Tucker & Dale vs Evil
Wild, irreverent and downright bloody hysterical, Tucker & Dale vs Evil is an example of horror comedy done right. The Canadian film, written and directed by Eli Craig, contains huge laughs to go with the ample gore. It also carries a message, one that speaks to how we communicate and how our biases can create illusions out of even the simplest situations.
Much of what drives Tucker & Dale vs Evil is the undoing of the hillbilly horror meme. With so many horror flicks featuring rednecks and other ostensibly grubby characters roaming the deep dark woods looking for fresh teenage flesh, Craig’s picture satisfyingly flips the notion on its head and kicks it in the throat.
The film opens with a stereotypical group of college kids, the kind of college kids that would get mauled by some sort of lumbering monster were this a normal horror movie. The kids come across Dale (Tyler Labine) and Tucker (Alan Tudyk), a couple of lovable redneck lugs on their way to their “vacation home.” Dale is quite taken with one of the kids, Allison (Katrina Bowden), but his shyness turns an encounter into an awkward moment that Allison’s pals completely misinterpret.
In the woods, the kids start to rile themselves up with tales of terror. Dale and Tucker, meanwhile, are doing a little fishing. When they spook Allison and she falls in the lake, the pair tries to help her and winds up scaring the daylights out of her friends – again. This series of misinterpreted events escalates as the college kids try to get Allison back (they believe she’s been kidnapped) and attempt to tackle the “Evil” that is Dale and Tucker.
Good comedy often generates from misunderstandings, but rarely have misunderstandings so quickly gotten out of hand. Every party in the movie has a point of view, with Dale and Tucker believing, to their confusion and shock, that a gaggle of college kids has arrived on their property to kill themselves. The kids, led by a particularly devious little punk (Jesse Moss), believe that Dale and Tucker are after them.
The scenes that lead to the confusion have an almost Looney Tunes quality to them, with one poor sap seemingly leaping into a woodchipper and another, under the impression that Tucker is chasing him with a chainsaw, impaling himself. These deadly misunderstandings are shocking and hilarious as expressions of how fear and ignorance can lead down some truly terrible paths.
Tudyk and Labine do a marvellous job here. They bring an instant likeability to the characters and I can see many more movies involving Dale and Tucker hitting theatres. They are strong characters and they don’t fit the stereotypes. They aren’t parodies, either, and have richly engaging personalities that even generate some emotion. To see two men care about each other so deeply as friends without some sort of “catch” is something special.
What makes Tucker & Dale vs Evil work particularly well is the fact that it cares about its characters. Dale and Tucker truly don’t want to hurt anyone, but they’re having a lot of trouble with what’s going on around them. As the college kids become more aggressive in their ignorance, Dale and Tucker soon have no other recourse. And even in the penultimate moment, the pair only really wants to run away.
Tucker & Dale vs Evil is a fantastic film. It is funny and surprisingly touching, especially toward the end. It doesn’t fall into conventional territory often and packs plenty of surprises. When it does lean on clichés, it means to and does so with a grin. The characters are awesome, too, and the mesh of horror and comedy really works thanks to Craig’s dedication to the project.
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