What a wonderful, light hearted, enjoyable movie, with a great cast and a great story, you'll find yourself in stitches at the scenarios in this movie. How some the characters end up dying is just priceless, and our Tucker and Dale justifying what is going on as logically as they can. I just loved tucker and dale, the actors are just amazing, and seeing Alan in any project is always a welcome delight. A strong recommendation if your looking for a good flick to check out, get some good popcorn in, sit back and enjoy!
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Clive_W29 March 2021
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Billy_Crash16 January 2012Eli Craig did a masterful job in presenting the best horror comedy since "Suck."
Playing on the tried and true "Flinstones Plot" of miscommunication that may drive some viewers crazy, Craig brings the gore and the humor with great special effects and wonderful acting. Best of all, of course, the story is solid with an interesting and poignant antagonist development that is extremely impressive.
Better still, the laughs aren't cheap and silly.
And if you live in the southern United States and hate how "southern folk", "backwoods families" and "hillbillies" are exploited for horror purposes, you'll love this tremendous twist on such a overused and ill-conceived cliché.
This is one of the greatest horror comedies ever presented on film. -
jeff-coatney9 January 2011I saw the trailer to this film online and it seemed like a funny - yet unsustainable premise. I went to see it with friends anyway and I can't remember laughing so hard at a film in years. This movie takes a promising premise and knocks it out of the park. The cast is superb in this send-up of the psycho in the woods genre and the writing and direction take what I feared was an unsustainable premise and they give it surprising energy and humor. This is not Scary Movie crap. This is inventive and fresh and it has a beautiful heart. Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk are the "Hillbillies" in this hilarious tale of prejudice and paranoia and they deliver performances that are grounded and authentic. Tucker and Dale never become plodding stereotypes of ignorant rednecks. They are portrayed with great wit and dignity and the actors never overreach or retreat into the safety and insecurity of broad camp. The cast trusts the writing and the director and it pays off. The script by Morgan Jurgenson and director Eli Craig is tight, smart and has a wonderful heart. These qualities are given life by an above average cast that includes the lovely Katrina Bowden from NBC's 30 Rock. An especially guilty pleasure is the character of Chad, brilliantly played by Jesse Moss who channels some alternate universe version of a sociopathic Tom Cruise as the lead frat-boy. Eli Craig really guided home a winner with this film. The movie sets a course at the beginning and you know where you're headed in the first five minutes-- but Craig's the captain of the ship and this journey is filled with surprises and wonderfully subtle moments that give the film a fun trajectory and a brisk pace. You breezily travel through a fantastic, hilarious and utterly sublime entertainment. Bravo!
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80sHorror19 November 2011I can't believe that such an amazing film had so little publicity or distribution - I am so excited that it will finally be released! As an avid horror fan, I had no expectations for Tucker and Dale. I basically watch anything and everything, and seeing as this was low-budget with very little publicity, I underestimated this. It has since become one of my favourite movies ever. Alan Tudyk is fantastic as always, and I had never seen Tyler Labine before but he basically steals the show. While the films it's ripping are pretty foul, T+D still manages to have a lot of heart, and Labine's character is so adorable! This does for The Hills Have Eyes what Shaun did for Dawn Of The Dead, while kicking Zombieland in the privates. Unmissable.
This film has instant cult classic written all over it as the standard hillbilly survival horror is turned on its head. Two lovable bumpkins have to fight for their lives when a set of misguided teens think the well meaning duo are out to kill them in Texas Chainsaw / Deliverance style. You can't help but root for the hapless pair but also groan in enjoyable frustration as the teens start to drop dead in lots of extremely gory accidents. A total joy from start to finish. -
brando64715 January 2012Good things come to those who wait, and I've waited for this movie for long enough. I'd wanted to see this movie from the first time I stumbled across the synopsis and learned that Alan Tudyk would be playing one of the title characters. Instant win. I knew there was little chance that this movie would be anything but awesome, and I was proved right when it was released at long last on home video (since I wasn't lucky enough to live in one of the few cities blessed with it's limited release). It's a new spin on the classic horror movie cliché of the deranged hillbillies terrorizing innocent victims in the woods. In this case, Tucker and Dale are a couple of good ol' boys heading out to the West Virginia wilderness to renovate Tucker's new vacation home/cabin in the woods. A handful of college students have also decided to make use of the backwoods for a camping trip, where they mistake the pair of bumbling rednecks as psycho killers. The misunderstanding leads to a series of unfortunate events where the college kids begin accidentally dying off in gruesome fashion, only solidifying their fear in the harmless hillbillies. TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL is equal parts comedy and horror movie in a perfect balance of the two genres from director Eli Craig (who hasn't really got much else under his belt, directing-wise). This movie is guaranteed to achieve cult status once word gets around about how awesome this movie is.
It's such a simple idea that I'm really surprised it hasn't been done before. It's just a simple 180º twist on the sort of horror we've seen in Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE or THE HILLS HAVE EYES. Tucker and Dale are a couple of simpletons played to perfection by Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine. They really just want to enjoy a simple vacation of fishing and renovations when the posse of judgmental college kids led by Chad (with his own dark side) arrive and fudge it all up. Alan Tudyk is awesome in pretty much anything I've seen him in. I honestly can't think of a single instance where his character was a weak spot in any film or TV show. He's given the spotlight as one of the title characters for once, and he makes an excellent redneck. Tucker is the more levelheaded, headstrong leader of the duo who's not really interested in the new arrivals and wishes they'd just have kept to themselves. Dale (Labine) is the socially inept doofus who develops a crush on beautiful Allison after rescuing her from a near drowning and essentially setting off the chain of bloody events. He steps into the hero role as he gradually comes out shell to Allison and stands up against Chad and his crew. Katrina Bowden fulfills her basic obligations as the blossoming love interest Allison, a beautiful girl with a hot cheerleader vibe and a heart of gold who's willing to overlook Tucker and Dale's social status. Of the remaining college crew, the only standout is of course Jesse Moss as Chad. The kid is demented and reeks of cheese, but his campiness suits the tone of the movie so you can't complain.
In my opinion, this is the best horror movie parody since Edgar Wright's SHAUN OF THE DEAD. It succeeds in all the aspects of a good comedy/horror movie that the SCARY MOVIE franchise (primarily any the sequels) fails at. The jokes in the movie are hilarious, thanks for Tudyk and Labine. And the kills in the movie can be just as gruesome as any mainstream horror film; I'd give examples but, as with any horror/slasher movie, I don't really want to spoil any potential kills. Everything in this movie works great with the exception of the third act. After the characters leave the main cabin in the woods location and arrive at the final conflict in a saw mill, it loses some steam. Maybe because it drops the horror parody vibe I'd been enjoying for the previous hour, but the whole end confrontation felt like a misstep. It doesn't exactly ruin the movie, it just didn't feel like it fit for me. As a whole, I really loved this movie and I expect it'll garner a pretty nice following on DVD/Blu-ray. The filmmakers have done an awesome job here and all I ask is that they enjoy the movie's success without tarnishing its awesomeness with an unnecessary sequel. I don't want to see more TUCKER AND DALE hijinks; their battle with evil was cool enough on it's own. -
This is one of those rare examples of a funny horror film that actually is funny. Never got a release here in UK which it should have had and so after really good reviews in the DVD mags here, i rented it.What really made it entertaining for me , a lover of films where teens going to meet their end by nasty guys who live in the woods , is that this film turns the whole idea on it's head by having the backwoods guys being caring and really good, and the teens getting the wrong end of the stick by causing all the deaths due to accidents. The two lead performers bounce off each other beautifully with a cracking good script which for a comic send up is so important.The film looks ace and special effects are above standard. This will become a cult film and for all my 60 years of loving slice and dice movies, i can really say this is really worth your time,watch with some beers and enjoy.
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ianas19 April 2022I missed this movie when it first came out and only recently watched it and boy was it a fun watch.
A horror comedy with the most unlikely heroes Tucker and Dale, two likable hillbillies who without trying are the cause of death of a bunch of priveliged unlikable college kids.
