Hundreds of Beavers is the Best Surreal Comedy You Haven’t Seen — But Not For Long
A love of silent slapstick and video games resulted in this “snowstick” classic.
It’s hard to be innovative with limited resources. There’s a reason the most cutting-edge discoveries are made by well-funded conglomerations: research is expensive. But in filmmaking, you don’t always need money to create something entirely new. Sometimes, you just need a good idea, a love for film history, and a couple of beaver mascot costumes.
That’s the story of Hundreds of Beavers, a micro-budget, self-distributed movie that lists amongst its influences both Buster Keaton and Mario. Now, you can own this movie forever in a new Blu-ray release from Vinegar Syndrome, featuring, yes, hundreds of beavers, but also dozens of bonus features you won’t want to miss.
Hundreds of Beavers is the brainchild of Mike Cheslik, a Milwaukee-based indie filmmaker and VFX artist. The silent black-and-white movie stars Ryland Tews as Jean Kayak, an applejack-seller-turned-fur-trapper after a bunch of beavers (the aforementioned mascot costumes) burn down his distillery. He is dead set on two goals: wreaking havoc on the beavers and earning the hand of The Furrier (Olivia Graves.)
Both of these are achievable only by acquiring tools from The Merchant (Doug Manchewski), all purchasable with more beaver skins. It all results in a silent, snowy, slapstick adventure informed by video games: with each new skin swapped for better supplies, Jean quite literally “levels up.” The final act is especially ambitious, following Jean as he sneaks into a castle full of beavers. “I think every movie needs a third-act castle infiltration scene,” Cheslik told Variety. “I’m sometimes disappointed. I’ll go see a Noah Baumbach movie that I really enjoy but then at the end, Greta Gerwig should be infiltrating a castle, and there’s just nothing.
Jean Kayak vs. the beavers is a slapstick-filled rivalry that culminates in a huge climax.
The Blu-ray release, available for pre-order December 3, features a slew of bonus features from the standard, like deleted scenes or a breakdown of the VFX and sound design, to the interesting, like Blink, a short film Cheslik made in high school, to the absurd, including three separate commentary track: a sober one, a tipsy one, and a “trashed” one, which is (thankfully) moderated. This was one of the most chaotic movies of the year — of course the Blu-ray is just as wild.
Hundreds of Beavers is an indie filmmaking success story, turning a snowy wasteland into a blank canvas for some of the best physical comedy in years. Now, you can own this little marvel for yourself, and check out whatever happens in that trashed commentary, which is sure to be just as unhinged as everything else.
