Movie Review: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010)

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is a clever movie. Even though this had gotten good reviews and it’s a movie I’ve known about for a long time, I put out watching it for so long because I thought it was a sequel. What’s with the title?

I’ve mentioned before on this blog that I’m really sick of self-aware horror comedies. They tend to be more annoying than enlightening, and so few films are able to balance comedy and horror at a reasonable rate. Most lean way too far into comedy, and when the comedy isn’t all that great, the movies don’t have much to offer.

Now this one is definitely more a comedy than a horror movie, but the humor is actually strong. I’m not sure I’d say this movie says anything particularly enlightening about the genre, but it has fun with it, and sometimes that’s all you need.

The plot is about a group of dumb teens who go out to a cabin in the woods to party, while running into two hillbillies, Tucker (Alan Tudyk), and Dale (Tyler Labine), and mistake them for crazy killers when they help Allison (Katrina Bowden) out of the water.

She’s initially scared of them, too, but soon realizes they mean well.

From then on, the rest of the movie is pretty much just Allison’s friends trying to get her back, while running into scenarios that look like they’re out of a horror movie, like when Tucker can’t control the chainsaw he’s using, and ends up running around, screaming.

These incidents get people killed, because of the teens’ stupidity. It’s pretty funny, but it is a one-joke premise.

I certainly would have liked to have seen a lot more variety from this movie, but what it does offer us is pretty good. Tudyk especially shines in his role, and Labine is nearly as good.

Rating: 7/10