The sweet and sour movie genre of “comedy-horror” over the course of the year of 2014 has brought us here at Peeridium some interestingly unique content. For instance, probably hands down the most watched and highly awarded movie Tusk (kidding!). Lucky us, now we have another comedy-horror by the clever name of Zombeavers. Which is filled with arguably one part laugh, two parts gore, and a spritz of WTF. This furry little piece of work packs more comedy and somehow horror if we are counting gnawed up bodies then the aforementioned. Tusk however, has more of a WTF factor to it…
It’s easy to assume it just wasn’t in the budget to get real live-action beavers to act all zombified. Therefore, it’s really no hidden secret that puppeteered ones had to the suffice. That’s completely understandable. However, these things were absolutely horrendous in how they were executed. About half were computer generated cataract-like whitish glowing eyes in front of the lake, and the others were the equivalent of stuffed wooly stocks on fishing line attached to sticks flying around. I thought I was watching Sesame Street getting plowed down by Jack Hanna who’s gone crazy for a good stretch of this film. It was almost laughable at how bad these things walked, talked, and paid for their human entree. I feel as if the scenes where they looked like wound-up toys could have been reworked into something greater or could have gotten the ax altogether.
Zombeaver actors Rex Linn, Cortney Palm, Lexi Atkins, Peter Gilroy, and Hutch Dano who were just a few of the main features faces were really a mixed grab bag. Of of the entire cast, Cortney played her role first-rate of being a bad*ss tom-boyish girl who doesn’t care about opinion. Go shirtless in public? No problem. Make fun of a guy holding a gun? Strapless around the strapped without breaking a sweat. On a dime, she was able to switch gears and be afraid with fear. She was ultimately the glue that kept this whole thing together by supplying most of the comedic lines at just the right tone. Lexi, who the story really revolved around was just “kinda there”. Her most memorable moments included a lot of CGI effects, which doesn’t make it in my book for best actor. Simply put, Peter Gilroy came up short at selling his character’s story. He surely didn’t make his painful endeavor seem that nail biting as he had the reaction he just had too much to drink. Hell, he even slept through three-quarters of it. Hutch Dano loses mostly all credibility for crying during a scene in the cabin with just the ladies. Scripted or not, it threw off the situation at hand.
It’s unfortunate that the story had more plot holes in it then a beaver dam, even as a bastardized comedy. So yeah, SPOILER ALERT. Firstly, what kind of medical waste pickup service only uses a strap across the back of a pickup to hold in the contents? I dub thee #RegulatoryComplianceFail. As for the sly barrel that got away and started the whole damn thing, I highly doubt the metal canister would have busted open after slowly reaching the beaver built barricade. Even if it did, it would have been more logical to be punctured and then ooze out, not spontaneously squirt all over for really no apparent reason. There was an even bigger #FAIL when the beavers dropped a tree on the main road to prevent the group from leaving, since they found an axe for it only to be used as a beaver slaying tool. Why not attempt to cut the tree?! Also, why the hell couldn’t we/he hear the beavers chewing the tree? I doubt the beavers have a silent mode …
In all the Zombeaver wackiness, it was middle of the road “alright”. I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns out to be a cult favorite by many, as it has the right ratio of laughs to beaver pleather hides. I do recommend this any day of the week over Tusk. They both shared a lot of the same characteristics towards the climatic moments with the transformations. I would conclude this movie is targeted for the younger college-ish generation who doesn’t mind nudity, or a lot of sexual sights or sounds.
