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 “We had the spirit of Jean Nicolet and Werner Herzog with us as we were attempting to make the greatest Wisconsin film of all time. Hopefully.” ― Mike Cheslik

 DIRECTED BY: Mike Cheslik                                                                                      

FEATURING: Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, Olivia Graves, Doug Mancheski, Luis Rico, Wes Tank

PLOT: Following the destruction of his home and factory, applejack purveyor Jean Kayak attempts, and fails, to outwit a variety of woodland creatures in his quest to find food and shelter. Thanks to the tutelage of a master trapper, he learns the fur trade, and his exploits catch the eye of a pretty furrier; however, her merchant father demands that he bring in hundreds of dead beavers to obtain her hand in marriage. Jean sets out to fulfill this request – under the watchful eye of a pair of bucktoothed detectives – whereupon he stumbles upon a massive supervillainous plot.

BACKGROUND:

• High school best friends Cheslik and Tews worked together previously on Apocrypha candidate Lake Michigan Monster. The idea for Hundreds of Beavers was concocted at a bar during the 2018 Milwaukee Film Festival, where Lake Michigan Monster was screening.
• The film was shot near small towns in Wisconsin and Michigan over the course of 12 weeks, spread across two winters in 2019 and 2020.
• Some of the cast have found fame outside of film acting. Graves (the Furrier) has earned renown under the name The Witch of Wonderlust as a folk magician, travel blogger, and pole dancing instructor (the latter talent of which she demonstrates to great effect in a surprising moment in the film), while Tank (the Master Trapper) gained viral fame for his mid-pandemic video series featuring rap performances of Dr. Seuss books.
• Cheslik and producer Kurt Ravenwood put the total budget at $150,000, with a full $10,000 allotted to the purchase of the mascot costumes. All told, the filmmakers purchased 6 beavers, 5 dogs, 2 rabbits, one raccoon, one wolf and one skunk. (The horse costume, such as it is, is bespoke.) The vast number of woodland creatures on screen at any given time were courtesy of the film’s 1,500 visual effects, all composed in Adobe After Effects.
• Recognizing that selling the film to a traditional distributor would likely result in a cursory release before being dumped on video, the producers retained the exhibition rights and commenced a roadshow tour of festivals across North America, complete with live wrestling battles between Tews and a beaver mascot. They report that more than half of the $500,000 in box office receipts came after the film became available through video-on-demand.
• The film’s poster is modeled after the one-sheet for It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
• Named to multiple “Best of 2024” lists, including the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times. The movie took the prize for Best Narrative Film at the Kansas International Film Festival, while Cheslik was named Best Director at the 2023 Phoenix Film Festival. The film also claimed both of those awards at that year’s Wyoming Film Festival.
• The consensus pick by the writers of this site as the Best Weird Movie of 2024.

INDELIBLE IMAGE: From start to finish, Hundreds of Beavers is almost nothing but indelible images. After the zany animated prologue, there’s the silly running gag of surprise holes in the ice that turn out to be integral to the plot; every single appearance of an animal costume, including gay rabbits, overfed raccoons, and dogs playing poker; mascot guts; ice pond pinball; and so many groups of beavers that take the form of construction crews, a police force, and even a jury. There are no wrong answers. But nothing sums it all up quite like the sight of Jean Kayak on the run from the eponymous horde, his absurd raccoon hat flying off his head while innumerable human-sized Castor canadensis give chase. It’s an intentional borrow from Buster Keaton, solidifying the connection with the glory days of silent comedy and making good on the promise of the provocative title.

TWO WEIRD THINGS: The unhittable spittoon; Elementary, my dear Beaver

 WHAT MAKES IT WEIRD: For a film that looks and feels like it should be a two-reeler from a hundred years ago, Hundreds of Beavers pulls off the astounding trick of using current-day, commercially available technology to assemble vintage styles and hoary-chestnut jokes into something new and entirely unexpected. Between Cheslik’s endlessly inventive microbudget solutions that result in an action film to rival a Fast and Furious entry (at .03% of the bankroll) and Tews’ gloriously full-bodied, rubber-faced performance, the elements are in place to build a tale of ever-escalating silliness and absurdity. Most of the time, you can’t really predict what’s going to happen next, and even in those moments where you might anticipate what is to come, it is accomplished with grin-inducing surprise and wit.

