RFYL 272: Hundreds of Beavers

You're listening to the Run for Your Lives Podcast.

Hey everyone, welcome to the show. I'm Daphne.

And I'm Paik.

And this is the Run for Your Lies podcast, I think.

This episode we are talking about the comedy film. This episode is the comedy film Hundreds of Beavers, co-written and directed by Mike Cheslick and released January 26th, 2024.

Yes, and I just want to say that Paik brought this movie to the table this week. And so if you have any issues with the film, you can take them up with Paik.

Mm-hmm. I just wanted to be able to watch something on dropout because that's where this thing is. Not specifically, it's not the only place you can watch it. But it was something that I got to, I was like, I get to do prep by watching Dropout, and that I never get to do. So that was fun. Uh Sam Reich got the rights to this movie uh for streaming on Dropout, and I love that. And I hope he gets the other one, Lake Michigan Monster, which is uh Cheslake's other. I hope he gets to add that at some point too, because now that's all I want is to see that. And I guess I could probably find it elsewhere. But that's this is a new wonderful thing that Dropout has brought into my life that I did not know about previously. Um yeah, it's it's something different. It's the first time we've covered just a straight comedy uh that harkens back to the slapstick style of like the three stooges meeting like classic Looney tunes. It's something very different, but very fun for me, at least. Um so if people are wondering, why are we covering this movie on Run for Your Lives? Well, there's a lot of running and lives taken. The the Beavers definitely were were fear, fearing for their lives and trying to escape this mad man many times. Uh there's a lot of beaver death. If you were the beavers, looking at it from their point of view, it is quite the horror film.

Yeah. Uh it really is. It reminds me of a music video uh by the Squirrel Nutzippers. It's called Ghost of Stephen Foster. And it's just it's an animated video, and there are just elements of it that make me think of that video, and a bunch of other things that we'll talk about. And that may be my biggest contribution to this episode because I'm not gonna lie, I had a lot of WTFs and What Am I Watching in my notes, and it was a stream of consciousness as I felt like I was losing my mind at one point.

And I was having the best time of my life watching this. Uh, I was laughing so hard at so much of it. It was fantastic. Uh, I love just some like stupid humor and slapstick and stuff. And so I was thinking, I was like, I'm very curious about your thoughts and experience, Daphne. You know, being someone who is famously, even if it is more as a bit, you know, hates comedy. I was like, how how do you do with silly slapstick? Do you enjoy it, or was this the most excruciating two hours of your life? I don't know.

There's a lot to love, but there's also a lot of, oh my god, what? As well. Uh there are things that I thought were cleverly done in this movie, and we will talk about those after we do some production notes. It was filmed in rural Wisconsin and Michigan, and I have to tell you, I was freezing watching this. I was so cold. It's the second film from Mike Cheslick. He worked with his co-writer Ryland Toos, who also was the star of this movie, uh, on the Lake Michigan monster that came out in 2018. The budget for this movie was 150,000. It grossed 1.6 million in a limited box office release. It is 108 minutes long. Pake, give us a synopsis.

All right. A drunken Applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America's greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

Okay. A hero for defeating the beavers.

Mm-hmm.

Why can you tell me?

He got the girl in the end, clearly he's the hero. That's how that works.

Okay. I don't know about that. I found him to be bizarre in so many ways. I didn't really understand him, even though at the beginning I w felt bad for him that he lost his orchard and he was just a silly man having fun with a green screen.

Uh until yeah, his entire orchard and cider business, applejack business literally went up in flames.

And I've never heard of cider being called applejacks.

Yeah, I don't really know that either. It's it's yeah, but I guess that's a thing.

So I guess somewhere. I don't know where. Not in Maine, obviously. Although, if someone is from Maine and is listening to this episode and thinks it's happened here or it has happened here, you can let me know. I have no idea though. Like, it's just not something that I've ever come across in my time.

Yeah. It was interesting, like, when it started, because I was like, I don't know how much I'm gonna actually have in notes. Because it's like I don't want to stop and point out every funny thing then gag that happens because that's not as fun. I was like, maybe the things that really get me. But I found so because at first I was, you know, early on, a lot of like little gags, you know, pulling the small branches that dump snow and then falling through the holes just randomly, causally it set the tone of like, oh, anything can happen. It's just absolute slapstick ridiculousness.

Stepping on acorns.

Yeah. But there's like you don't really worry about the issues, the bad things that happen, because then it just jumps to whenever he's good again uh in the next sequence. It's just everything is cartoonish, it's four laughs. Uh and I was like, I I feel like I'm analyzing that, and that makes it a little less funny if I try to analyze the stuff too much. Uh but then I was like, what am I gonna do? Not talk? Uh you know, just come on here. Well, that was very funny. That's all the notes I have. See you next week.

Uh I just kept thinking he must have been freezing when he was filming this. And they filmed it, I guess, over two winters. At least that's what I had read. And I'm thinking, oh my god, what? I mean, how do you get psyched up to go outside and be rolling around in the snow? Sometimes with nothing on. Like, he just seemed to take more and more of his clothes off.

Yeah.

In efforts to, first of all, just get food, which he started picturing the beavers, the raccoons as like pizza and other edible items. The birds were pretzels. I'm like, he's having a fever dream, and I'm a witness to it because it's classic Looney Tunes.

Is you know seeing people turn into the turgy legs or whatever the other food uh when you're hungry, uh trying to attract the rabbits by making uh beautiful, sexy, voluptuous snow buddies.

Can we just talk about the animals for a second? One thing that I actually thought was cool and different is he did not use CGI for those rabbits and beavers. Those were people dressed up in costumes.

Oh yeah, it's just the animals are all people in fluffy onsies. Yeah.