This movie is a must in these days. -
hitchcockthelegend31 October 2011Tucker & Dale vs Evil is directed by Eli Craig who also co-writes the screenplay with Morgan Jurgenson. It stars Alan Tudyk, Tyler Labine, Katrina Bowden and Jesse Moss. Music is by Michael Shields and Andrew Kaiser and cinematography by David Geddes. Plot has Tudyk and Labine as two harmless mountain/country men who head to their newly acquired vacation home in the woods to fix it up and get some R & R. But after a misunderstanding at a roadside store with some college kids, who think Tucker & Dale are hillbilly psychopaths, the wheels are set in motion for a bloody battle for survival, but who for?!
In 1996 Scream came slashing forward to inject witty life into a fading horror genre, with freshness and inventive splinters from the slasher formula, Wes Craven's movie rocked the horror faithful's world. Tucker & Dale vs Evil will not have the same impact, its limited release and low budget worth ensured it never had a chance of being a big thing, but still it's the freshest horror/comedy to have come out since Scream made its bloody bow at the box office.
It's such a simple idea at the core, you have to wonder why it wasn't thought of before? Craig and Jurgenson have flipped the age old Hillbilly Killers vs Preppy College Kids idea on its head, and in the process smothered it gleefully with dark humour, laugh out loud moments and inventive deaths. There's also some social comedy nestled nicely in the narrative, big points about first impressions and ideas of stereotypes, and hell yes! There's even an opposites attract arc - though that admittedly helps to bog the picture down as the central joke premise runs out of steam towards the end. In fact were it not for a relatively sloppy finale, this would surely be falling into sub-genre classic status. Thankfully all that comes before it is so full of vim and vigour, blood and bluff and fun and frolics, it's not hard to forgive the debut director his one misstep.
The neat trick is having the film unfold from the Hillbillies viewpoint, where the carnage that unspools gets increasingly difficult for them to explain, this in spite of their innocence. Each death is logical to the college kids who go on the attack when one of their number, they think, is kidnapped. And it's logical to us the audience as well, were it not for us being privy to these wonderfully funny sequence of events, we too would have them hung, drawn and quartered after a guilty verdict was reached in 10 seconds. This is the ultimate horror/comedy flip-flop movie. So many funny sequences light up the picture, with a chainsaw scene one of the finest moments to have ever graced a horror comedy movie, but the dialogue, too, is not found wanting in the fun and charming department. Cast are on top form, with Tudyk & Labine a most agreeable double act, where their comedy timing is impeccable, and Bowden & Moss are more than just pretty faces.
Craig (Sally Field's son) has started with a bang, if he can top this then he is a name to really get excited about. If he can't top it? Well he will at least always have one of the best horror comedy movies on his CV. Yes it's that good, fans of Scream, Severance, Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland should seek it out post haste. 8.5/10 -
reddiemurf8127 December 2021Lol!! This is just too good!! What starts off as a camping trip for some college kids turns into the weirdest, most unlikely chain of events that results in most of the kids dying in the most crazy, hilarious ways! To quote the movie,, "do any of your friends take medication? Cause,, I think they forgot to take it."
Allison and her friends are taking time off from their crazy college schedules to go camping.
Tucker and Dale (2 hillbilly, good ole boys) are spending the weekend working on restoring the old cabin that Tucker just bought.
Allison falls off a boulder into the lake, knocking herself out in the process. Tucker n Dale are close by in their boat, so they rescue her from drowning,, but from Allison's friends vantage point,, it looks like the hillbillies are abducting their friend,,, and then the hilarity and devestation begins.
This is a black comedy,, but it's so freakin' good that everyone should see it! Lol!! -
bill-kercher14 February 2011I did not have many expectations when I sat through this gem of a movie. This movie takes the horror/comedy genre to new levels. The plot is fairly simple, Lots of misunderstood situations that take place between Dale and Tucker and their fix-ur-upper vacation home, and some overly critical, unstable college kids. Very original script, good acting (Tucker and Dale are fantastic), and clever direction. How can a brilliant movie like this not make it to the big screen, yet movies like Season of the witch, Skyline, and Gulliver's Travels do. If you want to laugh till milk shoots out your nose, watch this movie. Should be on everyone's must-see list.