Trailer for Hundreds of Beavers (2022)

COMMENTS: Jean Kayak’s applejack distillery is called “Acme.” That fact alone should provide plenty of foreshadowing for what’s about to unfold. A lot of movies want to be a live-action Looney Tune (I still hold a place in my heart for a curious production called The Villain, in which Kirk Douglas battles for the hand of Ann-Margret against a white-hatted do-gooder portrayed by none other than an unseasoned Arnold Schwarzenegger), but you can bet your boots that this is going to be the one to do it, and “Acme” is the key. We’re going full Coyote/Roadrunner here, and the miracle of Hundreds of Beavers is that it lives up to that lofty ambition.

Of course, your typical Warner Bros. short runs about seven minutes, so the first problem to solve is how to keep up the energy and mayhem for 13 times the duration. Wisely, Hundreds of Beavers doesn’t rely upon the cartoon dynamic alone. Jean’s initial conflict with the native fauna is actually the first part of a three-act structure that eventually draws inspiration from video games by teaching our main character to triumph over his foes by “leveling up,” as the obstacles become both more outlandish and more indomitable. At first, Jean lacks the talent to outwit a rabbit, but we watch him live-play each scenario, building up his skills, expanding his map, and acquiring new tools as he works his way up to the final boss. As a result, we get the arc of a hero overcoming his limitations and rising to meet his destiny, despite the fact that his fearsome enemies are small mammals. It’s strangely compelling.

One of the most delightful features of the movie is the way it leans into its scrappy, no-budget nature, most keenly felt with the parade of woodland creatures represented by the most basic of costumes. There is absolutely no pretense that these woodland creatures are anything other than people in mascot costumes (or, in the case of the horse, even less). Sure, the rabbits may lunge for carrots, the dogs may hump trees, and the wolves may kill with impunity, but we’re always aware we’re watching humans. Cheslik and Tews know that’s plenty of joke itself. From the first moment that Jean takes down one of the beavers with a flying football tackle (and promptly gets kicked into submission), the anything-for-a-laugh spirit rules the day.

(I do have to specifically call out the ridiculous comedy of Jean’s outfit, topped as it is with the coonskin cap that any self-respecting outdoorsman of the age would have. But remember that this raccoon is a human-sized beast with oversized features, so it naturally follows that this particular headgear would be an enormous cylinder featuring the X-eyed visage of the animal corpse, balanced precariously atop Tews’ head like the world’s most ungainly sombrero. The gag never wears out its welcome.)

Cheslik and Tews demonstrate the same keep-the-jokes-coming spirit of their fellow Wisconsin filmmaking brethren Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker. They revel in running gags (like the woodpecker who angrily responds to a wolf whistle), cheekily import seemingly unrelated genres (how else to explain the beaver attorney with the air of a folksy southern gentleman), and happily take side trips down unrelated paths for the sake of a good punchline (such as the complete lifecycle of a warren of rabbits told entirely in footprints, culminating in the hilariously gruesome fate of the two remaining bunny children). Even the fish and frog puppets have a comedian’s knack for the double-take. There’s always a new joke to be told, and if there is some repetition of beats, the way Jean learns to change his methods ensures that there will always be a fresh new approach to consider.

Of course, the biggest trick is producing a finale that is worthy of all that has transpired thus far, and I’m pleased to report that Hundreds of Beavers sticks the landing. The chase through the beavers’ massive lair, with its frenetic buzzsaw factory, would have been a fitting capper on its own. The ensuing trial, in which Jean confronts the amusing misunderstandings of his actions as they are presented to a very disapproving jury, would have been sufficient to provide closure. But once it’s revealed that the beavers have transformed Jean’s giant applejack keg into a rocket, complete with a team of nervous, white-coated beaver mission controllers, the film has nothing left to prove. I’m not the first to compare the finale to the epic confrontation that concludes the James Bond adventure You Only Live Twice, but that in no way diminishes either the accuracy of the analogy or the astonishment that it would even be in the conversation in this microbudget comedy about a fur trapper. What’s even more remarkable is that Cheslik and Tews have one more ace to play, as the beavers assemble into a kind of woodland Voltron, like something out of the nutzoid Indian sci-fi epic Enthiran. The mammoth non sequitur of this turn of events is both utterly insane and the only possible outcome. It’s the brilliant, apt payoff to the repeated sight of the beavers’ mysterious construction, and the final example of the loony imagination that has concocted this whole nutty enterprise.

Hundreds of Beavers is a delight, an unexpectedly effective remix of old-school silent film hijinks, mid-century cartoon madness, and modern-era snark into a wholly new creation. It’s fresh and fun and completely unlike anything else in cinemas. Our own El Rob Hubbard abbreviated his immediate reaction thusly: “H.F.S. !!” I will joyfully offer this assessment as a companion: “Halle-G.D.-lujah!!”

