Hundreds of Beavers is a deliriously silly genre feature unlike anything you’ve seen before and – likely – will ever see again. From the minds behind Lake Michigan Monster, this black-and-white dialogue-free film is goofy, bold, and completely bonkers in all the best ways.
The film tells the story of a drunken applejack salesman who must go from zero to hero to become North America’s greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers. Set in the 19th century, it’s a sprawling winter epic filmed in subzero temperatures. With more than 1500 effects shots, the project took over 4 years from inception to completion.
In 2023, creating a 108-minute “silent” photoplay is ballsy, but under the mindful eye of director and co-writer Mike Cheslik (editor and co-writer of Lake Michigan Monster), it actually pays off with a triumphant flare. You wouldn’t expect it to work, but dammit, somehow it does.
The effects are accomplished through a combination of green screen and good ol’ fashioned practical movie magic. It’s incredible what they’re able to accomplish with big goals and a shoestring budget, reminiscent of the type of effects you’d see in Monty Python’s Flying Circus, but all in a period-friendly pastiche of the silent film era.
The score – by Chris Ryan – perfectly fits the Looney Tunesical tone set by the film. Our fur-trapping hero, Jean Kayak, (played by co-writer Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) uses cartoon logic to hone his slapstick survival skills in a desperate attempt to just stay warm and get a good meal. The whole day-to-day ordeal is hilariously complicated; it’s a humbling (if not chaotic) reminder of how exhaustingly difficult it was to just stay alive. Of course, all played up to the umpteenth degree of absurdity.
While there is no actual spoken dialogue in Hundreds of Beavers, there’s plenty of auditory reactions and sound gags that – along with Ryan’s score – allow the viewer to get completely lost in the story. You’d think that the lack of verbal conversation would become tedious, but it just becomes all the more impressive with how much they’re able to communicate with just a look or gesture. The film relies on physical comedy, and it does not let them down.
Tews (who also directed, co-wrote, and starred in Lake Michigan Monster) carries the film on capable shoulders. He’s in every single scene – and the focus of every single scene – which is a responsibility he does not seem to take lightly. Tews has a thorough understanding of what he needs to do to sell each shot, and he gives it his all. It looks – at times – painful, particularly with the knowledge that this was filmed in the dead of winter. He suffers for his art with cold, bare feet in deep, wet snow.
As with Lake Michigan Monster, the team of Cheslik and Tews have prepared a perfect cartoonish homage of a long-forgotten genre. You certainly would not expect a silent film era action-comedy to be effective, but Hundreds of Beavers takes that challenge with confidence.
Hundreds of Beavers is an utterly charming gonzo madcap romp packed to the brim with sight gags and chaotic comedy that sell the story all the way to its triumphant finale. You’ll laugh, you’ll laugh more, and you’ll wonder how the hell this humble stylistic masterpiece came into existence.
To answer that question, stay tuned for my interview with director and co-writer Mike Cheslik and his co-writer and star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews. You can also Click Here to read my review of Lake Michigan Monster.