Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010)

Tagline: When up against pure evil… just giv’er.

Curiosity: Cuz Scott said so.

Plot: A group of sexy college students is on its way to a sexy vacation out in the woods (Because fuck the beach right in its stupid beach face!) when they run into a couple of creepy rednecks named Dale (Tyler Labine) and Tucker (Alan Tudyk, freakin’ Wash from Firefly). As history has taught us, rednecks are got-damn terrifying. When one of the sexy college students (Katrina Bowden) is an accident, the hicks take her body back to their cabin, much to her friends’ horror. It’s up to the survivors, led by Chad (Jesse Moss) to rescue her and kill these godless murdering mountain men.

Or maybe it’s a case of mistaken identity?

Thoughts: Tucker & Dale vs Evil has heart. A lot of heart. In that sense, it’s kind of like a Canadian cousin to Shaun of the Dead; they’re both horror comedies that remember to be gory as well as funny and sweet. It’s a comedy of errors taken to the extreme. Bolstered by endearing performances from the leads, Tucker & Dale is a really good film.

But it’s not quite a great one, if only because writer/director Eli Craig tips his hand in the titular duo’s favor a little too soon. I would have loved if he played up the “socially awkward rednecks = creepy” angle a little more in the beginning before the body count started building.

Still, Tucker & Dale gets a lot of things right. Like how quickly sexy teens jump ahead to murder in horror movies. What the fuck? It’s also one of the few cult films in recent years to earn its laughs. There once was a time when low budget horror flicks could be unintentionally hilarious. In recent years, though, filmmakers have tried beating viewers to the punchline. These films try to laugh at their terribleness, but it just comes off as forced. Tucker & Dale sidesteps this issue entirely. Much like Wrong Turn 2, it offers strong performances that boost the pathos, a script that’s actually decently mapped out, and a nice smattering of gore. It’s a sweet, bloody film about what happens when people can’t communicate.

Reflection: “Oh hidy ho officer, we’ve had a doozy of a day. There we were minding our own business, just doing chores around the house, when kids started killing themselves all over my property.”