There have been some bizarre monster movies over the years. Older classics include The Sea Bat, Attack of the Giant Leaches, The Killer Shrews, and Attack of the Crab Monsters. The last decade has seen a resurgence in interest in the genre, mainly due to the SFX channel which has helped introduce the world to Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus, Dinoshark, Mega Piranha and the timeless Sharknado. The water theme continues in Jordan Rubin’s new film Zombeavers, but as the title suggests, these terrors are a might furrier.
Three friends, Mary (Rachel Melvin), Zoe (Cortney Palm) and Jenn (Lexi Atkins) decide to have a girls weekend at a riverside cabin. However, their boyfriends show up to surprise them, much to their chagrin. All is going relatively well until Jenn discovers a rabid beaver in the bath. Despite killing it and chucking it outside, the furry ball of hate has disappeared in the morning. Little to the group know that this is the start of beavageddon.
As you’d expect Zombeavers is entirely daft; from the second grade dialogue to the actions of the beavers themselves. (I swear I saw one wearing shades). Think Critters in terms of playfulness. There are grizzly moments though, and the special effects and make-up is old school and superb. Zombeavers is full of double entendres and amusing moments but thankfully avoids almost all the tired genre cliches and stereotypes. It also serves up a fair number of decent shocks.
Zombeavers is released on Blu-ray and DVD by Universal on October 20th.