Yeah. And I I was thinking, how much is this is gonna be animated? Because the whole opening was animated mostly. And when the first like the rabbits showed up and the beavers, I was just like, oh, so we're gonna wear costumes, so these are gonna be people, and it honestly made things funnier because they were behaving like you would in a cartoon, and it just was like real life. Like there's a point where he has set up two snow bunnies with their bras off.

Yeah.

And then there's two bunnies, and what you don't see at first is they're a couple and holding hands, and so it's not gonna work.

Yeah, a tasteful gay rabbit joke. How amazing. Uh yeah, I love that because it's the it was a perfect execution of like a lot of those like Looney Tune, slapstick, cartoon tropes, while adding something very new as well, which was really fun.

The whole fish under the water, and he's trying to catch it with all these ridiculous like traps and things, and it swims by multiple times because it's like you're an idiot.

Yeah. The area of wilderness he's in has the most unbothered fish on the planet.

He kept falling into like burrs, basically, and getting covered in them and screaming, and that was ridiculous.

Yeah.

Because he just kept doing it.

Yeah.

It's like you you don't have any clothes on, and you're and how strategically it was in every scene that he was behind an icicle or behind something or in the snow to hide his private parts.

Yeah. There's a lot slapstick is a lot of repetition of the same bits and the same jokes. That it's the rule of thirds and thirty-thirds, right? Where if you've heard that, because I know with you doing Buffalo with me and Jeff and Jerry, especially me and Jeff had a lot have a lot of that like shared very slapsticky bit-based.

I would not dispute it at all.

And and so I think we've talked about that before is the rule of thirty-thirds, where you do something once, it's funny. You do something twice, you're like, okay, you're redoing the bit. Then you do it a third time, it's funny again. And then if you keep repeating it, it almost like gets less funny, but then the more you do it, it gets funny again because I don't know, there's something about that recurring bit, so then that's where like the 30-thirds come in, is eventually when it becomes expected, you think it's gonna be less funny, but then you kind of cross the threshold where you're like, okay, now I've bought I I'm I'm so into this bit that like now I'm looking forward to it happening again and again and again. I think the best example of it, I mean, there's a bunch of them, there's several of them in this movie, but I think my favorite, personal favorite, is the merchant and his spittoon, where he just never, it's always and like the way his like near miss gets more and more complex each time, but he still doesn't. It's so funny.

And it plays into the end when Jean goes back to take the Beavers back, and he's spitting at him, and he grabs the thing that it never goes in and it deflects and goes off somewhere else. Yeah, it's like, yeah, okay, we've learned from this situation. I also thought it was funny how the daughter was always kind of trying to put him in these compromising situations every time. So it just happened over and over again. And the father was not having any of it. He's like, no, you know, not gonna marry my daughter. He's like putting him in snow because he's come there naked. And I loved that they had the sign above that listed all the things you had to get. It no dialogue. I have to say, there was no dialogue in this movie.

I think one time they said, yeah, it was like a word, yeah. That made that worked as a bit because it was like almost a silent movie, and then there were just a few times where they broke that rule and it added to the comedy. The two that absolutely cracked me up that made me I think my the biggest laugh of the whole movie for me is the random Jean looking at like a raccoon or a beaver sneaking up on him and goes, Oh shit, and like it censors it, and then he gets chased. And you're like out of nowhere. It's like he hasn't talked the whole movie, and then they have like a bleeped out like curse word. Uh and then later with the you know, you can't marry my daughter unless you bring me where it's like a silent movie where they have the like, he's like, read my lips, and then you get like he mouths something and then they show the words on the screen after. But at first, before they're doing the screen, he's like mouthing words at them, and then they're mouthing, and then you hear them both audibly go, Pardon?

Yes, yes. Yeah. Not many instances of dialogue. You got words on a screen. Often you didn't need any dialogue. I mean, you're you're basically in a fever dream with Jean as he goes from being an applejack person to a fur trapper, which you're creating in your apple orchard, you've got all this cider stuff, this is your life, and then you become a fur trader. That's easy to, you know, transition to. No, I don't think so. But he did. Not before starving a lot, because he was very hungry.

Yeah. Which, yeah, the add just the adding to the gags of like trying to like find food and then get food and cook food and the wind though even when the gag is expected, you know, where the wind keeps changing direction on him and then it like reverses backwards. It's just like it's such a great bit that like even when you're like, okay, here we go again, I don't know, I find it still so funny.

Things didn't go right for him. One, he was very clumsy, so clumsy. He basically ends up blowing up his own house at the beginning. He trips over things, he's stubbing his toe on acorns, he's he's always doing something, and it's not going well. And everything that can go wrong is going wrong. He just has bad luck. Like he he you know, he has to transition to something else. He can't be. I mean, his orchard is burned to the ground. He can't do anything, and he was having such a good life with everyone. He was singing, they were all everyone was around. He was just a happy guy, and then it was over.

Damn beavers.

Yeah, well, the beavers get it in the end, that's for sure.

Yeah. I love that it was a good mix of green screen and actual location, the real forest and hills and stuff. Uh, and then also like there was a good mix of uh practical effects, all like the animals and like the and then like some props, but then also a lot of them that are also just digital added in, but then like those add to the comedy is some of the like digital stuff.

Oh, you mean like the woodpecker? Every time he whistled, yeah, the woodpecker would come. But he used it to his advantage later, like he got it to work for what he was trying to do.

Woodpecker powered escape mechanism. Yeah. Classic move.

Oh my god.

Yeah, yeah. And there's like a bit of a like jackass flavor to this as well. He's just tackling people in suits and bowling their legs out from under them with like the uh saucer sled. Where where did he get that sled? Who knows? Who cares? Uh the egg sequence we talked about, yeah, like just trying to get the eggs. Which okay, because he keeps seeing like animals and they turn into food, and then he sees the eggs and they become fried eggs, and then a pizza.

