MINI REWIND REVIEW: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

MOVIE
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

CAST
Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk

RATING
R

RELEASE
September 30, 2011

DIRECTOR
Eli Craig

STUDIO
Magnet Releasing (Magnolia)

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 28 minutes






STARS
****










REVIEW:

It has been proven by many that high school/college kids are complete idiots. Not all, but some of them. In horror movies, they always get themselves into some serious trouble involving sex, drugs, and a mass murderer that likes to chop people up like pieces of sushi. The indie film 'Tucker & Dale vs. Evil' plays off of that with comedy, bloody horror, and a surprisingly genuine heart. So eight college kids go to an abandoned forest where two mysterious looking hillbillies are currently residing. After one of the college kids gets hurt from a swimming accident, these two guys take her in. Little does she and her friends know, these two guys, named Tucker and Dale, are really the world's sweetest guys and don't want any harm. The other group members however haven't seen what the hurt member, named Ali, has seen, so they assume that they are rampaging killers. As they try to save their friend, they end up killing each other one by one, and Tucker and Dale are held responsible because of the way they look.

To be fair, I had no idea who Tyler Labine is before seeing this movie. I knew who Alan Tudyk was thanks to a little comedy called 'Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story' because he played Steve the Pirate. Their chemistry in this film is irresistible and great. In some ways they are the perfect yings and yangs, despite them both being idiots of sorts. These are very likeable characters whose misfit ways end up getting the majority of these teenagers killed in the most excruciating of ways. Their comedic timing is perfect, and their reactions to the deaths are priceless. That goes to say, these guys make be the most bumbling characters any American would have seen in 2011. Katrina Bowden is great as the only teenager that sees Tucker and Dale for what they are: likeable idiots. She's trying to save her friends but they are so dumb that they won't even listen. Speaking of the college kids, they are all hilarious in how they react to Tucker and Dale. They all die in the most shocking but humorous of ways, and you laugh nearly every time it happens. If any attractive college actor wanted to mock themselves in a sweet horror film, this is the perfect film to do it in.

If you take away the shocking but hilarious gore and just have the eight college kids with Tucker and Dale, you'd see them being afraid of them because of their looks. Everybody in life makes pre judgments to complete strangers just by looking at them. Looking at the poster of this film, would you see the two hillbillies on there as nice guys? Probably not, but that's where the lesson of the film is: looks can be deceiving, so don't judge a book by its cover. This movie works so well because it has over the top horror/gore, great comedic timing, and two fantastic leads that are as sweet as candy and as bad as ass. First time director Eli Craig has crafted a gem of a movie that deserves to get some views now that it's on Netflix Instant. 2011 brought us some great movies, including the British Sci-Fi horror/comedy 'Attack the Block.' If there was a perfect double that symbolizes the creativity of first time filmmakers in 2011, it's this and 'Block.' This is the type of film that anyone who's scared of horror films would get a nice laugh out of, just like 'Block.' If you're not a fan of gore however, then I can't help you out there at all. Overall 'Tucker & Dale vs. Evil' is short, sweet, gory, and lots of fun. Check it out when you can get the chance, because you won't regret it at all.