Tucker and Dale vs Evil has a premise so funny I'm really kinda tempted to recommend it on that alone. There's easily enough here to recommend beyond that but frankly, the filmmakers began with such a clever concept that the rest of the film flows from it. Riffing on cliches that seemingly should have died out after the completion of the rural electrification project but which somehow remain prevalent, it's one of the best horror comedies in some time.

The film opens on a familiar note. A group of college students head into the mountains while the group's ostensible leader Chad (Jesse Moss) tells of a massacre that happened twenty years prior. Then, as if on cue, they encounter two surly, unwashed hillbillies at a gas station. Then, the film immediately jumps to following the hillbillies, our protagonists Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine). They're headed up to the mountains to renovate a creepy cabin that clearly played a role in events 20 years before. They're both highly likeable, beer swilling good ol' boys who frankly reminded me of a lot of people I grew up with. Dale is instantly attracted to one of the students, Allison (Katrina Bowden), but blows his first impression badly. Really badly.

Things get going when Allison injures herself during a late night swim and the hillbillies try to save her. Unfortunately, they're mistaken for kidnappers. The college students decide to attempt a rescue mission. Meanwhile, Allison wakes up and manages to strike up a nice bit of chemistry with Dale. Misunderstandings continue to mount leading to a series of bizarre accidental deaths that make Tucker and Dale look like the crazed serial killers (the actually crazy) Chad thinks they are. At this point, I'll just say things get worse. Then they get much worse. Then there's a sequence involving mediation over tea. Then they get much, much worse.

OK, so this is definitely not the densest plot and really, it doesn't need to be if it's a slasher movie parody. What makes the film work is the execution and the four central performances. Cowriter/director Eli Craig knows his way around rednexploitation movies* and it shows. The film makes great use of the Canadian woods, ably standing in for the Appalachians. It's certainly a pretty gorefest. The film handles its central joke rather well in no small part by not making its heroes morons. These might not be the most educated men but they aren't idiots and they certainly get how utterly insane the central situation is.

The film stands strongest on its four leads. Labine has a genuine warmth to him as the shy, awkward Dale. It's not hard to get behind him. Tudyk delivers another solid performance to add to his long list as the dry, straight shooting Tucker. Bowden brings a nice level of charm to her role and makes the idea of a romance between her and Labine feel plausible. Too bad she's sidelined often in the film as a running gag. Moss has a blast as the uberdouche Chad whose insanity oozes at every moment. Watching him gradually go crazier and crazier while maintaining it's the hillbillies who are psychos is an easy joke but I laughed.

Any flaws? Well, even at 89 minutes it could've lost five minutes and been fine. The ending is a bit overlong. It's also rather predictable. The big twist of the film is extremely easy to see coming.

But this isn't meant to be more than the films it spoofs and that's really why I dug it. It's a fun, goofy little comedy that works far better than the mass released films still dealing in the tropes it dismantles. It's currently in limited release, though someone at Magnolia was clearly thinking since one of the 30 screens it opened on was in Arkansas. Nice call releasing a comedy with appeal to the southern audience in a southern town. Also, it can be seen on Amazon instant video. It's just a ton of fun.

*Craig's mother, Sally Field, was in one of the legendary good ol' boy comedies, Smokey and the Bandit.

YES! Just what everyone else has been saying. Saw it with my family and we all laughed. The set up for the parody of the Leatherface dance a la Texas Chainsaw Massacre leading to the footrace left me breathless. Canadians also can teach the American film industry something about how to do movies.

One thing I neglected to mention and UU gets a bit at in his review is the ending. Yes, it could have lived just as well with the final big explosion. And its addition of an old-fashioned melodrama (complete with the heroine strapped to a board and being inexorably pulled toward a spinning buzzsaw!!) is not a part of the parody of hicksploitation, neither the old 70s ones or the new ones in the 00s. But I still loved it for suddenly making Craig a true villain who wears his evil on his skin like a character out of Dick Tracy's gallery of rogues.

YES! Caught this on Netflix and it was everything I hoped it would be! A very fun romp that's really cleverly plays with some dumb, tired ideas, lots of amusing gore and a surprising amount of sweetness. Like an across the pond Shawn of the Dead/Hot Fuzz with killer rednecks.

Really, really hoping this gets lots of good word of mouth and starts being seen.



I loved the part where he's telling everyone the murder story over the campfire. He takes a hit off a joint...and then immediately takes a huff from his inhaler. Someone about it just screamed "DIIIIIIIIIICK"

He was a great villain! Someone who truly believes right until the very end that he's right. Except that he fills every cliche in the book of a crazy stalker. Just a total douche.

I'm thrilled this is finding an audience. It's so much fun that it must be seen. It's so strongly written (indeed the draft I read survived essentially unchanged) and acted. Glad the sweetness was pointed out. The film really likes its central trio. The way the love story was handled really worked. It should be obvious but if I like the characters I'm watching, I will like the film that they're in. Shaun of the Dead is a strong comparison usually but I think this deserves to be discussed in the same breath.

I love that every time someone tried to take a deep breath, sit down, and actually look at what was going on they almost managed to stop the whole mess in its tracks. Everyone sitting down with a cup of tea and figuring out that things were not actually what they looked like almost kept the third-act bloodbath from happening. Almost. Then someone leads with their gut and more bodies hit the floor.

God, I loved that detail. Unfortunately, the reason I loved it was because I knew someone who did exactly that sort of thing. She chain smoked bong hits and cigarettes between huffs from her inhaler.
But, she was not as much of a douchebag.

Right about the time they had tea, I was worried/pleased that the movie never tried to force the comedy of the accidental deaths and beat it into the ground. But just as soon as I thought that schtick was played, the other college kids arrived and managed to make it funny again. The guy is set on fire and the girl grabs a mason jar of clear liquid.
"You don't want to use that." And the moonshine ignited the guy further.
Then Tucker comments that he probably shouldn't have stacked the gasoline over there....
Great stuff.

I've said this over and over, but Tudyk's "...are you OK?" after the kid has taken an unplanned dive into the woodchipper is the best line of dialogue in 2011. Tudyk has the comic timing of a God.

I was this at Redbox and was tempted to rent it based on the title alone. But I was afraid it was a Larry the Cable Guy movie. I'm no movie snob, but there are some things I'd rather not spend a hard earned dollar on.

Okay, based on your review I will check it out!

Let us know what you thought!

I may watch it over the weekend. I'll post something about it.

I love seeing this film find an audience. It's one that really worked for me and others have only better fleshed out what I love: it's a great script well executed. I'm shocked this sat without a distributor for so long. It's a studio comedy easy except that the characters are a bit smarter.

Considering its is well written, smart AND would have had market appeal to the Larry the Cable Guy crowd, its release history is a HUGE mystery.

Caught this on DVD - Loved it. If I had seen it at the theater, might have been labeled as one of the great films of last year. Laughed all the way through it, found the main characters very sweet and likable, and the whole idea of the movie was brilliant. Just loved every minute of this.

Just saw this today. Damn funny, and I love just how almost everything could have been avoided yet they go ahead.

I don't think it'd be half as funny if the film didn't overemphasize how it could all be avoided. Going with the gf to see Cabin in the Woods. I think I know what the back half of that double feature will be.