And it's like, why don't there's food layers? Um food pizza. What does it mean? What is the symbolism? What is the symbolism of the eggs and the pizza? Like, what what does this mean? And then I just finally gave up trying to figure anything out because I couldn't. I'm just like, I don't know what's going on.

Yeah, the woodpecker, the the burrs, uh, the the icicles that keep falling, and then he spiraling down around the tree, following him down.

Yep.

It's just uh it's so good. It's top-notch slapstick work for sure. And then yeah, we see him as he's starving, and he's my man's losing it. He's got a he's trying to fish. He's got a snowman wife, a snow dog, who won't who won't fetch.

Um it's not going his way.

You know, ends up biting his finger. But then, hey, it's a it's a useful bait. Talk about fish fingers.

Oh god.

At one point we did get the movie title dropping, but it seemed like it dropped in the middle of the film.

Yeah. Um, yeah, even the opening credits happen suddenly without warning, over half an hour into the film.

Uh oh man.

Perfect. Uh, we meet the Master Trapper. Uh, when we first see him, he looks like Santa Claus driving a sleigh with a bag full of toys, and they have the Christmas music playing. Oh, it's a Christ, it's a Christmas movie now.

And the sleigh is pulled by dogs. And by dogs I mean people dressed in dog suits. Yes. But not like husky dogs, like rover dogs pulling the sleigh.

Yeah.

But then someone starts taking them. The wolves take the dogs one by one. That made me mad.

Those pesky wolves. Folllows that master trapper. Yeah, that's where he meets the merchant and his furrier daughter. Um, it's always the shopkeeper's daughter. You know? Always. That's how it goes. Uh and the way to her, past the velvet rope, through her dad at least, uh, is beaver pelts. You know, does John does Jean Kayak have a mission? Uh he finally has something to do. Uh they take all the bits. I love recurring bits that then tying them together. You know, the holes. He's thinking with portals. Um the duck poop, the snowman, the bunnies, the icicles. Like, every time we like see little bits and gags, they find a way to like combine a bunch of them that we've seen into something later that you're like, oh yeah, he's now he's using this, this, this, and this. So everything that happens, like, it's like it's all random, ridiculous gags that then turn into something that you're like, oh, but this wouldn't make sense without all of that other prior like gag.

What did you think of all the I I called it power-ups in my notes. Like it would say times one, times two, times three as he was collecting.

Like a video game.

It was. There were some video game elements. There were certain things that happened, and I was like, oh yeah, that's something you'd see in Mario Kart. You know, you're trying to go through or not Mario Kart, but Mar uh Super Mario Brothers trying to go up a level like that. Absolutely. And then there was another part too. Um, I think it was yeah, when he was in the dam, he's going up different levels, and that reminded me of Super Mario Brothers. And then when the Beavers, he was also in the dam, and the Beavers are jumping across to get to him. That made me think of Frogger.

Yeah.

I'm like, okay, yeah, this really is kind of video game-like. There are lots of little things, and then little sound effects that remind me of other games too.

Yeah. Uh yeah, his survival skills like he gets better and builds up. Like it is like a video game. He's like leveling up the more that he gets like collects, and like he can buy new items, and then he can like get more experience points almost, and he gets better and better, he gets stronger. I was like, kayak is hijacked. He a muscly guy. Uh, and then he finally catches a rabbit, but then the dang raccoons are there to capitalize on it. And I was like, and to fix the raccoon problem, he gives them weapons. Yeah. Um as he gains more ingenuity, he loses more clothing. That was the rule.

He takes his shoes off, and I'm like, nobody takes their shoes off out in the No. It is not a good idea. Hypothermia is a thing.

But there's too crunchy. It's too loud. He's got sneaking from the rabbits.

I know.

Like rubbing the lucky rabbit's foot before scrapping with the raccoon.

But he does get a raccoon and then he gets his coat and hat.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. You could tell that the daughter was interested in him. It was like, well, if anything, he amuses her.

Yep. Oh, he definitely amused her at first. She did get an interest in him a little bit later and it started to grow into something more. But she was really uh at first, she was trying to get him into trouble. It was like it was a game for her. But him paying attention to her gutting the stuffed beaver.

Why do I kind of want a like human organ-filled stuffed beaver or a raccoon? Like all plush organs. This seems kind of fun. Although the human skeleton with like the human skull inside the raccoon head was killing me.

Oh man. Oh man. Yeah. And then it came into play later because he kills a beaver and guts it so he can wear the costume to get into the dam. And this isn't a regular beaver dam that you're thinking on, you know, on a stream or whatever. This is a full-blown project. I bet there was a civil engineer involved with creating this building.

Oh, they had a whole team. They had cranes. Great support work.

Yeah.

I'm sure whatever this it wasn't a dam, it was a base.

It was.

They probably called it the Pontiac because that was one grand dam.

You're proud of yourself. I know you are.

Yes.

Um, I also found really funny some of the traps that he had, but my my two favorites were the pool table. Like he had like a pool table. It seemed like it, and he was knocking them into pockets. And then the other one is when they were trapped between two fans and he just threw a bat in it so that it would knock them in the head. I'm like, I don't know what this is, but these are my two favorite things right now, those two.

He learned a lot of all of that by from the the master trapper. Uh-huh. You know, uh he's saved by him after falling into a pit, and he kind of becomes his like protege.

Yes.

And he's he's following him around and learning a lot of important things that I mean I think should be common knowledge, uh, but it's good that he now knows them. I thought everyone knew that, you know, to catch a rabbit, you need a carrot, and to catch a beaver, you need shit, and to catch a skunk, you need a frog, and to catch a dog, you know, obvious reasons why you would need to for Monster Wolf. Uh, you need a squirrel. It's basic math, really.