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Roddenhyzer3 March 2011Let me just say that I am not a huge fan of horror comedies that rely purely on self-awareness, pop culture references and the ironic use of established genre clichés. There are a few good ones, like "There's Nothing Out There", "Behind the Mask", or Craven's "Scream", but most of them are so obsessed with self-irony that it becomes obnoxious and trite. For this reason, I did not expect "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" to entertain me even one bit. Well, long story short, I was ashamedly mistaken, because underneath all the genre parody and tongue-in-cheekness of this movie lies a genuinely creative premise, namely that of an "accidental" slasher in the woods, which lends itself to a few beautifully absurd and absolutely hilarious, darkly comedic situations.
Aside from the basic idea, another element I liked were the rather atypical protagonists. Normally, writers aim for identifiability with their characters, which I assume is why so many horror comedies feature the same selection of cookie cutter college kids, or sarcastic, working class slackers. Tucker and Dale, as a pair of good-natured, slightly naive hillbillies, were quite refreshing in this regard.
There are a few things I didn't like, though. Towards the end, for example, there's kind of a typical horror movie twist/reveal regarding one of the college kids, which I thought was neither necessary, nor all that clever. From this point onward, the movie changes gears from absurd humor to somewhat bland action. It's still watchable, but the showdown certainly sticks out as the weakest part of the movie.
In closing, "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" was a big surprise for me. It successfully dodged many of the pitfalls of modern horror comedies, did *not* try to be yet another "Shaun of the Dead" clone, and, for the most part, managed to walk the fine line between mere references and genuinely clever, situational comedy. -
CostanzaDB27 May 2010Really entertaining twist on 'teens in the woods' horror flicks. Lots of laughs and buckets of blood. The actors playing Tucker and Dale are very compelling and believable. Their charm really makes the film and you care about their story.
The movie is basically a farce or a comedy of errors with each error resulting in a gruesome death. While the manner of the deaths is so over the top as to be funny, the biggest laughs come from the dialog. "Tucker and Dale vs Evil" excels at both physical comedy (the chainsaw scene for example) and verbal (explaining the situation to the police).
Great movie.
This film had a tremendous audience reaction at the Seattle International Film Festival. There's a laugh every minute. -
samuraifa4511 January 2012Just when horror looks like it's gone completely stale, movies like "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" come out proving there's still more that can be done with the genre. Tucker and Dale are just two country boys who want to live out their dream to own a vacation home. Meanwhile, a group of college kids accidentally mistake them for being hostile which leads to unfortunate results. "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" may sound familiar but ultimately it's not. Instead of being a straight-up slasher flick, the film decides to be bold and through slapstick comedy into the killing which works surprisingly well. The majority of them are foreshadowed, but still never fail to achieve hilarity. Make no mistake "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" isn't the smartest movie on the block but it still packs more originality than most horror movies and more laughs than most comedies out right now.
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tr917 October 2013I have just seen this film and it feels like I've watched something completely different to everyone else. It isn't even that funny, some moments will make you smile to yourself but I didn't find myself laughing out loud at all.
The plot for this film did sound like a good idea but it was poorly executed. The film is predictable and just pretty stupid in general. The way some of the people die is mildly amusing due to the fact that it is so over the top to be scary despite all the blood, but again it is predictable. It was obvious which is why I didn't find it that funny, there was no surprise factor.
The cast blew hot and cold for me. Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) both done a very good job. They were likable characters, especially Dale, and the silly conversations they had together were probably the scenes I enjoyed the most. Katrina Bowden also adds some charm but the rest of the cast were pretty dull.
Overall I was disappointed, it may be worth a one time watch but to call it 'one of the funniest movies ever' is well over the top. Very few laughs and predictable all the way through. Wouldn't recommend.
5/10.
