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Hundreds of Beavers is a 19th-century "supernatural winter epic" that functions as a silent, black-and-white slapstick comedy. The plot follows Jean Kayak, a drunken applejack salesman whose brewery is destroyed by beavers, leaving him stranded in a surreal wilderness with only his wits. To win the hand of a local merchant’s daughter, Kayak must transform into North America’s greatest fur trapper and defeat hundreds of beavers in a world where all animals are portrayed by actors in full-sized mascot costumes.
The film is noted for its DIY, micro-budget aesthetic, utilizing over 1,500 visual effects shots created by Cheslik on a home computer for approximately $150,000. Its style is a manic hybrid of Buster Keaton-era silent cinema, Looney Tunes cartoon logic, and the structural progression of a platform video game. Rather than relying on dialogue, the movie uses a non-stop barrage of sight gags and non-verbal storytelling, often building simple jokes into increasingly elaborate, Rube Goldbergian sequences. Despite its low-budget origins, the film has achieved widespread critical acclaim and has become a cult hit through self-distributed theatrical tours
Directed by
Mike Cheslik
Written by
Mike Cheslik
Ryland Brickson Cole Tews
Produced by
Kurt Ravenwood
Matt Sabljak
Ryland Brickson Cole Tews
Sam Hogerton
Starring
Ryland Brickson Cole Tews
Olivia Graves
Wes Tank
Doug Mancheski
Luis Rico
Cinematography by
Quinn Hester
In Banning Hall
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