Yeah, I'm still not clear on the poop thing, but okay. It doesn't make sense to me.

And maybe it's just I'm not up to date on what attracts beavers, but Yeah, you gotta brush up on your your fur trapper skills.

I guess.

Fur trapping 101.

Yeah, I'm not really into that. Uh, so I'm gonna stay away from it. But he was doing all these other things. At one point they were toilets and and traps in the toilets and bear trap in the toilet.

Uh, you know, who hasn't fallen for that at least once?

Oh my god.

It is a good it's a classic.

I think it was after the toilet traps that I was like I actually wrote down this is absolute lunacy. And I think it took him that long. And I think this movie is going to kill me. He just keeps going. He did. He didn't give up, he just kept going. Yeah. And even when the Master Trapper died, because that's what ended up happening, all the dogs died. The Master Trapper gives him the map, which is a very confusing map. And then he just w wipes it all off and puts his own map on there. It was much simpler. Yeah.

Yeah.

Not all these hieroglyphics or emojis.

Yeah.

But he learned a lot of good techniques. I mean, of course, yeah, the Master Trapper's patented spinning death pendulum is a must-have.

Absolutely.

Gotta have that. Yeah. It was an unfortunate end for them. You know, another day, another dog or two down. The wolves were a problem.

But it's okay, because the Master Trapper had Jean to join the other dog that was left to pull the sled. So, you know.

Yeah.

He was doing his part.

Yeah, but yeah, a new year, new start. The wolves had taken his mentor, and he must yeah, take the trap map. Kind of edit it, simplify it a little bit, like you said. Uh, and do this himself. Uh and uh he starts kind of learning his own things. Turns out beavers also really like intricately carved crosses that you carve with your teeth.

Yeah, I I don't really know why, but okay.

Beavers love Jesus.

I guess. It's a religion.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I I had to stop, I had to look. It was like, okay, what else is as full credit? Ryland Bri Ryland Brickson Cole twos. Um, what else he had done? Because his slapstick and clowning skills are just on point. Uh very great physical comedy. Uh, but he hasn't really done much. He's really just worked with Mike Cheslick on his projects. That's pretty much it. And I'm like, this guy's so funny. The physical comedy.

It makes me think of Jack Black's character and the whole story behind Anaconda and how they were just filmmakers as kids and doing all these things and having so much fun that maybe that's how it is for these two.

Uh-huh.

And they're just making their own thing. And it it's very critically acclaimed. Like it got a lot of joy.

It's won several awards at different film festivals, yeah.

Yeah. And it is very clever. I may never need to watch it again, though, because I've seen it once and oh, I'm gonna watch this so many times, I think.

I feel like this is gonna become a holiday tradition for me, maybe. Oh my god. It's oh, it's fantastic.

Uh I would suggest the next time that it's 90 degrees in Texas that you watch this movie. It might cool you off.

It really will. Um, we might have to watch this in Fort Worth. By the time people are hearing this, listeners, I think we're there this week. Uh I don't know if Jeff watched it yet, or Jerry might. I don't know.

I'm I don't know how Jerry will react to it.

Jeff will love it. I feel like me and Jeff are on the very same thing. But I don't know. I'm curious about Jerry. I don't know. We've got like just a list. We're not even going to the movie festival anymore. We have a list of movies we need to watch.

Uh Jerry didn't like Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared.

Is that I don't know if he didn't like it. Because he referenced it.

He said it was straight. He really does. But he thought it was weird. He said it was creepy.

Uh-huh. Yeah, there's just a lot of like great bits. I love the following tracks bit where he's saying animals go. And then he's following the rabbit tracks. And then he's like, okay, following a rabbit. And then it was like, oh, cute. It's a little picnic date. And then oh, I met another rabbit, and they had a date. And they got married. Good for them. Oh, oh, oh, well, that is what rabbits are known to do. So um, and they and they had twins. That's great. And and then from there, it's just a whole tragic life story. One of the rabbit parents walks away and leaves the others, and then the other one tragically dies, and there's a little R.I.P. the tombstone. And even Jean Kayak does the little like crossing his chest, kind of like Catholic, you know, like paying his respects. And then it's like, oh, the poor little orphans, and he comes across the little poor orphan bunny twins. And they're so scared. And he knows exactly what he has to do. Um, all that they need is probably a little salt and pepper, some garlic butter, perhaps would make it perfect. Mmm, delicious.

They make you think he has a little bit of compassion, and the bunnies are scared, and he's looking at them like he has compassion. And the next thing Yeah, and the next thing you know, they're all over the fire.

I laughed so hard. Just the just the way they just like twist that on you, and I just like, oh, that's hilarious.

No, I was not rooting for him. I will tell you, I was not rooting for him. I found him to be ridiculous, and there was a time I did root for him, but then some of his oh god, he was such an idiot that I just I'm like, no, you deserve whatever happens to you because you are a lunatic.

You're right, he deserves whatever happens to him, which is getting the hundreds of beavers and following getting the girl and hundreds of beavers.

As he was collecting those, we also got that power up or the as he was doing it. It it makes me think of in Mario when you're collecting all the coins, it gives you that super power where you can go really fast and dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. And he so that's what I was thinking as that was powering up more and more and more. Yeah.

There's like the map, it was like almost like a map screen. Was I did I find myself whistling along with the map screen every time? Absolutely. Of course I was. There's like little map music, uh, the little like cartoon version of him moving around, all the different landmarks as he's filling out the map and finding stuff. And then he keeps circling around it to like update to see where it's gone from the last time he was there. Uh and then yeah, the merchant shop. It was like a video game store menu. Oh, not enough beavers. Come back when you've collected more.

