Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Well on its way to becoming an instant cult classic, Jordan Rubin‘s Zombeavers is reinventing the camp horror game thanks to its clever twist on an an old formula. Accompanied by an inventive script and a balls to the wall concept — zombie beavers set out to kill a bunch of teenagers — Rubin’s horror comedy hybrid could possibly close out the cabin-in-the-woods subgenre that’s been a staple of scary fare for decades.
Now on Netflix, a platform that’s been known to indirectly give small, independent horror flicks a major boost of publicity, Zombeavers is coming in hot off the buzz of its VOD release and successful festival circuit. The film follows three friends; Mary (Rachel Melvin), Zoe (Courtney Palm), and Jenn (Lexi Atkins) as they venture to a cabin in the woods for a weekend free of responsibilities and pesky boys (who, of course, eventually show up to bring on the inevitable debauchery). A weekend of cheap vodka and sloppy hookups quickly takes a turn for the grim, however, following an invasion of flesh-eating beavers that, after being poisoned by bubbly green goo, go from innocent dam-dwellers to ravenous rodents.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7onFrBK_hKE]Starring a gaggle of fresh-faced no names paired with a title reminiscent of porn parody, Rubin’s outlandish endeavor seems like it could be a surefire fail: another forgotten soldier on the field of crappy B-horror. Rubin seems to know what he’s gotten himself into, however (after all, he does have a background in comedy, writing for the likes of Craig Kilborn and Adult Swim’s Crank Yankers), and picks up where Wes Craven’s Scream franchise left off: only instead of the archetypal knife-wielding killer, it’s buck-toothed blood-guzzling beavers crawling through the forest.
Seemingly well aware of the tongue-in-cheek monster of a movie he’s created, Rubin’s sharp script leaves plenty of room for self-deprecating dialogue (“I’ve never seen a real beaver before.” “Well, maybe you should try going down on me every once and awhile, Buck.”) and intentionally ironic editing. Clearly a horror cinephile himself, the director made the ambitious creative choice to use animatronics (most famously used in The Thing, Jurassic Park, Aliens, and An American Werewolf in London) rather than CGI to bring his killer rodents to life, giving Zombeavers’ furry villains even more personality. Right down to what could be perceived as typical horror misogyny — three helpless hot gals running around scantily clad from [insert predator here] — Rubin takes and spins on its head, paying homage to classic camp fare while also making a been-there-done-that comment about the need to move on and create something wildly new.
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