HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (2022)
Label: Cartuna
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 108 Minutes 23 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Mike Cheslik
Cast: Olivia Grave, Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, Wes Tank, Doug Mancheski, Luis Rico, Ryland Tews
Hundreds of Beavers (2022, directed by Mike Cheslik,
is a slapstick microbudget comedy set In the 19th century frontier, where applejack salesman Jean Kayak (Ryland Tews, Lake Michigan Monster) loses his when livelihood when a colony of beavers destroys his orchard and applejack distiller, leaving homeless, helpless, and comically ill-prepared to survive soon his own in the wilderness. The film follows his adventures as he must learn to survive after initially failing to do so, learning to fish, and eventually becoming a masterful woodman and fur trapper, but only after being mentored by the rugged mountain man Master Fur Trapper (Wes Tank), who teaches him the ways of proper fur trapping and living off the land. It;s at the local trading post, run by The Merchant (Doug Mancheski), that jean encounters the merchant’s beautiful daughter, The Furrier (Olivia Graves, Hunt Her, Kill Her) and becomes enamored with her, setting out to win her hand in marriage, which the Merchant indicates will cost him hundreds of beaver belts.
Despite his mountainous mentor being slain by vicious wolves, Jean, now a seasoned trapper with sharp woodsman skills, sets about collecting beaver and rabbit pelts at an accelerated rate, but the beavers realizing that their colony's numbers have been declining, send a pair cleaver beavers sleuths, who are modeled after Inspector Sherlock Holmes and Watson, to investigate and thwart Jean. The beavers end up stealing his massive cache of beaver pelts and hiding them inside a huge dam complex, with Jean having to fallback on his cunning skills to infiltrate the damn and recover the pelts, with the help of The Indian Fur Trapper (Luis Rico).
The execution of this indie slapstick comedy is delightfully demented, a black and white film utilizing green screen, animated backgrounds and digital effects to pull it off, the animals or anthropomorphized creations of performers in furry mascot suits portraying the titular beavers as well as rabbits and skunks, who walk on two legs and are human sized. The slapstick comedy is cartoonish to the nth degree, with a vibe best described as live action Looney Tunes by way of Buster Keaton, with a tinge of Guy Madden's early silent-cinema aesthetic. It's quite a wonderfully executed slice of absurdity with a style that looks to capture the flickering silent era black and white, while also having a video game aesthetic that is best captured when Jean infiltrates the labyrinthine beaver dam complex, which is strangely quite technologically advanced, the beavers even put together a sort of Voltron-esque giant beaver-bot at one point. On paper this low-budget movie should not work, it's an utterly ridiculous idea, but Cheslik not only makes it work, it's freakin' awesome. The blend of cartoonish, silent-era comedy, visual gags, and inventive practical effects really won me over.
Audio/Video: Hundreds of Beavers (2022) is presented in 1080p HD framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. It was shot digitally and then purposefully filtered to look like a silent era black and whit film with added grain and occasional blemishes, it's quite convincing and looks terrific with deep blacks and crisp whites throughout, with solid looking texture and detail. The live action is largely shot on green screen with digital and animated backgrounds and effects. I thought it looked terrific, I was really quite enamored with the whole thing and it looks wonderful in HD. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround with optional English or Czeck subtitles. The tracks are clean and well-balanced, the "silent" film lacks dialogue but is chock full of foley and sound effects, plus we have songs with lyrics, and the sound field is quite fun with active surrounds that immerse you in the live-action cartoon rather wonderfully.
Onto the extras, we get the option to watch the film via VFX Breakdown, which offers the option to view the whole film broken down into four simultaneous split screens showing the finished film, the storyboards, the live-action green screen footage the and VFX stuff, which i initially through on just to sample and i ended up watching the whole shebang, it's a cool way to watch it. We also get 3 Audio Commentaries, all featuring Director Mike Cheslik, co-writer/star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, and performers Jay Brown, Erick West, and Daniel Long, all recorded one after the other while the group starts drinking alcohol. The first is a Sober Commentary which is the most informative and cohesive, very upbeat and interesting, while the second, a Drunk Commentary, and the third, the Trashed Commentary, which is moderated by Performer Mike Wesolowski, true to it's name getting progressively drunker and more wasted, becoming less and less cohesive. The chapter selection option on disc one is also interesting, on the menu it's listed as Trapline Chapter Menu, offering a customizable viewing experience.
Other extras include 3-min of Deleted Scenes, 3-min Jean Kayak & His Acme Applejack — Lyric Video, 5-min Bobb Barito Sound Design Breakdowns, 10-min One Hundred Photos for One Hundreds of Beavers, and the 17-min 'Blink' — High School Short Film by Mike Cheslik. Also included are a selection of podcast and radio interviews, starting off with the 68-min Movies that Made Me w/ Joe Dante & Josh Olson: Interview w/ Mike & Ryland (May 7, 2024), 38-min SC 90.3 Montclair State University Radio: Interview w/ Ryland Tews (June 1, 2024) and the 51-min Movie Mindset: Interview w/ Mike Cheslik (May 27, 2024). The last of the disc extras are the 8-min Great Lakes Road Show Recap which is a montage of the roadshow theatrical tour through the Midwest, which looks like it was a blast, 6-min of Commercials & Promos and the 2-min Trailer.
The 2-disc Blu-ray set arrives in a clear keepcase with a two-sided non-reversible wrap, on the reverse side is the image of the trapline map as seen in the film. Tucked away onside is a 28-Page Illustrated Booklet which contains a listing and description of the extras, credits, but most of the pages are filled with over 50 Hundreds of Beavers spoof movie posters lampooning films like The Godfather, Lolita, Ghostbusters, Die Hard, No Country For Old men, Fargo and so many more, complete with brief beaver themes plot synopsis! I also found a postcard advertising the new Video Visions, which is Cartuna founder James Belfer's newly launched new home video label
Special Features:
- HD Blu-ray 1080p Widescreen (1.78:1) Feature Presentation
- Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, Czech
- Play Movie with VFX Breakdown
- Trapline Chapter Menu
- 3 Audio Commentaries: Sober Commentary, Drunk Commentary, Trashed Commentary (Moderated)
- Deleted Scenes (2:48)
- Jean Kayak & His Acme Applejack — Lyric Video (2:41)
- Bobb Barito Sound Design Breakdowns (5:09)
- One Hundred Photos for One Hundreds of Beavers (10:3
- 'Blink' — High School Short Film by Mike Cheslik (16:54)
- Movies that Made Me w/ Joe Dante & Josh Olson: Interview w/ Mike & Ryland (May 7, 2024, 1:08:02)
- WMSC 90.3 Montclair State University Radio: Interview w/ Ryland Tews (June 1, 2024, 37:33)
- Movie Mindset: Interview w/ Mike Cheslik (May 27, 2024, 51:12)
- Great Lakes Road Show Recap (8:00)
- Commercials & Promos (6:20)
- Trailer (1:49)
Screenshots from the Cartuna Blu-ray:
Buy it!
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