Hundreds of Beavers

AroView: A high-energy slapstick comedy with almost no dialogue and shot in grainy black and white, this bonkers underground hit tells the story of a lone applejack cider maker who finds himself trying to survive in the snowy Wisconsin mountains.

Apart from a ridiculous love interest, her surly father and a couple of fur trappers, the other characters are pure wildlife (rabbits, wolves, racoons, skunks and, yes, beavers) played by actors in modified mascot suits! Crude animations and sound effects add to an aesthetic that has been widely praised for its originality, though South Park-meets-Buster Keaton-meets-Video Game is likely the pitch.

Despite a few repetitive patches, and the beavers taking their sweet time to take centre stage, the film goes for broke on an obviously no-frills budget, with director Mike Cheslik and actor/co-writer Ryland Tews spit-balling clever ideas as if their lives depended on it, while an epic orchestral score adds a mock-cinematic majesty.

“A multimedia extravaganza of frozen idiocy, Hundreds of Beavers is a slapstick tour de force—and its roster of ridiculous mascot-suited wildlife is only the tip of the iceberg.” ~Jacob Oller, Paste Magazine

“A marvel of slapstick invention that in terms of pure unbridled creativity puts most big-screen comedies to shame.” ~Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“This underground festival hit is a feverish fit of creative buffoonery — you haven’t experienced anything remotely like it.” ~Robert Abele, L.A. Times