Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

One of horror cinema's most enduring story templates finds a group of city dwellers stranded out in the wilderness, where they often run afoul of some vicious backwoods folks who want nothing more than to kill them. The plot's been used so many times that it's almost become a cliché. Director Eli Craig understood this - and thought to himself "what would happen if we took this stereotype, flipped it on its ear, and made it funny in the process?" The result is Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil - an entertaining and clever deconstruction of one of the genre's most archetypal tales.

Good ol' boys Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) head out into the woods to spend a weekend fixing up their new "vacation home" (a rather rundown shack in the middle of nowhere). On their way to their new dreamhouse, they encounter some college kids heading out for a weekend of partying in the woods. Dale immediately becomes smitten with Allison (Katrina Bowden), and with Tucker's encouragement, tries to strike up a conversation with her. Unfortunately, Dale approaches the group carrying a scythe, and his nervousness makes him come off as a little creepy. The college kids, having seen their fair share of horror films, immediately start to worry that Tucker and Dale are hillbilly serial killers.

This fear is taken to hilarious extremes when the duo rescues Allison after she nearly drowns. Convinced that Tucker and Dale have kidnapped their friend with nefarious intentions, the bumbling college kids set out to save Allison - but wind up getting killed in hilarious fashion. However, even when the remaining kids find out Tucker and Dale aren't bad guys at all, their leader (who has a hatred of hillbillies in general) is still obsessed with killing our heroes.

Lighthearted and gory good fun, Tucker and Dale is a really inventive idea. The plot isn't particularly groundbreaking, although turning a genre convention on its ear is a nice touch, but the characters are uniformly excellent. Tudyk and Labine have great chemistry and excellent comedic timing. They're a bit of a cinematic odd couple, with Tucker being the smarter and sarcastic half of the team when compared to Dale's naïve and shy personality, but the two feed off of each other in a really humorous way. In a rare move, each character gets some really hilarious moments in the film - it's not skewed to one character alone.

Hilarious moments abound in Tucker and Dale - from kids throwing themselves into woodchippers to Tucker's wild, Leatherface-esque run through the woods with a chainsaw after accidentally sawing into a beehive, there's no shortage of laugh out loud moments in this film. Craig (who co-wrote the screenplay) clearly gets both humor and horror (which are, in my estimation, two of the hardest genres to do well) and Tucker and Dale is a bonafide cult hit because of it.

The film's horror is hardly of the scary variety - and like everything else in Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil, it's mostly played for laughs. The film splatters buckets of blood left and right, but it's done in a way designed to make the audience giggle and cringe rather than reach for a barf bag. It's a lot like Shaun of the Dead in that regard. Yes, there's blood and body parts flying around, but it's all so hilariously absurd that it's hard to imagine anyone being genuinely upset about what's happening on the screen.

While Labine and Tudyk are excellent in their roles, the rest of the cast isn't quite as good. Bowden does the ditzy cute college chick thing well, but her character isn't given much to do other than be a damsel in distress. Meanwhile, Chad (Jesse Moss), Tucker and Dale's nemesis, is a little over the top when it comes to playing the jerky college frat boy. I get that Craig was painting the character in some very broad brush strokes, but with Tucker and Dale so well written (and portrayed), Chad just feels less well conceived. That's not a dealbreaker, because the villain isn't really important in a film like Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil, but it is a little distracting in the film's final act - where Chad gets a lot of screentime.

Don't let those minor complaints turn you off - despite a misstep here and there, Tucker and Dale is still a really good little indie film. Hilarious characters and an absurdly comedic situation make this film one well worth seeing for folks who love a good laugh in their fright flicks. Eli Craig has created two really great characters in Tucker and Dale - now let's hope he can come up with a compelling sequel that finds our new favorite hillbillies once again fighting the forces of darkness.

Recommend this product? Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening