A genuinely astonishing snowy Midwest epic of silent-era/golden age cartoon humor and wit, retro video game design logic, and ingenious low-budget fur-trapper survivalist horror-action-comedy mayhem. A true testament to what you can do with a DSLR, After Effects, a handful of animal mascot costumes, a commitment to storyboarding, and a true gut understanding that 100 years ago a man falling over or getting hit really, really hard was the peak of comedy for a reason.

Just when you think its Guy Maddin Looney Tune schtick is bound to collapse on itself it somehow finds another vaudeville slapstick angle to build on its constantly accumulating mix of delightfully low-brow mania and intelligent, deliberate pastiche engineering. There are so many incredible physical gags and stunts and creative, animated deaths flying at you a mile a minute (amongst all the other visual density on display, from the stark, grainy b&w artificial grading choices to the goofy tangible puppet/prop work) I'm not sure it's even possible to catalog them all in a review.

But I will say this: the expressionist beaver courtroom drama (featuring the beaver versions of a judge, jury, southern bow-tied prosecutor shouting "j'accuse!" and Sherlock Holmes all making the case that the fun we've had throughout with the fur trapper's video game progression via Rube Goldberg cartoon murder contraptions is a case of horrifyingly skilled serial murder) that turns into that violent cabin brawl escape is likely the greatest stretch of moviemaking I saw this year. It's straight-up gruesome, hilarious and kinetic Hong Kong shit with dudes in giant beaver mascot costumes getting punted, rag-dolled and ripped to shreds. Also, incredible use of the Al Pacino "Hoo-ah!" and Jeremiah Johnson nod.

Full discussion on my podcast SLEAZOIDS.