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“”Hundreds of Beavers,” a boldly bizarre, nearly wordless slapstick comedy about a 19th-century trapper doing battle with nature, exceeds expectations in every way, including the promise of its title… This is richly imagined escapist entertainment, a fun machine that opens up rarely used neural pathways and gets you thinking about what cinema could be, in addition to all of the things it already is. Future generations of low-budget filmmakers will derive inspiration and comfort from it. It’s one for the ages: a dam fine movie.” – Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com (contemporaneous)

“In Hundreds of Beavers, filmmakers Mike Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews join forces once more after their previous incandescent explosion of nautical weirdness, 2018’s truly singular Lake Michigan Monster… Beavers starts strange, gets stranger, and yet remains resolutely adorable.”–Alexandra Heller-Nicolas, AWFJ (festival screening)

OFFICIAL SITE:

Hundreds of Beavers – Promotional video clips (often featuring engaged fans and bits from the roadshow tour), stills, where to find the film, and more

IMDB LINK:  Hundreds of Beavers (2022)

OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST:

Associated Press: What do hundreds of beavers have to do with the future of movies? – A report on the state of Hollywood, comparing the economics of Beavers with less-modestly budgeted blockbusters like Gladiator II

Milwaukee Record: Frostbite, concussions, and beaver suits: Inside the Wisconsin-made ‘Hundreds of Beavers’ – Cheslik recounts the trials, tribulations, and unusual occurrences associated with the shooting of the film

Wisconsin Life: Costumes, comedy and cabins: The Wisconsin roots of the critically acclaimed film ‘Hundreds of Beavers’ – A profile of Tews with stories from the film’s creation

AMA: We are the creators of HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS – Courtesy of the YMS Reddit thread, Cheslik and Tews take questions on the making of the movie

Letterboxd: How They Made Hundreds of Beavers | VFX Breakdown | From Snowshoes to Fish Puppets – In this featurette, Cheslik breaks down several shots from the film, including previz and composite elements. Letterboxd also hosts the filmmakers’ extensive list of cinematic inspirations

IndieWire: ‘Hundreds of Beavers’ Leaned on Wooden Instruments and Amazon Prime to Craft a Slapstick Soundscape – Sound designer Bobb Barito describes the method behind the creation of the movie’s array of audio effects

Hundreds of Beavers Carnage Count – A video adding up all the fatalities in the film (spoilers abound)

366 Weird Movies Interviews Mike Cheslik and Ryan Coles Brickson Tews of “Hundreds of Beavers” – Cheslik and Tews run the gauntlet of 366 Weird Movies personalities as they discuss their work in this isolated interview from this website’s flagship podcast

TWO FILMMAKERS, ONE COLLAPSING LOBBY, AND “HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS” – Giles Edwards’ noisy, spoiler-rich interview with Cheslik and Tews at the 2023 Fantasia Film Festival.

APOCRYPHA CANDIDATE: HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (2022) – El Rob Hubbard’s original Apocrypha Candidate review

HOME VIDEO INFO: The Beavers announced “We want to make the greatest blu ray ever.” It’s up to you to decide if they met that lofty goal, but they certainly can’t be accused of not trying. In the first place, if you were a close follower and early adopter of the Beavers cult, you got your shot at a couple of different limited release editions: one with a unique slipcase (limited to 2000 copies) and a “Woodbook” edition, with a cover made of real wood (!), limited to 750 copies. The standard edition available to peons (buy) contains the same lavish expanse features without a fancy slipcase.  These include VFX and sound design breakdowns, three audio commentaries (sober, drunk, and trashed), deleted scenes, a Jean Kayak music video, Mike Cheslik’s high school short “Blink,” promos, a video recap of the Great Lakes Roadshow, “One Hundred Photos for One Hundreds of Beavers,” and three video interviews with Cheslik and Tews.

Of course, Beavers is also available for purchase or rental on VOD (buy or rent), and is included with an Amazon Prime subscription at the time of this writing.

El Rob Hubbard elaborates on the Blu-ray release:

The set is 2 discs. Disc 1 has the feature film in 5.1 Surround and Stereo sound with the option of English or Czech (!) subtitles and 3 commentaries: “Sober,” “Drunk,” and “Trashed.” This may seem like overkill, but there’s actually good info spread throughout all 3 tracks, and they don’t get totally obnoxious, even the “Trashed” one. (Lake Michigan Monster, on Blu-Ray from Arrow, only boasted “Sober” and ‘Drunk’ commentariess). The scene selection menu is in trapline form and Disc 1 includes the trailer.

Hundreds of Beavers [Blu-ray]

• Region A Blu-Ray

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Where to watch Hundreds of Beavers