Midweek Mention... Hundreds of Beavers

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Welcome back to Bad Dads Film Review! This week, we're diving whiskers-first into the utterly bonkers, wildly inventive indie oddity that is Hundreds of Beavers — a film that may be about trapping furry woodland critters but ends up capturing something much rarer: pure, anarchic cinematic joy.

Directed by Mike Cheslik and starring frequent collaborator Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, Hundreds of Beavers is a near-silent, black-and-white slapstick adventure set in a surreal 19th-century frontier. It follows a hapless, hard-drinking applejack salesman (Tews) who finds himself stranded in a snowy wilderness and must learn the ways of the wild—specifically how to trap beavers—in order to survive, thrive, and maybe even win the heart of a fur trader’s daughter.

What makes this film stand out isn’t just its lo-fi commitment to absurdity—it’s the hand-crafted world of practical effects, person-in-costume beavers, and cartoon physics that turn it into a live-action Looney Tunes episode by way of Buster Keaton.

🧊 Why We Loved It

• Slapstick Supremacy: Tews delivers a physical performance that channels Chaplin, Keaton, and even a little Mr. Bean. It’s a film where a single man getting smacked in the face by an anthropomorphic beaver trap is not just funny—it’s art.
• Pure Visual Comedy: There’s barely a word of dialogue, but it doesn't matter. The storytelling is crystal clear through a perfect blend of timing, performance, and imaginative visuals. It’s modern silent cinema done right.
• DIY Wonder: This is microbudget filmmaking at its most inspired. The inventiveness and sheer commitment of the cast and crew to an utterly ridiculous premise makes this a cult classic in the making.
• A Celebration of the Absurd: From farting outhouses to exploding traps to a cast of fully costumed beavers engaging in battle, this is a film that leans all the way into its nonsense, but never loses sight of structure or charm.

Hundreds of Beavers is a joyous, gonzo achievement—a slapstick snowstorm of ingenuity, beaver costumes, and frontier lunacy. It doesn’t take itself seriously, but it seriously delivers on laughs, creativity, and heart. Whether you're a connoisseur of physical comedy or just want to see a man wage war against the local fauna in increasingly unhinged ways, this is a film that rewards the curious.

It’s not just one of the most original comedies we’ve seen recently—it’s one of the most original films full stop. 🦫❄️🎬

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Until next time, we remain...

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