Nice Beaver!

My yearly jaunt to Montreal would not be complete without a midnight screening, and this year's was the newest animal hybrid flick Zombeavers.

When a toxic waste spill turns the beaver population of a secluded lake into ravenous flesh eaters, a group of vacationing college kids must fight for their lives.

There's nothing like a Fantasia midnight screening. It really enhances a movie like this and lends so much more to the experience than just downloading and watching it on a laptop by yourself. I'm not going to purport that Zombeavers is anything but what you expect, but I did find it pretty entertaining. Paired with the Indiegogo-funded zombie kangaroo short, Waterborne, it was exactly what this midnight crowd ordered.

While I was doing some research, I found a lot of people comparing this with Sharknado, which I feel is inaccurate. It may sound weird to say this, but Zombeavers wields a fair bit more credibility than that. First of all, the majority of the beavers are puppets, rather than cheap CG, so that instantly won me over. There is some decent gore in this, with some great little set pieces that work because of the emphasis on the practical.

Zombeavers also takes itself slightly more seriously, as well. I mean, the film has every variation of the “beaver” joke imaginable, but the humour still comes off as slightly more clever than Syfy fare and their “look what impossible thing we've done now” formula. And to be clear, this isn't a creature feature where you hardly ever see the antagonists. There is plenty of beaver in this.

Lexi Atkins in Zombeavers.

That said, I certainly can't forget the three lovely ladies (Rachel Melvin, Lexi Atkins & Courtney Palm) in the picture. They spend a good chunk of the movie in bikinis – or even less in Palm's case – and will command your attention even if the subject matter does not.

This is a “just as advertised” kind of thing. If a movie about combining zombies and beavers sounds appealing to you, then step right up.