27/40

In this 19th century supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become the greatest fur trapper in North America by defeating hundreds of beavers. The film’s estimated budget was around $150,000. Director Mike Cheslik estimated the mascot costumes cost around $10,000 and the crew purchased all the costumes online. After Watson Beaver “passes out”, his whiskers fall off and land in the snow as he gets up. He puts them back on in the next scene despite walking away without picking them up. Featured on Film Junk Podcast: Episode 940: Immaculate (2024). Jean Kayak and Her Acme Applejack Written and Produced by Wayne Tews Designed and Co-Produced by Karl Landwehr. Now, this is a film I saw at the Nightmares Film Festival. It doesn’t fall into the horror genre, but I still wanted to write a review. I should preface this by saying that this is not a movie I would normally enjoy. Watching it with a crowd as the day approached midnight was a fun experience. The movie theater antics of co-writer/star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, add to the fun. I should also mention that this was the Ohio premiere. For this movie, we have Jean Kayak (Tews) who has an orchid and makes hard apple cider. He is a drunk who just likes to have fun. One day, some beavers come and ruin one of his big barrels that hold the cider. This causes everything to collapse and now it is winter. Jean is not having any luck catching food and is struggling to survive. Jean then gets into the fur trade. He watches a bearded man make a killing. So much so that the guy who runs the place, Doug Mancheski, wants him to marry his daughter who is the furrier, Olivia Graves. Jean has an uphill battle to become a fur trapper and this will bring him face to face with the beavers of the area. They have created an epic dam that has so much more inside it. So, I was a little bit aware of what I was getting here after watching an earlier film by Tews called Lake Michigan Monster. This is in a similar vein. There is CGI and animation for the backgrounds. These techniques are also used with the character movements and just to bring this to life in general. This is very time consuming and I am impressed by that. What helps is that we don’t have a lot of dialogue. This is presented as a silent film at times, we even have credits. It also reminds me of cartoons where our characters didn’t speak. It looks cheap but what goes into it is a lot harder than it looks. By following this idea, they tell a narrative story without using a lot of dialogue. The things we see become repetitive. I will admit, as we got closer to the end, I was exhausted and ready to go home. I don’t want to diminish that though, staying awake the closer we get to midnight is getting harder every day. I have to say though. This movie is made for a movie theater experience or to have people over for a drink and just enjoy the time. I can understand people hating it. I tell you as someone who loves serious and dark movies, this is a palate cleanser that if you let go, it’s a good time. I didn’t even mention that all the animals are just people in costumes. That makes it even better with the antics we’re seeing. If you get a chance to see it in the settings I said, definitely jump on it. My rating: 6 out of 10.

CARRY MAGNET INDIRIN