Horror Movie Review: Zombeavers (2014)

Beavers…scary little things, huh?

2 hicks are transporting bio-hazardous material from a medical research lab when they hit a deer in the road. The impact shakes one of the canisters off the back & into the nearby river. The canister cracks open spilling green-coloured goo over a nearby Dam.

The opening is simple & well-handled; the 2 hicks’ interaction is quite funny. An early surprise of non-CGI beavers is well received as well.

Elsewhere Mary, Zoe & Jenn are all arriving at a local cabin to spend the weekend together. It’s a girl’s weekend to help Jenn get over her cheating boyfriend, Sam but the others don’t really want to be there. The cabin they are staying out is on the same lake the infected beaver dam is coincidentally…

After befriending the locals, giving the viewer some gratuitous topless shots & establishing there is no phone network the girls settle in for the night. Noises outside sees them investigating & being surprised by a group of boys. Tommy (Mary’s boyfriend), Buck (Zoe’s boyfriend) & Sam all showup & Jenn reluctantly agrees to them staying.

Inside the 2 couples go off to have sex leaving Jenn & Sam alone. Sam insists he hasn’t cheated & wants to prove his love to Jenn. She doesn’t believe him & goes & takes a shower where she gets attacked by a mad look beaver. One of the boys manages to kill it…or so they think.

The next day they all go for a swim in the lake…except Jenn who is still worried about the missing dead beaver. Out in the lake it turns out Sam is a cheat & with Mary of all people! Anyway, before the story can get too deep they are attacked by beavers in a violent, bloody scene.

They manage to get into the cabin & discover that even cutting the beavers in half won’t kill them…they are zombie beavers. Survival is now all that matters as secrets begin to come out & friendships are tested.

At 76 minutes long the film is just the right length to contain the silliness throughout. A movie like this would normally be backed up by awful acting but surprisingly the group are all pretty good. There are genuine moments of laugh out loud dialogue & some excellent placed twists & turns.

There is an abundance of gore & the practical effects make the whole thing so much enjoyable. The film stutters to a halt in the final 15 minutes though with no clear direction. It relies on you detaching your brain & not taking it to seriously but goes to far when several characters discover the road is blocked by a fallen tree & instead of trying to make it on foot…go back.

It’s a step to far & damages the immersion.

Happily it pretty much makes up for it with a pretty clever & funny ending that brings things full circle.

It’s not going to win an Oscar but it ticks a big number of the boxes that make a horror movie fun & interesting. Good acting, funny dialogue, decent gore & freakin’ zombie beavers!