‘You’ll all be dammed!’
Zombeavers is a 2014 American comedy horror film directed by Jordan Rubin (The Drone; Critters: A New Binge) from a screenplay co-written with Al Kaplan and Jon Kaplan).
The movie stars Bill Burr, Cortney Palm, Rachel Melvin, Hutch Dano, Jake Weary, Rex Linn, Brent Briscoe, Robert R. Shafer (The Shadowman; Helen Keller vs. Nightwolves; PsychoCop), Peter Gilroy, Lexi Atkins, Phyllis Katz and Chad Anderson.
Plot:
A group of college kids staying at a riverside cabin are menaced by a horde of deadly zombie beavers. A planned weekend of fun soon turns gruesome as the beavers close in on the terrified teens who must fight to save their lives…
Review:
The only part of Zombeavers that is of real note are the beavers themselves. Determinedly practical effects – no CGI here – they are entertainingly old-school trashy monsters, and their attacks are often spectacularly gory. Even here though, you suspect this is more someone mocking the genre than paying affectionate tribute – the crudely created beavers are designed to be laughed at. Claims that this film plays its horrors straight are surely the movie’s biggest joke – this is designed to be a comedy first, horror later. Sadly, it doesn’t succeed as either horror or comedy.
David Flint, MOVIES & MANIA
Other reviews:
” …Zombeavers is more than just a simple film. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will inspire great interest in mother nature, and it just might teach you something about love.” Defamer at Gawker.com
“Sensibly the robo-beavers are used quite sparingly, although introduced very early, leaving much else to be cleverly done with very little. And it succeeds brilliantly. It’s cutely funny, savvy, sharp, with some very snappy dialogue, and overall it is brilliantly sh*t.” B+ Film Blitz
“The action kicks off fast, things escalate and get out of control quickly, and the complications continue to ratchet up exponentially. Throughout the 85-minute run time, the pace never sags for a moment, and the script even manages to pull of a solid twist, changing direction in the final act.” Giant Freakin Robot
“Zombeavers really shouldn’t be as much fun as it is — the “monsters” are, quite literally, hand puppets — but the old-school charm combined with real wit, a reasonably sharp script and lots of gory goodness makes for a memorable and often hilarious movie. It’s a B-movie through and through, and there’s not a damned thing wrong with that.” Film School Rejects
“There are so-bad-they’re-good schlock movies that endear themselves to the audience by virtue of their own shambling but heartfelt incompetence, and then there are movies like this one that wink and nod incessantly at the viewer to remind us that everything is bad, like, on purpose — which eventually becomes, like, a total drag. Still, Zombeavers is not a total wash…” Variety
“The film has its fun moments … and some clever awareness of genre movie clichés; the usual resourceful escape by a few of the heroes is gleefully, er, eschewed for more darker outcomes. But it’s gored by some larger issues. The creatures themselves don’t always hold interest — they’re often neither scary nor playful, more just ugly and toothy.” Los Angeles Times
Buy: DVD or Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk
YouTube reviews:
Trailer:
Choice dialogue:
“Can you please stop the beaver jokes?”