Yep.

Uh, and like the highly specific numbers and type combinations of animals and pelts you needed for each item. You kind of get to upgrade your weapons and stuff.

It's it just made me think of your princess is in another castle. Like you've gotten all the things you think you need, but you're missing something. It's like, no, she's not here. You've got to go somewhere else.

Now I was whistling along with that map screen, but I made sure not to use the wrong whistle, because I don't I don't need any woodpeckers swooping in on me.

It did come in handy later. Like when he used that against the wolves and the beavers. However, he also employed a frog and a skunk against their will to be catapulted through the air. I mean, it was insane.

That's that's some great thinking, great logic that he used.

Uh-huh. Sure.

Oh man. Now, um one thing it took him a long time to figure out, but he finally did is, you know, because everyone also knows, if you know anything about fur trapping, that literal shit is only viable and valuable if it's coated in castor oil. I mean, I learned that in kindergarten, I figure most people would. So that was that was his missing piece. Once he figured that out, but then, you know, shit's great. Apples are better. That's where it's really at.

Half-eaten apples? Like apple cores, basically. And he made things out of wood. He didn't even get real carrots, he didn't get real apples. He used wood and he painted.

Well, where are you gonna find real carrots and apples in the middle of winter?

I don't know. Maybe the merchant had some. I mean, the merchant tried to get the master trapper to marry his daughter.

Mm-hmm.

And he walked away. He's like, no.

Yeah, when he gets that first wolf and was like, two beavers and a wolf. I was like, that's exactly right for an item. And I was like, it's the bear traps, too. I like the he got better at fishing. It was funny when the he finally finds the bait that works, and then the fish just pulls the pole in. And then his fix to that is making a buff snowman to hold the fishing pole. I died laughing. It was so I was like, that's the hardest I've laughed. And then immediately it was quickly replaced with the oh shit! Which then Nope, that was perfect timing. It was so unexpected. And and then the merchant's daughter gets more and more seductive to old Jean. You know, ooh, ankle, and then we go from ankle to full pole dance routine. So you know, baby steps.

Uh-huh. I mean, I at first thought she was trying to get him killed because she kept doing things like she put his sk her skirt over his head and got her father's attention. I'm like, are you are you into him or are you trying to get him killed? Because it seems like, you know.

It's her way of flirting.

I guess.

Yeah.

I didn't know that was effective, but okay.

It worked. Uh yeah, and then like the the beavers are up to he keeps coming across also these other like weird prints in the snow that like you're just like, I don't even know. Like, I just left a little like question mark over his head. Also very video game.

Like that.

Uh what is this? And then there's giant ice cube. It's like, what are the beavers are getting tricky? What are they up to? Uh but he's got to get all of these beaver pelts to keep upgrading and getting more stuff. And the beaver deaths keep getting more fucked up and also somehow more funny uh each time.

I mean, the first thing that the first item he got was that teeny weeny knife. I'm like, what do you think is gonna happen with that knife? Like, it's not gonna do anything.

It was great for carving.

He was able to trade it though.

Mm-hmm.

So that helped the situation. Yeah.

There's a lot of trading and stuff going on. So I mean he was like, yeah, he was figuring things out. Uh Sherlock Beaver was on the case trying to figure out what was going on.

I love how they turned the tables on him and created like that fake merchant place. So then he ended up going there and thinking they were there. He brings all the pelts there, all the hundreds of beaver pelts. And uh the merchant and his daughter are not moving. There it's so he starts to walk towards them and then he hits like a glass like wall, basically, and then it falls on him.

Yep. And then he crawls out from under it and it falls on him again because the whole thing was actually another fake wall. I don't know how physics that works, but it was great.

And behind that wall was Sherlock Beaver and Watson Beaver. And I thought that was great. I thought it was funny.

Yep. Keeps upgrading. The bat costs more than two bear traps, which I thought was interesting. I don't know what that pricing is, that that one was a step up, but it was. The bat did become very useful for getting a lot more pelts. Uh and then finally, you know, gun unlocked gun locked. Um he's getting really good at this. Getting great practice. And so, yeah, that's he collecting some gun. He gets the gun, he's collected some more pelts, and he's like, Okay, I have enough for the ring or whatever, I think. You know, can can I marry your daughter? And then that's where we get the great like read my life with the pardon. Um, it's not a silent movie, but the merchant thinks it is. Uh and so finally, the opening credits sequence ends an hour and 15 into the movie. Uh as we see that Jean Kayak can marry the merchant's daughter if he can bring him hundreds of beavers.

And so he starts. Like he goes out and he starts collecting these beavers, and he's using everything imaginable to make it happen.

Yeah. All the things he's seen and learned and come across throughout. Yeah, you said he's got the skunk and the I was like, oh, a frog. So uh, in case people were wondering how this movie fit into our genre, well, it's a horror movie now, at least for Daphne. There's a frog.

But I didn't want the frog to die. I just don't like them. It's just who I am.

And I think we've reached She's frog racist.

I am not racist.

It's just who she is.

I think I've reached the part of the year where they're not around. Or they're going away because it's getting too cold.

They're just now starting to show up everywhere now.

Oh no.

You tell me that and I'm coming there. Oh no. But you know what I learned the last time I was with the three of you? You will protect me from the frogs. You keep them away from me and me away from me.

We tie them to a skunk and then use a catapult on them. That's what we're doing.

No, you don't. You just make sure I walk away.

But but yeah, you can see the power's gotten to his head. He's gotten very good at this. He's gotten too powerful. His wind-powered murder system is massacring these beavers. Uh like you said, he's combined all the tools he's learned. He's becoming the most masterful trapper of all time. And the beavers are gonna have to fight back. They're gonna have to do something about it. Or at least, yeah, they use some shenanigans and trickery to steal his hundreds of beavers away from him.