Watched the trailer again, all the best bits are in there. Just watch that, it's better than the actual film. -
UncleTantra17 February 2011Anyone who is a fan of the horror genre will want to add this to their Netflix queue, or better, see it in a theater, because laughter shared is better than laughing alone. "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" does for the Hillbilly slasher/chainsaw massacre genre exactly what "Evil Dead 2" did for the demon possession genre and what "Shaun Of The Dead" did for zombies. It takes the well-worn, done-hundreds-of-times conventions of horror movies and turns them into side-splitting (as opposed to skull-splitting) humor.
The basic plot is that Tucker (Alan Tudyk, who played Wash in "Firefly" and "Serenity") and Dale (Tyler Labine, whose work I don't know but will look into) are two not-completely-bright but sweet Virginia hillbillies looking forward to a vacation in their "fixer upper" cabin in the woods, and there kicking back and doing nothing more stimulating than fishing and drinking beer. To their dismay, a group of spoiled, Preppie college students decide to camp next door to their cabin. The students get it into their heads that Tucker & Dale are deranged, chainsaw-wielding serial killers, and react accordingly.
The movie actually has a lot to say about stereotypes, and how people project onto others those stereotypes, and their own inner "dark sides." It's also at times hilariously funny, including an homage to the "Groovy" scene from "Evil Dead 2" (the corresponding great one-liner from this film is "Bring it, frat bitch"). There is definitely blood and gore involved, but...uh...funny blood and gore, if you're into that sorta thing. This is really a surprisingly good movie. I am already salivating at the thought of a sequel. -
ipredictchaos27 August 2010I've just seen this movie at the Fantasy Filmfest in Berlin and was totally surprised of the high quality. I thought this would be "just another" horror comedy you would forget instantly after leaving the cinema, but with the fantastic acting of Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine, the funny story and great effects, it works as well with the backwood slasher genre as "Shaun of the Dead" did with zombies. The crowd in the cinema went totally crazy about this film, they applauded and cheered throughout the film and after the first positive reviews by bloggers the screenings in Munich for example were sold out in just three hours after starting the pre-selling. Totally recommendable, and I really hopes this movie makes it to the cinemas worldwide.
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chaos-rampant2 January 2012What if you showed a backwoods-horror movie where city slickers take a wrong turn from the hillbillies point of view? What if they turned out to be basically decent folks who just wanted to go fishing at their vacation home? And, finally, what if it was the hillbillies who had to fend off against a murderous psychopath and got to take the pretty girl home?
But of course make it so that our surrogate watchers, a bunch of college kids out in the woods, should presume to know that hillbillies are a bunch of violent inbreds because they're familiar with the same movie lore we are, say Deliverance onwards. Make it so that a man with a chainsaw whizzing above his head recasts the most epochal scene from Texas Chainsaw as accident. Our enjoyment is that we're always placed a little closer, watching for a little longer, to know that there is no horror movie outside what is being imagined.
So there you have it; a Two-Thousand Maniacs with misunderstood maniacs. It's a clever idea, and new as far as I know in this field.
Now if horror is generally looked down upon, even in cases of solid craftsmanship, I wager it's for how it posits a battle with evil in absolute terms. We know that life is more a complex struggle than Hammer served us. Every horror film that matters has innovated by placing us one step closer to where real horror is assembled. Vampyr posited that it happened because we wanted to. Psycho moved the monster from the swamps to next door, and that was important enough at the time. Night of the Living Dead posited an entire world of insensate havoc but with no malice in the instinctive drive. The Tenant and later Videdrome transferred every visible distortion back in the retina of the mind's eye. In Possession, horror was the visual representation turned inside out from tortured soul.
This is just as good in this way. There is no evil outside a series of unfortunate events, we come to understand. There is only circumstance and our built-in notions of what any set of circumstances ought to mean. With film having saturated so deeply the world we know, in a lot of these cases what we claim to know we know from movies.
Our loss is that the idea must have seemed so striking and novel to whoever was approached to fund, that the project was rushed ahead before there was a chance to iron it out. So the first joke, a great joke, is played over and over again and wears itself thin. The finale resolves with just sparks flying from a chainsaw fight.
