Tucker and Dale vs Evil

Released in 2010 under the direction of Eli Craig with distribution through Magnet Releasing, "Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil" is an independent horror comedy that revolves around the cliched story of a bunch of crazed hillbillies who butcher teenagers out in the woods- eh? What's that? What do you mean the roles are reversed? Um, okay then.

Our two good-hearted hillbillies, the tough-minded but well-meaning Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and surprisingly bright yet shy Dale (Tyler Labine) are going up to the woods to acquire an abandoned cabin and turn it into a summer home. But, coming up to camp in the same woods are a bunch of shallow and judgmental college students who assume these two are sociopaths when one of their dumb friends bumps her head and Tucker and Dale rescue her, they assume she has been captured. The rest of the movie? These dumb teenagers getting themselves violently killed by accident, like one moron just leaping into a woodchopper while Tucker leans over to pick up a branch. The girl they've rescued, Allison (Katrina Bowden) learns that Dale isn't really that crazy as she assumed and he's actually pretty sweet. Also her possible boyfriend (Jesse Moss) just may be a psychopathic douchebag.

The main theme of the movie is assumption and misinterpretation. Since the movie starts with these shallow teens who assume the locals here are psychos, it comes as a bit of a surprise to the very hardened horror audience to find these "hilliebillie psychopaths" are not that at all and all the usual tropes seen in horror movies all happen based on a misunderstanding. Like when Tucker chases after the teens with a chainsaw, in actuality, he was running for his life from the bees he angered while cutting through a tree. Moments like these are not as funny until the teens die horribly and in a hilarious way, to the point Tucker and Dale assume the teens are killing themselves intentionally.

The acting is surprisingly solid for an independent horror comedy, the teens are perfectly shallow and the title characters are surprisingly likable and delivering really funny lines with one another. The gore effects look fantastic, especially for an independent movie, from the bloodied legs of a college student to the burnt face of Brad, the effects are convincing enough to look real but cheap enough to not go overboard. Music is decent enough to be intense and haunting enough to play itself out as a horror film even though it's tongue is firmly in cheek.

Overall, I'm glad HailtotheChimp requested I look at this movie and it saddens me that it took me this long to finally review it. I can see why he praised this movie, there is a level of intelligence to this comedy that is rare as it strives to uphold the conventional horror tropes but at the same time, it chooses to look at it from the perspective of the 'psychopaths' from most horror movies.

Final Rating: 3.5/5