Well, they wanted to have a big funeral for them.

Mm-hmm.

They had everything ready to do it, but he was not letting anything happen. Even though he was torn, because at one point he saw this tap and he thought of his Applejack's days, and he just wanted a taste of it, and Yeah, it was He was pulled in two directions.

Beautiful character growth. One of the most meaningful and deepest social commentary and arcs that we've ever had in any movie we've ever covered, truly. Uh I mean he started as the drunkard party boy, and now he's mostly kinda choosing love over the cider. Um, it's what a tale. Like, truly, I cried. I was moved so deeply.

You cried because you were laughing so hard. That's why you would cry.

Now, out of all the movies we've covered over the years of doing this, I don't think I've seen anything so deep and meaningful like that's that scene ever.

I can give you like ten scenes that were more meaningful than that.

And social commentary of this movie was just beyond anything we've ever done, truly.

You are digging yourself deep with your commentary now.

Uh, and his grand plan to sneak in. What a great idea, Mr. Kayak. Yeah.

Yeah, the problem is he didn't do quite as good a job as what the furrier did. And the eye was off in one direction, and the it didn't look very good. It would look like he had put it on and was holding it together. Like it did not look good.

He needed it for just just long enough to crack a hole in the ice and break into the dam from below.

Again, it wasn't it wasn't the dam that you've seen beavers make. This was a full-on production in Grand Down.

It was. Uh I love the angry beaver faces in the like guard windows. Oh my god. And they could like pull the like blinds on him and like the little mouth would open up. It was great. And yeah, he sneaks around. He's doing pretty good, and then when he does finally get caught, uh we get the whole log chase like log surfing chase scene. Which bravo. I was like, take notes, Fast and Furious. That's how you do an action sequence.

I couldn't tell you anything about Fast and Furious because I haven't seen any of them.

But they do end up catching him, uh, and we get a trapper on trial. Uh at least they did give him representation. Uh Beaver lawyer, uh, maybe, or a tree fence attorney.

Um, eh, it's not my best, but well, you know, I think that that they gave him an attorney that uh is like him. Clumsy.

Yeah. Uh while on the other end, the prosecution was clearly southern and probably assumedly sweaty, so he was fucked.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Can't stand a chance against a sweaty southern lawyer. Nope. They'll get you every time.

Mm-hmm.

And I love the the the trial word Sherlock Beaver has from the markings of when he's grabbed like and collected the belts, he's put together this presentation of his theory that he's doing all these unspeakable, unholy science experiments on the beavers or turning them into superheroes or something. And I laughed, Jacques!

Uh oh. They have no idea he's doing it because he wants to marry the daughter. Like that's what he wants. He's found his purpose is to be a husband. That's what he's focused on.

But but yeah, they find him guilty and punishable by uh becoming a coat. Which is actually pretty messed up. I was like, man, the beaver that comes in wearing the master trapper as a coat. I was like, oh how the turntables. Um that was really creepy. Sakra Blue. That's his punishment. But he he pretty easily breaks free just the way he's doing the math that thinks like the Chinese finger trap and pulls his hands out and like, oh shit!

Because he was struggling for so long and then it clicked in his head. I can just pull these out. I don't have to if I'm not if I'm not trying too hard, I can just slide them out. It'll be okay. I can do this.

It's great. He breaks free, and it's brawl time. Uh and he just takes them all on in that room. Ended quite violently, eventually, with the buzzsaw and ripping the skin off of another one. I just don't know what's the kayak. No. Also, I was like, look at that big swing. He must be Swiss.

Oh, no one's gonna get that, you know, right?

Nope. But I did.

I got it.

Uh but yeah, so he beats a lot of them, and I think by the time he's ripping the skeleton out of one, uh the rest have given up on fighting. He they let him go. Uh and then he's going back through as he's escaping, and he's seeing what you know, all the pieces are coming together from all like the weird markings that he saw. The beavers are inventing space travel.

They are.

And never mind, no, there it there goes that. The rocket just again just he his own clumsiness takes care of that problem very easily. But uh then they see he was the one that knocked the the rocket off course, and now hundreds of beavers are piss they're pissed. And the chase is on, and I love the the final chase was so funny. The the the ice floats uh with the train in a boat. And then when he finally like, you know, he uses his pee to like cut part of it off, and then he's like, What are you gonna do now? And then they all just jump in the water, and he has that like, oh yeah, beavers can swim. Duh.

Yeah. Yeah.

Uh and then they basically just recreate the Star Wars uh indoor speeder bike chase scene, which I loved that. Uh Toboggins.

Yeah, that was kind of crazy.

And then they formed Beaver Voltron.

Yeah, I wondered about that. Um that's where my mind went right away was this is Voltron. What are we doing? Uh I I just have a feeling that the creators of this movie combine a bunch of things that they loved into one thing.

Yeah.

Because even in the beginning, when he's chasing the beavers and the rabbits and all of that, it and setting the traps, it's very Roadrunner and Wily Coyote, so much. Like it's such an homage to that, whether it was intended or not.

Yeah, thanks to his his native friend that he had met. He yeah, the beaver Voltron's not really that big of a problem. Uh no. He rides, rides his giant snowball full of his sack of hundreds of beavers.

All the way to the merchant. But we did lose the horsey.

Yes, we did.

And watching the horse watching him get on him to ride. And he just collapses.

The guy wearing the front part of the horse, just his deadpan face, just trying to like not be there. And oh, so good.

That just made that just made him angry and want to take out the beavers because they killed his horse. They stepped on him. All right, Mr. Horsey, with a deadpan face.