The extra layer that was probably tucked in at the last moment, is that the massacre backstory that we understood was just a campfire tale improvised on the spot, and was generic like a Wrong Turn sequel, is supposed to be culled from real life. So there was truth behind the legend, mangled many times over in the telling, that powers the chain of events to replicate it.
It makes sense then that one part of the movie, where evil is imagined, always plays out like a movie. Every time he appears on screen, he swirls everything into the narrative he was taught to have sprung from. It's pretty nifty. -
BandSAboutMovies9 March 2019Ucker and Dale vs. Evil plays with the conventions of the slasher and redneck film to great comedic effect. It's written and directed by Eli Craig, who started as an actor (he's in The Rage: Carrie 2) before creating this movie.
Allison (Katrina Bowden, Cerie from TV's 30 Rock), Chad, Chloe, Chuck, Jason, Naomi, Todd, Mitch and Mike are on their way to a camping weekend in West Virginia. While buying beer at a gas station, they meet Tucker and Dale (Alan Tudyk from Firefly and Tyler Labine from TV's Reaper), two well-meaning rednecks who have just achieved a major life goal by buying a vacation home.
Tucker tries to talk to Allison, but he's awkward and ends up frightening everyone. Obviously, they've already judged everyone they're going to meet in the country. On the way to their cabin, Tucker and Dale are pulled over by the sheriff, who warns them about how dangerous the woods are.
While the college kids are in the woods, Chad tells them all about the Memorial Day Massacre, an attack by hillbillies that happened twenty years ago. Following the slasher movie conventions, the kids ho skinny dipping but instead of being killed, Allison slips and hits her head. As Tucker and Dale are fishing nearby, they see this and save her life. But to everyone else, it looks like they kidnapped her.
Everything from here on out is all about perceptions and misunderstandings. Only Allison is able to see Tucker and Dale for what they are, truly nice guys who just live somewhere different than them. Of course, these kids are morons and they end up impaling themselves on trees and getting themselves killed, which only puts more blame on our heroes.
It turns out that Chad's mother was the lone survivor of the Memorial Day Massacre, which means that when he goes crazy, he sees killing Tucker and Dale as the perfect revenge. And because Allison earlier turned down his advances, he thinks that her being friends with the duo is a form of Stockholm Syndrome. Even worse, it turns out that all the clippings in the house and the sawmill reveal that Chad's father - and not any hillbillies - was the actual murderer behind those killings twenty years ago.
Will Tucker and Allison survive and go out on a date? Will Dale ever bowl again after Chad cuts off his fingers? Or will Chad kill off everyone? These questions will all be answered when you watch Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.
I really enjoyed this movie. It doesn't take anything seriously and is more fun the more you love the movies that inspired it. There have been discussions of a sequel, which I would love to see. -
paul_haakonsen31 July 2011Holy... This movie was just phenomenal. I thought I was in for a comedy, but "Tucker & Dale vs Evil" was more than just your average comedy. This movie definitely have potential to become a cult classic. You take a pinch of classic mid-80's horror movie, throw in a dash of dark, twisted comedy, and top it off with wonderful characters, and voilà, you have "Tucker & Dale vs Evil".
The story is very good and interesting. You have two "hill billies", pardon my expression, but it is what they are called in the movie, Tucker and Dale who are heading into the woods to fix up their newly bought cabin. Then you have a group of college teenagers out in the woods partying and drinking (fairly typical 80's theme right there). Then with the turns of events the groups run into one another. The teenagers thinking that Dale and Tucker are hill billy killers, while Dale and Tucker only want to get Allison back to them. And from there on, things escalate and become hilarious.
"Tucker & Dale vs Evil" have just the right amount of gore, blood, sick comedy and funny situations in it to make it all work so well. I was thoroughly entertained from beginning till end. And I must say that this movie is way up there on my list of favorite movies. The way that the people die in the movie is off the charts. I loved those scenes, especially because their deaths were usually self-inflicted, which just added to the absurdity of the movie plot.
The cast in the movie was great, especially Dale (played by Tyler Labine) and Tucker (played by Alan Tudyk) were phenomenal. They really brought so much chemistry to the characters and made it an unforgettable movie.
