Zombeavers (Review)

Zombeavers

Horror, Comedy

Directed By: Jordan Rubin

One of the wonderful things about modern horror film makers is that they never forget the roots of the genre. Even when it comes to the B level exploitation films of the 60's and 70's they understand what they films did and how they helped forward the genre. In recent years we have seen some filmmakers attempt to recapture that silly, over the top spirit while making a film that feels appropriate for the times. We've seen it done big budget with the Grindhouse double feature from Rodriguez & Tarantino, we have seen it in Jason Eisener's Hobo With a Shotgun, and now we see it in Jordan Rubin's Zombeavers.

Everything you need to know about this movie is right in the title. Zombeavers is a movie about zombie beavers. If you can accept that then you can have a lot of fun with this film, if not, you might as well stop reading now. After a truck carrying toxic waste accidentally drops a tub of chemicals into a lake, the local beaver population becomes infected with something vile that urges them to attack anything living. A group of young girls and their obnoxious boyfriends are staying at a house on the lake and in the classic "cabin in the woods trip gone wrong" they find themselves in a bloody war with maniacal beavers.

This film has everything great about the old exploitation films while still poking plenty of fun at the racy and sexualizing content that created the old sub-genre. Everything about this movie from top to bottom is slapstick, tongue-in-cheek, totally out of this world carnage that is meant to do nothing but simply entertain you. Most of the effects are done practically with a small amount of VFX work as well but the use of puppets and traditional make up give this an old school feel. The beavers are done with puppets and shoddy animatronics and all of the blood and guts are practical as well. When you blend them together in each and every kill scene it makes for beautifully silly horror comedy. Despite seeing someone get their throat ripped out you can't help but grin as you watch the ridiculous creature committing the heinous act.

On top of some wonderful practical effects this movies is a rather brilliant comedy as well. The dialogue is completely tongue-in-cheek and it's never scared to take a few shots at our social structures and changing culture. The main characters are all quite liberal and sexually open, as it seems most of the youth nowadays is, and Jordan Rubin uses this to make some hilarious scenes. When the guys first show up at the cabin the scene that follows had me bellowing with laughter. Add in a small cameo from Bill Burr and a certain musician you'd never guess and this film is much funnier than I had expected.

Like I mentioned before, it is all in the title. This wasn't a movie made to get you thinking on some deeper level or to keep you from sleeping at night, it's a film that simply aims to entertain the horror fan and give them something completely ridiculous to poke fun at. It's a great film to watch with a group of people and add your own commentary or to just share the madness that is a zombie beaver attack. At a brisk eighty five minutes this film is never slow and definitely never dull. When the blood isn't flowing the jokes are flying and it all blends together so well. Zombeavers is a nice addition to the small collection of modern B-horror films and I hope we get to see more like it. I always welcome another silly, slapstick horror film amidst all the serious ghost stories and monster movies.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!