Yeah. Oh, so good. I honestly just had one of the best times ever watching this. And I hope that the the previous film, he's done a couple, uh, yeah, uh the director has done a couple of short films. And then this was his second full-length, feature-length film, uh Lake Michigan Monsters full-length. It's about an hour and eighteen, I think, so it's a little shorter than this one.

Yeah.

I hope it's just as slapsticky because I really want to watch that now. I and I think we can cover that one too, because it's Lake Michigan Monster. I I think it fits even more.

I mean, you slid this one in. I thought it was a horror movie. I was a bit surprised when I got part way through and realized, no, this isn't what I thought it was. But we're covering it because you picked it.

And we'll have to do his other one. We uh we we have to return to cheslake we have to.

We do.

For me.

I'm not I I will tell you right now, you can nominate this for the movie of the year, but it's not getting support from me. I know you, and I know that you will want to pull this into something. You will, because I can tell how much you loved it. I played along, I think. It was kind of a fever dream of a movie, and honestly, I wonder what the experience would be to watch it if you were drunk, if it would change it.

I would prefer to be inebriated in a different way.

Yeah, that too. I really need to get Chris to watch it because he and I've talked about the ghost of Stephen Foster, and I think this is the movie edition of that music video.

And so with a little bit of uh weird owls like weasel stomping, didn't you?

Yeah, it's all in there. So I'm gonna have him watch it and see what he thinks, and I'll report back on it. Did you have any other notes on this? Because I've covered pretty much everything. I mean, I there's only so many times I can say this is crazy, this is insane. Yeah. So I feel like we have done it.

Yeah.

But you know, Pake, I was thinking about something. Uh-huh. We haven't picked a movie for next week, and I just wondered. We only have uh two movies left to do this season for the Riffle Awards. I wondered if we should go to the wheel.

One more time for the season. Let it let it spin. And uh again, we don't get multiple spin spins.

We don't get to whatever it lands on, it lands on.

Now, here it goes. We're spinning.

Oh goodness.

I think I've deleted everything that we've already done off of the list, but still there's a lot.

I know that midsummer isn't gonna pop up because we've already done it. Okay, Peg. What does the wheel say?

The wheel has come up with and I'm so excited, the 2020 film directed by Josh Rubin. Scare me.

Yes! Yes! I am down. It's Josh Rubin. That that's all you need to say.

Everyone's favorite disgruntled fisherman with wooden knees. Yeah. What better way to finish a movie that's streaming on dropout than to spin the wheel and get a movie directed by dropout royalty?

I think that's amazing. Wonderful. I'm so excited to do that one because it's Josh Rubin. And he's been very busy because they're making a hard eyes too, which I'm very excited about. Um, so yeah, this is great. We can we can go back to that. And then we may or may not be cooking up something special for the last movie of the season in a couple weeks. We'll see what we're gonna do. But we will cover Scare Me next week.

Perfect. So now when we get to the feedback in just a little bit, you don't have to worry about being like, Daphne, what are we gonna do next week? Because you you we are saying it right now.

Exactly.

So if you've forgotten already by that point, that's on you.

Um it absolutely is.

Yeah. Speaking of feedback, um, there's the phone. So I would be curious to see if we've got any thoughts on this one. Okay, we do have some feedback this week um to get into. So that's fun. Uh also we realized just with the recording schedule, because we didn't plan it, we didn't think about it in advance, and we've been traveling and there's all this stuff, that this week's movie turns out to be our um Halloween special in a way. Uh we didn't plan for that. We usually would have tried to pick something more Halloween-y. Um instead it just kind of wound up being this. We didn't really realize it until after we finished recording the movie part of this. And it was like, oh. So I was like, well, we're just we're dressed up as a comedy movie podcast this week. That's what it is. That's that's our Halloween costume as a comedy movie podcast.

Uh I think it's very convincing. It turned out great. And yeah, it's kind of interesting. This is probably the least Halloween-y movie that we've ever done.

Yeah. Um for a Halloween special. Next week's movie can be uh more of a Halloween. It's a lot more of a Halloween movie. Just comment comes a week later. How about that?

Yes. And you already know what it is, but I'll give you a little more info at the end of the episode, like I always do. But we do have feedback for The End of Oak Street. This came from Tony, and she says, Dinosaurs, I love them more than vampires, believe it or not. Tony, how did I not know this? I love dinosaurs, as you know. I was not disappointed with this movie at all. The cast is amazing. I openly gasped when the T-Rex did what he did to the dad. I was not expecting that. No, it came out of nowhere. I think they nailed the look and feel of the early 80s. It was very nostalgic in look, but it also reminded me of movies of that time too, like E.T. and the Goonies. Absolutely. It was a very fun movie with some genuinely touching moments. I'm sure this will become a comfort movie for years to come. Yeah, I think I think it will, except for that one part with the T-Dex.

Yeah, you just have to remind yourself, like, no, it's okay. It's okay. The ending is coming and things will be okay.

Yep. It's gonna, it's gonna work out, even though it doesn't look like it is.

Yes. Uh, and then for this week, for hundreds of beavers, we do have one uh from our loyal feedback aficionado, Catherine, we always can rely on, uh, to say, I was expecting something like Thankskilling, but this was so much better. I never expected to see a beaver Power Rangers kaiju. The use of practical effects was perfect, and it makes me want to support other movies that don't rely on CGI, like Wildwood. Uh yeah, and then for others, I did respond to her on Facebook through the Run for Your Lives uh uh account, which is like, yes, please support Wildwood. I actually still haven't seen it yet, but I need to make that happen soon. Um, maybe this next week, I'll try to do that. It's the newest Leica film, which we've covered some Leica on here, specifically Corline and Paranorman. And so, yeah, definitely give some love to that. Uh, because uh Leica Studios has been very outspoken about being very anti-use of a lot of like uh generative AI and different, like so if it's all practical, all stop motion, they do they put the work and the time into it. And so, yeah, find the the movies and studios and directors that are putting in that extra mile with their art and give them that love.