If you haven't already seen "Tucker & Dale vs Evil", then get in gear and do so, because this movie is definitely one you don't want to miss out on. Once in awhile you just stumble upon a cult classic by accident or sheer luck, "Tucker & Dale vs Evil" is one of those movies. -
gavin694228 March 2011Two friends buy a vacation home together, which is a cabin in the woods. A series of misunderstandings follow, leading a group of college kids to accuse them of being deranged serial killers. What ensues is both hilarious and gory...
Let me first point out the great cast: Tyler Labine as Dale, Alan Tudyk ("Dodgeball" and "Knight's Tale") as Tucker. A sexy newcomer named Katrina Bowden as Allison, and Jesse Moss ("Dear Mr. Gacy") as Chad. The rest of the cast is also great, but these key roles made the whole thing perfect and the comedy a smash.
My girlfriend and I saw this at HorrorHound Weekend in Indianapolis, and we loved it. I would say she loved it even more than me, with it keeping her laughing the whole time. That, and she loves wood chippers. Yes, there is a wood chipper, and yes, it does get used. That alone should make you want to see it!
The version we saw was a work print, so not all the special effects were in place yet. But the humor is what carries the film -- the whole idea of college kids being the heroes and hillbillies being cannibals... it is taken here and twisted, with no real bad guys at all. (The title is somewhat misleading... at no point did the guys fight "evil".)
I wish I could write a better review, but I could only do that if I pointed out flaws, and there just are not any I can think of. It was well-paced, funny, bloody, sexy (though there is never any nudity) and somewhat charming. This is really a horror-comedy that I think everyone can get behind. -
travelgirl92411 April 2010An excellent comedy with terrific horror elements, this was a crowd- pleaser tonight at DIFF, here in Dallas. This is what writing is all about, old-school, when writing actually mattered, over special effects. And there are plenty of those. It is rare that I actually praise an American film, only because we no longer care about writing. It's all about star power without chemistry or talent behind the scenes, just what might make a buck. And, clearly, even clear results do not stop "the machine" from producing utter crud. Relativity Media has bought this gem, but apparently has refused to market it ala Bounty Hunter. This is such a funny film that fits into Bromance, Comedy, Horror, maybe even Indie. Did I mention there's chemistry? Talent? Yup. All there. So, get on it, Relativity! This could be incredibly profitable. Wish my blog had more power to get the word out there. Hope this does the trick.
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I'm not really a fan of the horror genre. Mostly, I feel the plots are contrived, the characters are downright idiotic, and the violence is over-the-top. Of course, when I heard about Tucker and Dale vs. Evil years ago, I said, "pass." The friend who suggested I see it assured me that it wasn't like all the other horror films. The fact is, it is exactly like all the other horror films, but it is self-aware of this fact. Because the film is self-aware, it recognizes every single horror genre trope and makes fun of it.
As time went by, more people suggested I see this film, so I finally caved during a slow weekend at home. Being the self-aware film that it is, the plot is simple and the production values are limited, at best. What really makes the film enjoyable to watch is the fact that the whole premise is practically a "comedy of errors." Lack of communication just adds to the hilarity as a bunch of cliché college students find themselves killed off one-by-one by their own bad luck. If I were to compare this to another, well-known horror franchise, this film has the setting of The Evil Dead (1981) with the comedy of Army of Darkness (1992).
Unfortunately, because it holds to the tropes of the horror genre, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil doesn't have much to offer other than a funny commentary on the horror genre as a whole. The independent nature of the project and limited budget really show through, even if the comedy is spot on. The main characters of Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) are worth the watch, regardless.
An amusing examination of the ridiculous nature of horror films, I give Tucker and Dale vs. Evil 3.0 stars out of 5. -
iggzy11 April 2010So I was lucky enough to get to see this as my first movie at my first festival ever, the Dallas International Film Festival(DIFF) Honestly, this movie was a genius comedy, parodying classic horror to levels that could be considered even better then the likes of Shaun of the Dead.
