Watch: Great Lakes Fur Trade is Saved In Latest Slapstick Film ‘Hundreds of Beavers’

The Great Lakes region is built on a lot of commerce and production. But long before the auto industry, and really before Michigan's statehood, logging and fur trading was the primary source of income for many in the Great Lakes region.

That's the focus of the latest film from the same people who brought us the insane sci-fi film "Lake Michigan Monster." The new film is called "Hundreds of Beavers," and it's incredible.

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You'd think that in 2024, a largely black and white, and silent film wouldn't cut the mustard when going up against major blockbusters like Dune 2. However, Film critics, and lovers of slapstick comedy are loving the latest film from Mike Cheslik.

He's the man behind the sci-fi retro-comedy "Lake Michigan Monster" that came out in 2018. We wrote about it, and some thought it might have been a bit too strange. We agree.

READ MORE: 'Lake Michigan Monster' Movie is an Award-winning, So-Bad-It's-Good Movie Masterpiece

However, his latest film is just as wild, and unpredictable. It's also funny, engaging, and fun from the very beginning to the end.

"Hundreds of Beavers" is set in the 19th century, in and around the Great Lakes Region of the country. The description of the film calls this a "supernatural winter epic," of a drunken applejack salesman who goes from "zero to hero" and becomes North America's greatest fur trapper by defeating... you guessed it... hundreds of beavers.

Now, of course, getting hundreds of actual beavers to cooperate with film making is impossible, so Cheslik used his creative mind and made all "hundreds" of the beavers be men in beaver costumes, as well as several raccoons, foxes, and other woodland creatures.

The film has absolutely NO dialogue, only slapstick humor sounds, and a soundtrack. The occasional grunt, scream, laugh, and beaver noise is heard as well. But already, this unconventional film has garnered 18 film festival wins, including two at the Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival, and the Kansas City Film Fest International competition.

At the moment, the film is still making its rounds in the film festival circuit, but should soon appear in terrestrial theaters, or home streaming platforms "Sometime in April." So be on the lookout for "Hundreds of Beavers."