Movie Info
Movie Name: Zombeaver
Studio: Armory Films
Genre(s): Horror/Comedy/B-Movie
Release Date(s): April 13, 2014
MPAA Rating: R
Yep…I’m afraid we got us a case of zombeavers
Mary (Rachel Melvin), Zoe (Cortney Palm), and Jenn (Lexi Atkins) are headed out for a girls’ weekend at an isolated cabin. When the boys Buck (Peter Gilroy), Tommy (Jake Weary), and Sam (Hutch Dano) show up, it could become a weekend of love. Unfortunately, the accidental release of a chemical has transformed a family of beavers into unstoppable zombie beavers who are hungry for flesh. A fight for survival is on and the chances of infection are high!
Directed by Jordan Rubin, Zombeavers is a horror comedy. The movie premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival with a wide release in 2015. The movie received “positive” negative reviews for its spoof nature and style.
Those wacky beavers!
Zombeavers was made to be stupid…and it is. The movie is like a different type of animal movie and not in the same vein as movies like Giant _______ vs. Mega _______ in a Tornado. Zombeavers is more self-aware of its cheesiness but doesn’t give into it…if that makes sense.
The story is just cliché after horror cliché. The girls out for a fun weekend in the woods, nosy neighbors, a weird hunter, radioactive chemicals, and monstrous creatures. It is intentionally written that way and sometimes plays with that format of horror movies (like feeding the dog to the beavers instead of saving it). Many spoofs however fall into the trap of being too close to the movies they are spoofing. That could be said for Zombeavers at many points…which makes it lose its edge at times.
The cast is made up of many actors who haven’t really done much…plus John Mayer…the singer. It is probably a necessity to use low budget and “new” actors for a movie like this to avoid some of that Giant _______ vs. Mega _______ which generally employs washed up singers and actors from the ’80s and ’90s. You don’t have that distraction or kitsch factor with Zombeavers.
Dentist visits suddenly got very expensive…
The movie doesn’t fill the screen with badly computer animated beavers. It instead fills the screen with badly designed mechanical beavers. I hate bad CGI and would prefer the goofy look of these beavers. That being said, this could definitely lose viewers who just can’t handle the puppet-y looking evil beavers.
Zombeavers is a relatively entertaining intentionally bad movie. I found it very comparable to the 2006 New Zealand horror comedy film Black Sheep which involved evil transformed sheep. Both movies have a niche audience and both movies will have some people get the humor or not get the humor. The danger in movies like that in mocking bad horror you can become bad horror…which Zombeavers is on the borderline of doing.
