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Ever since I first saw Edgar Wright’s hilarious zombie comedy, Shaun of the Dead, I’ve been a big fan of horror/comedy mash-ups. Still, it takes a talented director to strike just the right balance between outrageous comedy and cover-your-eyes horror. Few have been truly successful—like Wright or Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer or newcomer Eli Craig, whose backwoods horror/comedy, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, perfectly blends horror and humor with just a touch of heart.
Lovable hillbillies Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) have always dreamed of owning their very own vacation home in the mountains of West Virginia. Now that Tucker has finally saved up enough money to buy a dilapidated mountain getaway, they’re eager to spend some time relaxing, fishing, and drinking plenty of PBR.
On their first night at the cabin, their relaxing fishing expedition is disrupted by a bunch of drunken college kids. Hot blonde Allison (Katrina Bowden) is about to go for a swim when she’s startled by what seems to be a couple of peeping toms. When she slips and hits her head on a rock, Dale comes to her rescue.
Assuming that Tucker and Dale are a couple of in-bred psychopaths, her friends fear that Allison has been kidnapped—so they begin to prepare for the worst.
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is an outrageously hilarious dark comedy of errors. A great, big misunderstanding on the part of a bunch of rich, spoiled college kids who have heard a few too many scary stories and watched movies like Deliverance and Friday the 13th a few too many times quickly turns into a bloody battle for mountain supremacy—in which mild-mannered Tucker and Dale are just a couple of unwitting participants.
Anyone with a dark and twisted sense of humor will appreciate the film’s surprisingly gruesome (and totally accidental) bursts of horror. The writing is remarkably clever—and no matter how outrageous and extreme the situation becomes, it still (in some strange way) makes perfect sense. It makes sense that a bunch of preppy city kids would be wary of (and maybe even frightened by) a couple of country boys in a rundown cabin in the woods. And it makes sense that these clueless kids would fear the worst when they see them dragging their friend into their boat. And the rest? Well, it’s pure over-the-top genius.
Still, it’s the lovable main characters that make Tucker & Dale so much fun to watch. Despite the stereotypes, Tucker and Dale are just a couple of nice guys. Labine’s Dale is a kind-hearted teddy bear who gets nervous around pretty girls (and, well, just about anybody else). And even though Tudyk’s Tucker is more confident (and even bossy), he’s still surprisingly endearing. When the dead bodies start piling up at their feet, Tucker and Dale are honestly perplexed—and just as scared as the preppy campers. And even when the chainsaws are flying and the blood is gushing, they make the film unexpectedly adorable (in an outrageously gruesome kind of way).
Of course, it takes a special sense of humor to laugh until it hurts while characters are dying in horrible ways on-screen. But if you appreciate the hysterical horror of movies like Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, these two lovable hillbillies are guaranteed to become your new best friends.