Truly it is a perfect Indie movie, and the fact that it is only on the festival circuit is a shame. It has the celebrity power of Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine leading the film in a comic tour de force as well as quite a few lesser known young actors acting opposite. Also, the direction of the new, but highly committed director Eli Craig shines as he directs the film he co-wrote and has been trying to get made for 4 years, and that love of the material shines.
The humor and jokes just play beautifully with how the characters are made and the deaths always pay off. I was lucky enough to get a Q & A with Craig as well as meet with him afterwords and gain further insight into this movie that I already very much loved. He stated how some of he always saw this film as a comedy, not a horror film or even a parody of horror films, and as such one thing the big studios that wouldn't produce it had a problem with was the humor in the deaths. The fact however is that the way they are produced in the scenes and how the actors react just make each scene perfect.
In truth, this film fully deserves a nationwide release. It will likely still gain this Cult Classic level with that as it fits into the mold perfectly just as the likes of Shaun of the Dead did. It would be a shame for this film to end up like Boondock Saints and having to rely on DVD to get around and known as it is just what the movie industry needs. -
Superunknovvn27 September 2010I saw "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" at the new Viennese /slash Filmfestival that is dedicated to all things horror, sci-fi and fantasy. I walked into the movie knowing nothing about it, having read no reviews and thus not expecting too much. What followed completely took me by surprise.
The movie plays on the clichéd plot of a group of college kids going camping in the woods and then being killed off one by one by deranged hillbillies - only this time the hillbillies are completely innocent, good-natured people and all the bloody killings that ensue are just unlucky accidents.
What sounds like an amusing idea that's most likely to become a joke that well-overstays its welcome for 90 minutes, was turned into an uplifting movie that's genuinely funny from the first minute to the last. Mostly, that's thanks to the great cast: From the wonderful team of Tyler Labine (Dale) and Alan Tudyk (Tucker) all the way to the hero-turned-villain played Jesse Moss these actors have a great chemistry together and perfect comedic timing. The jokes are silly, but never primitive, the splatter is right on time and funny. (Just do yourself a favor and don't spoil it for yourself by watching the trailer.) What's best of all is that this isn't just a parody of any particular horror movie, but a standalone comedy that works without the usual nods and homages to well-known classic.
I really hope "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" will get the exposure it deserves in the coming months. It's sure to become a cult classic and will most definitely be compared to horror comedies like "Shaun Of The Dead". Go see it, if you get a chance. -
Roman-Thaler22 February 2012So, usually my personal opinion coincides with the User Rating on IMDb, but this time i really have to disagree. It's somehow a mystery to me, how nearly everybody says this was a great flick with good laughs.
Of course, it is meant to be a parody, but the events and actions occurring in the movie were just too unbelievable and ridiculous too feel comfortable whilst watching. Nearly nothing in this film could ever happen like that in real life, it was just too absurd. It's like you are watching it and got to say repeatedly "Oh yea, of course", "Oh come on". Like in a bad cliché action movie. Or in other words, if there were any laughs, they would have rather been due to the stupidity of the movie. I didn't see the great and original "funniness", that so many others may have seen. It was rather dull to me.
The same goes for the characters. How can I like them, when they act completely strange and unbelievable? I couldn't identify with any a little bit. I can't like characters who doesn't seem human to me. Of course the characters show human qualities, which are even pointed out in the movie, but in the whole they were pretty awkward, unbelievable and strangely acting. I felt so uncomfortable with them. "ARENT YOU HUMAN PEOPLE? WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS??", thats what was on my mind. And that's true for all of the characters occurring in the movie.
On top of that, the movie was predictable as hell. The events weren't surprising, nor excited nor anything. Just waited for them too occur like i had been expecting them. There was nothing special about it, expect the thing that, like i had already said a hundred times, the scenes were completely unbelievable. It was just somehow boring.
It were just those things that ruined the movie for me. The actors themselves didn't do a bad job, especially the main actors played their awkward roles relatively satisfying. I also liked the idea behind the movie and it definitely had some potential, which sadly wasn't used. For that:
5 out of 10.