"Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" is a willfully ridiculous, ridiculously
bloody, balls-out and slightly touching film that allows the hillbillies
to be the heroes for a change.Tucker and Dale, far from the chainsaw-wielding, pig-raping rednecks we have come to expect from horror movies and West Virginia jokes, are just trying to have a nice time at their vacation home when out of the blue come a group of college kids who also want to have a nice time... but quickly become an incompetent lynch-mob over a series of misunderstandings.
The progression of the plot is super simple -- somehow, under various circumstances, these doltheads keep killing themselves all around Tucker and Dale's vacation home. Meanwhile, lovelorn Dale (Tyler Labine) harbors a crush on one of the college girls (Katrina Bowden,) while Dale (Firefly's Alan Tudyk) encourages him to believe in himself.
What really matters here are the jokes, delivered steadily and evoking a lot of laughs. The dialogue is one of the funniest in recent indie horror-comedies. The kills are brilliant in their own way, straining credulity to the extreme while still remaining hilarious and entertaining.
I don't know how they did it, but I actually found the romance between bearish, backwoods boy Dale and slim, blonde college student Alison (Bowden) to be believable in the context of the movie. Anyway, it's no less plausible than the college students somehow killing themselves, whether by fire, woodchipper (shades of "Fargo") or tree branch (WTF?!)
"Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" has a big, warm, squishy heart at the middle of it, for all its guts and gore. It also provides a valuable message about not making snap judgements about people, without making the audience slog through the after-school special shit.
Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine give hilarious performances as the two harmless hillbillies at the center of the story, while Katrina Bowden is fittingly likable as the college girl that Dale falls head over heels for. The ending gets a little overly silly, but the movie will have won your heart long beforehand. "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" is a awesome entry into the horror/comedy genre.
Fantastic film. Completely agree with you when you say it's got a big heart at the centre of it. Definitely does.
ReplyDeleteThe wood chipper death might just be my favourite. Oh and the scene with the bees. HILARIOUS!
I can't believe more people haven't seen this. This is such an original horror comedy. I'm surprised it hasn't been done before. Agree with you about the praise for its dialogue
ReplyDeleteOh, this is such a funny movie. Loved the chemistry between Tudyk and Labine, along with Cabin in the Woods and Slither this is one of my favorite absurd horror comedies.
ReplyDeleteI kept seeing this on Netflix Instant and thinking it wasn't my kind of movie, but then someone told me how funny it was and finally I tried it. I'm glad I did. Since then, which has been over a year, I think, I've been telling everyone about it every chance I get (well, not every chance but you know what I mean). One of my favorite instant cult classics.
ReplyDeleteThis film is hilarious! More people need to watch it.
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