"This vacation sucks"
Ever seen a horror movie with hillbillies in it? They're usually psychotic chainsaw-swinging inbred cannibal psychos who like to murder anyone who happens to drive by.
But don't expect any of THAT to actually appear in "Tucker & Dale Vs Evil," a clever black comedy that asks, "What if the HILLBILLIES were the innocent victims of the doomed college kids?" Tropes are inverted (or lampshaded), there's gore aplenty, and Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine make endearingly rough-hewn heroes.
West Virginia hillbillies Dale (Labine) and Tucker (Tudyk) have just bought a dilapidated little house out by a remote lake, and plan to spend some time fishing and drinking beer. They also end up rescuing Allison (Katrina Bowden), a college student who hit her head while swimming, and she soon finds that these seemingly terrifying hillbillies are actually kind, gentle and sometimes quite smart.
Unfortunately, Allison's friends get the wrong idea, and think that she's being...
Director Eli Craig must have a PhD in Sam Raimiology!
The set up is a lot like the recent installments of the Texas Chainsaw and Hills Have Eyes franchises or Wrong Turn. A group of college kids go camping in the woods. They're unnerved by the backwoods, hillbilly-chic locals. And, naturally, they suspect the worst of them. Perhaps for the first time in horror movie history, these kids assumptions were wrong.
Tucker (Alan Tudyk; A Knight's Tale, 28 Days) and Dale (Tyler Labine; Rise of the Planet of the Apes, TV's Mad Love) are two loveable, kind-intentioned idiots on a bro-mantic fishing trip. Their interactions with the campers are misconstrued such that they appear to have performed malevolent deeds. After nearly drowning, Tucker and Dale save Ally (Katrina Bowden; Piranha 3D, 30 Rock) of the girls. But when they pull her into their boat and yell "we have your friend" to the others, it is perceived that they "took" her and then cruelly goaded them. Naturally, when Ally regains consciousness, she thinks she's been...
Brilliant Satire
Very infrequently do you see a movie that blends its satired source with comedy as well as Tucker & Dale vs. Evil has. When you find yourself laughing out loud as teenagers hurl themselves into wood chippers, impale themselves on tree branches or set one another ablaze you realize that the horror element is vastly outweighed by the ironic humor that the entire piece is littered with.
If you're comfortable with a little blood and a little cursing then this movie will be a surefire winner.
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