Tucker & Dale vs Evil Review

Poor Tucker and Dale.  All these friends wanted to do was go into the mountains and fix up the old cabin that Tucker just bought.  So why can’t all of these suicidal college kids just stay away?  Why do they insist on spilling their blood on Tucker and Dale’s dream?  And, more importantly, what did T&D ever do to make these psychotic kids want to send them to an early grave, too?

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil has a wonderful hook that any fan of horror films will enjoy.  Instead of being the mutated, inbred, psycho country bumpkins that are so prevalent in “hillbilly horror” films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Wrong Turn, and The Hills Have Eyes, these rednecks are just a couple of good-natured good ol’ boys who don’t even enjoy gutting fish, let alone college co-eds.  So when they save a hot, blonde city girl named Allison from drowning, their first instinct is to bring her back to the cabin and look after her while she recovers.  But thanks to growing up on a steady diet of scary movies, her friends assume that T&D are psycho rednecks who are chopping her up in their creepy old shack.  The attempts to rescue her lead to some unfortunate accidents that, when taken out of context, add to the theory that the college kids are up against pure evil in bib overalls and trucker caps.

Although it could be argued that Tucker & Dale is a one-joke movie, writer/director Eli Craig is able to find new ways for that one joke to be told, so it doesn’t grow stale.  It also helps that Craig is obviously well-versed in the genre, as the film is peppered with references to other horror movies, and  hits nearly every trope of hillbilly horror – from the big moments like a victim hiding in the woods while being stalked by the killers, to the little things like someone running out in front of a car to make them stop and help.  It’s fun to spot the cliches and even more fun to see what kind of twist is done to keep them fresh.  And, of course, the accidental deaths in the film are played perfectly.  Even if you’ve seen the promo clips on YouTube, which, sadly, do give away most of the best death scenes, they’re still funny in context.  They’re punchlines, sure, but they come at unexpected times, so they still shock and surprise you.

But that’s not to say the film is perfect.  Whenever college kids aren’t accidentally killing themselves, the movie sometimes has a hard time filling in the gaps, so a few scenes fall flat and others feel a bit repetitive.  But most damaging, is that Tucker and Dale is never actually scary.  You never once believe that the college kids are going to succeed in offing our heroes, because they’re too inept to succeed.  And, sadly, this too-light tone hurts the film to some extent.  Without any tension, there’s never any fear, which is a big part of what makes a horror-comedy work.

To illustrate, take a look at the ultimate “splatstick” film, Evil Dead II.  Although there are a lot of hilarious moments in that film, there are a handful (no pun intended) that are genuinely terrifying or at least unsettling (the laughing deer head comes to mind).  Here, there’s no unease lurking behind our laughs; it’s really just a gory comedy.  This light tone means some scenes don’t have the impact that they could.  For example, Allison convinces Dale and Chad, the main psycho frat boy, to sit down over a cup of tea and talk about what’s bothering them.  Had Chad been built up as even a  remotely scary presence, the scene could have been a cup of tea with Leatherface.  Instead, it plays out more like having tea with the asshole preppy guy that steals John Cusack’s girlfriend in Better Off Dead.  There’s no threat, there’s no tension, and that takes away any of the absurdity of the situation that would have made the scene really work.  This same problem infects the finale, where, once again, you never really believe that anyone’s life is in danger.  Without urgency, you have little to care about, even in a comedy.

As I’m sure was by design, very few of the college kids have any kind of memorable personality whatsoever.  Hell, we don’t even remember some of them are there until we watch them dive head first into a wood chipper.  But that’s how it is with all slasher films — you have to have your nameless victims that are only there to get dismembered.  What otherwise might be a detriment to the film plays perfectly into Craig’s understanding of the genre, so it works.  However, Chad and Allison, the two we get to know best, are both lacking in different ways.  Chad is hammy and annoying, whereas Allison, who should have been a manic pixie dreamgirl that is so unbelievably charming and perfect that every guy in the audience wants to date her, is pretty forgettable.  Thankfully, though, Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine, as Tucker and Dale, are spot-on.  They play these loveable rednecks with such doe-eyed naivete that you’re rooting for them the whole time.  You really couldn’t ask for better performances to anchor the film.

Although it seems like I’m kind of tearing Tucker and Dale vs. Evil down, I really did enjoy it.  The role-reversal hook is pure genius and when it’s the focus, the film runs on all six cylinders.  And even the few knocks against the movie are not enough to sink the whole ship.  Go in thinking of it as a blood-soaked comedy and you’re in for a lot of laughs.

Written by Rob Lammle (@spacemonkeyx)

Rob became a geek at a very young age. Growing up on a farm, with the nearest kid his age living five miles away, Rob had a lot of time to watch movies, read comic books, and play with his Star Wars action figures. He now finds time to write for a few… More »