Zombeavers director says film is ‘pure horror’, will play it straight

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

How serious can you take a film with the title ZOMBEAVERS? Just saying it outloud makes me giggle. But the films director, Jordan Rubin, wants you to know that while the title may be goofy, the film will play its horror straight.

Ever since we brought you the trailer for ZOMBEAVERS earlier this month the response has been mixed. Some think it's an awful idea with an equally terrible title, while others, including THE GREEN INFERNO helmer Eli Roth, have tweeted their approval and get what Rubin is trying to do with the film. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter Rubin insists those who hate on ZOMBEAVERS probably don't realize his intent with the film: to pay homage to the '80s horror flicks he loves so dearly. And the director shares that there is comedy to be found in the film, but you'll have to look hard for it as he intended the film to be played straight, stating…

"To me it's all about doing it straight. It's a serious situation. It's pure horror. Playing to the reality is so funny."

He insists that ZOMBEAVERS isn't a campy take on horror, as was SyFy's hit SHARKNADO, to which his film has been unfairly compared to online. Rubin insists his film is an entirely different animal, and that he wanted to go old-school like the films that inspired him, citing Christopher Nolan's eschewing of CG as further evidence that practical effects were the way to go for his film. And unlike the hundreds of sharks that took Los Angeles by storm in SHARKNADO, ZOMBEAVERS' beasts are created with animatronic models, not CG.

"I watched Sharknado for the first time last night. It's amazing how far CG has come. There are a bunch of shots in there where it's passable and you believe there is a shark in that situation, but then there are a lot of shots where you see the difference between bigger budget CG and lower budget CG."

We'll have to wait and see if ZOMBEAVERS actually delivers more scares than laughs.

Not that you really need one, but here's the film's synopsis:

ZOMBEAVERS is an action-packed horror/comedy in which a group of college kids staying at a riverside cabin are menaced by a swarm of deadly zombie beavers. A weekend of sex and debauchery soon turns gruesome as the beavers close in on the kids. Riding the line between scary, sexy and funny, the kids are soon fighting for their lives in a desperate attempt to fend off the hoard of beavers that attack them in and around their cabin.