it could have been, I can mention the very superior New Zealander film Black Sheep, with which Zombeavers shares many similarities... so many that it seems a bit suspicious). I know that the intentional mediocrity and celebration of the absurd are the rationale of Zombeavers, but its one-joke premise isn't enough to support the humor during the few 77 minutes of running time (including long sequences of initial and end credits). The humor of Zombeavers relies too much on stupidity as a replacement of ingenuity. The screenplay includes many intentionally ridiculous moments, but very few of them are genuinely funny (I admit that the "Whack-a-Mole" scene made me laugh). Another contradiction is the special effects, made in the practical way with puppets and latex make-up which are quite grotesque, but not very realistic. The problem is that the beavers are shot in a way that their artificial origin is too evident, and it ends up seeming like a fail which, intentional or not, damages the flow of the film. Yes, I know that everything is part of the joke, but I feel that it would have been better to display the beavers less and elevate the horror aspects, with which it would have been a better balanced movie; in other words, less Hobgoblins and more Tremors. Anyway, I have to admit that Zombeavers kept me moderately entertained and it made me smile in a few occasions, so I can give it a slight recommendation despite its mediocrity.

In the intro two goofs are transporting some tanks of toxic material. They run over a dear. In the process one of the tanks falls off the truck and into a lake near a beaver dam.Three girls spend a weekend out in the country near said lake. One of them is the sweet likable girl, the other one just broke up with her guy (there's always one of those in the movies,) the other one is annoying and doesn't care about anything. It's supposed to be a girl-only getaway but it doesn't take long for the guys to arrive. When they go swimming in the lake a beaver bites off one of the guy's feet. They barely make it back to shore. Inside the house is another wild beaver. They learn that it won't die, it's a zombie beaver.Soon unfortunately it gets dark and zombeavers are everywhere. Some of the kids try to escape but the beavers chop down trees and block the road. They run into an armed hunter who helps and they escape to the neighbors' house who are already dead. The others back at the house board up the doors and windows but the beavers break though the floor.From here you would think that it's just a matter of the kids trying to survive the beaver attack for the night. But there are actually some neat surprises that I didn't expect.Zombeavers is a short movie. For no good reason it tries to be one of those lame teen gross-out comedies. They could easily have gone for straight horror, it's not like this movie is so tasteless that they had to dress it up as a comedy to make it palatable. After all, despite all the innuendo things are fairly tame. There is no rampant graphic nudity, but there is male genitalia for some reason. Female full frontal nudity is nowhere in sight and pretty much extinct from horror movies. Another problem are the dislikable characters. Most of them are just lousy people. You can't wait for almost all of them to be torn to pieces. Rachel Melvin and her character Mary is likable but some male character who survives the longest is just insufferable. They way these people treat each other is also hard to stomach. The music is far too ambitious with the usual awful orchestration that is so generic it makes the movie boring.Despite all this, the movie is enjoyable. There are a lot of shots that are nods to classic horror movies and that horror buffs will easily recognize. There is some gore, a bit of nudity, and just an enthusiastic spirit that is lacking in most horror.Overall an entirely respectable effort that could have easily been improved. It just falls short of something that could have reached minor cultstatus.