Absolutely. Well, if you want to leave us feedback, there are a few more opportunities left before the end of the season. We have two movies that are coming up, and then our Riffle Awards. You can find us on the Podcastica Discord server. We have a channel there, Run for Your Lives. It's getting active, so join us over there. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at Run for Your Lives Podcast, or you can email us at runforyourlivespodcast at gmail.com. If you're enjoying the show, tell your friends. We are available on all the podcast players, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and more. As always, you can go to RunFouryour Lives Podcast.com for all the links you'll ever need. And give us a review on Apple Podcasts, as that is the best way to share the love and get us out there even more. We really appreciate it.

We do absolutely. Uh, and speaking of sharing the love, of course, you know I gotta get those shout-outs to things going on in the podcast universe around us and beyond. A lot of great stuff for you to check out while you're waiting for next week's more apropos to Halloween episode in November. Uh why not? A lot of good stuff to listen to. Of course, over on the Walking Dead cast, Jason, Nathan, and Jamie have been covering Crystal Lake, the Friday the 13th prequel series. Um, and of course, we took last week off with no episode. So, in that meantime, they've been covering uh in two episode chunks, so they've pretty much got the whole season out now for you to go listen to. Uh, so you can go give that a listen, catch up on their episodes there.

Peg, I actually watched that whole series pretty much on the flight.

Uh-huh.

It was great. I really enjoyed it.

Interesting.

I hope it gets a season two, because I really liked it.

Nice. It's not an IP that's really been very um much uh interest of mine. Um so I don't know. But I do know um, I think the kid that plays the young Jason in that movie is cast to be Atreus in the God of War series. So I'm interested to see how that's gonna be.

I think that it's gonna be it's gonna be good.

Yeah. Anyway, uh also more uh stuff to check out. Bakedastica has been going along. So Jamie, Greg, and Wendy covering Great British Baking Show over there. So episode four of Red Week is up right now for you to check out. Also, some more Cast of the Rings stuff coming for you. Of course, the the coverage of the Lord of the Rings Rings of Power show over on Amazon Prime. Uh season three is coming up soon, November 11th. And so you can go check out a little quick teaser over there on the Cast of the Rings feed, Penny and Anwin getting ready to cover that season when it drops. So be on the lookout for that and go listen to the teaser now. Also, Widow's Bay, uh, Jason and Karen have been going through that season uh and covering the episodes. Uh, they're on episode four right now, which is Beach Reads. And I love that. As somebody who's watched the season, yeah, like is it's one of the absolute best episodes of that season.

Oh my gosh.

It's it's wild. Uh so I love that they're doing that one this week.

I actually have a funny story. So one of the local wrestling promotions that I go to, Chaotic, there is a wrestler there named Calvin Dumont, and he's been an extra on Widow's Bay.

Oh, nice.

And he's also done some stuff on Dead City. Because he posts every once in a while, I was back to be a walker or I was back to do this, and so he keeps getting opportunities to do that. And it's just one of those ways that wrestling and the world of horror connect, I guess.

Yes. That's awesome. That's a great episode. Let's see. And then outside of Podcastica, of course, go check out our friends over at Pirate Core Entertainment. Uh, Mark, who runs that network, has been on here several times. Uh, you know him, you love him, and there's always some great stuff going on. Uh, What's On Tonight also been doing the coverage of Crystal Lake, so you can go check that out over there as well. And then our friends over at TV Podcast Industries like to do all of the comic booky superhero stuff as well. And so Vision Quest has been going on, Disney Plus. I need to catch up because uh all the episodes have been releasing while I've been the busiest I've ever been in a long time, traveling and doing all kinds of extra work and stuff. So I'm gonna binge through very soon. But uh definitely check out their coverage of Vision Quest over on TV Podcast Industries with feedback episodes and all kinds of stuff too. So they're really getting a lot of love for this series. So go check that out and join that love. And uh, if you want more of me and Daphne with our friends Jeff and Jerry, then you can always listen to Buffalo Buffalo Podcast. Uh get a little crazy with that. Again, with all like the traveling and stuff, we kind of took the week off of Buffalo. There is a new episode, but if you've been listening to Run for Your Lives for a long time, it's an older episode for you. Uh, their first crossover they did with us when we did the stuff is up on that feed this week. But lots of great episodes to go check out as a backlog of funny bits and running games and all kinds of stuff. And we'll be back with a new episode uh this next week as well. So go check that out. We're just hanging out, having fun, making each other laugh or miserable, whatever comes first. But yeah, uh, usually this would be like, you know, come back next week and we'll do something fun. Daphne, what are we doing? But you already know because we spun the wheel this week. That was a thing. So we landed on Scare Me. Um, and now that we've watched it and we've covered it in the timeline of how things work with this podcast. Um give you a little bit more of a tease. But yeah, you gotta come back to check that out next week.

Yeah, um, during a power outage in the Catskills, an aspiring horror writer and a successful author trade scary stories by firelight. As Pake said, you already know it's Scare Me. It's from 2020. It's a horror comedy film by Josh Rubin.

Yeah.

So anytime we can cover something by Josh Rubin, I want to.

Yeah, we've got another one lined up for next season already. I know.

Every time he graces us with his presence or releases something cool, which we're gonna get a hard eyes to, which I'm so stoked for. Um, it just to me, it represents some of the best comedy horror that there is. So I really like it. Well, that brings us to the end of another episode, the end of another Halloween special. Thanks everyone for listening. I'm Daphne.

And I'm Peggy.

And if you have to run, you better run for your lives.

Happy Halloweers. Hundreds of Halloweers.