Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

By Mr. Tropnevad and Zentilack

Summary

Tucker and Dale are on vacation at their rundown cabin in the mountains where they are trying to have a peaceful vacation of fishing, drinking beer, and fixing the cabin. Their peaceful vacation turns into a nightmare after saving a beautiful college student from drowning in a lake in the woods. Tucker and Dale are accused of kidnapping (and possibly murdering) the girl by her friends and a series of misunderstandings leads to a turn for the worst.


Expectations Going In

Mr. Tropnevad's Thoughts

I heard about this movie last year from critics at SXSW (South by South West) in Austin and all of them loved this movie. A movie podcast that I listen to mentioned it all through last year on how good it was and I started to become interested in it, because I believe I have the same taste in movies as they do. I knew who Alan Tudyk (Tucker) was from his role on Firefly and Serenity, but I had never heard of Tyler Labine (Dale) and I knew who Katrina Bowden (Allison) was from her role on 30 Rock.

Tucker and Dale

I was interested in seeing this because it sounded like a silly slasher spoof that I could laugh at a few times and then forget about. One day I noticed it was on instant Netflix and I put it in my queue and forgot about it. Then a few weeks ago a friend told me that I had to watch it. This guy never watches movies like this so it sparked my interest again and I put it at the top of my list so I would not forget this time. After a year of hearing about this movie off and on my expectations are high.

Zentilack's Thoughts

I had no idea what I was in for with this.  Mr. Tropnevad added it to our films to watch and I figured it was about time for us to do a tandem review again.  So, I watched with no real expectations beyond the fact that a friend of ours liked it, pretty much blind as to what it was about.

Note:  There are spoilers in this review, but we'll inform you before you get to them.

The Bad

Mr. Tropnevad's Thoughts

I have seen far too many horror movies and, since this was a spoof on the slasher genre, I was able to predict how most of the deaths would occur. I think anyone would have been able to guess most of them, too, because of all of the foreshadowing that was done throughout the movie. /*Spoiler. When Tucker and Dale are coming to the cabin you notice they are brining a wood chipper with them. Later on one of the kids tries to attack Tucker lunging at him, missing him and going into it head first. Spoiler.*\

I really dislike preppy college kids and especially ones that act like Chad (Jesse Moss). He does a good job at being the annoying fraternity kid who acts like the alpha male by ordering everyone around. Not to mention he thinks it’s still cool to flip your shirt collar up (Zentilack note: It was never cool to pop your collar). He becomes too overbearing with his need for revenge and I wanted him to die over and over again, but alas he is our antagonist. My biggest problem with the movie was him and his need to be noticed throughout the movie. I get it your crazy and the alpha male of the group. Calm down and realize you will always be a voice actor and you blew your chance at real life acting.

Zentilack's Thoughts

There were one or two minor continuity issues that I noticed.  The thing that bothered me the most was an injury that happens to one of the characters fairly early on (rather, a series of minor injuries to the face).  While this was used to great effect, the injuries seemed to fade awfully quickly.  Trying not to spoil, but even this sort of injury leaves something still visible the next day.

The comedy choices were a bit suspect in places.  An early example (happens about seven minutes in) is when the two protagonists are being pulled over by the sheriff and Dale is trying to clean up the beer Tucker had spilled on himself.  Yeah, they did the "it looks like he's doing something dirty when he's really not" thing.  There really aren't many of these sorts of really cheap joke moments, but they're eye rolling when they appear.

The Good

Mr. Tropnevad's Thoughts

I am not a big fan of parody movies, but this one was amazing. Eli Craig (director and co-writer) knows his genre on the killer hillbilly movie and does an excellent job at turning the tide to make the kids the bad guys instead of the nice hillbillies who just want to relax. Every time I questioned something that was happening in the movie Craig knew how to wrap it up and make the problem make sense.

The two major set pieces look great in this. The shack where Tucker and Dale are living looks like an abandoned shack that has been there for several decades and the rusting old car gives it a nice touch. The old saw mill was a great set piece for the final battle, but it did not look like it was abandoned, because the lock looked brand new and the saw blade did, too, but I can over look that. Overall the designers did a good job on making the sets look scary in the day time.

I thought Tyler Labine was hilarious throughout the film. He does a good job at acting like a bumbling hillbilly. In the very beginning of the movie we find out that he isn’t your average hillbilly because he hates fishing, smarter than you would think, and he is incredibly shy. He does a wonderful job of being the bumbling sidekick to Tucker, but I thought he made the movie. He is constantly causing problems, whether it be the entire reason why Katrina Bowden gets knocked out to Tucker having to go rescue Dale’s dog. He goes from being the likeable sidekick to the hero of the movie.

Alan Tudyk does an excellent job in this. He does a good job of acting like Dale’s mentor by telling Dale how to pick up women to his hilarious accidental killings of some of the college kids. He did a good job of keeping me laughing and keeping me on the edge of my seat. While Dale was usually in the house, Tucker seemed to get into trouble and more than once I was worried that Tucker would die.

Katrina Bowden does a good job as the beautiful blonde girl. She makes you think she is going to be the blonde girl that is annoying in these types of films, but she isn’t. You find out she is a down to earth person thanks to her skills at being a psychology major in the movie. Yet, it is her skills as a psychology major that seems to cause more problems with the college kids later in the movie and gets her and Dale into trouble later on. I have only seen her play the roll of the dumb blonde girl, she seems to have more of a personality in this than she does in 30 Rock. On 30 Rock she is annoying at times but after seeing this movie I wouldn’t mind seeing her in something else. If she is, I hope she puts on more clothes so we can see how she is as an actress and not just a woman to stare at. I don’t mind looking at her but I would like to see her branch out.

I know I said the deaths were predictable, but they are all hilarious. /*Spoiler. My favorite was when Tucker was cutting a log with a chainsaw and he cuts a beehive in half and is attacked by bees. He runs around with the chainsaw like a mad man and sees one of the college kids and runs at him. The kid naturally thinks he is being attacked and runs away. Tucker catches up to him and runs next to him and then passes him. The kid thinks everything is okay and then impales himself on a tree branch while running. *\Spoiler.

Zentilack's Thoughts

Tucker and Dale was sort of a breath of fresh air.  It was great seeing the cliches turned on their head at every turn.  It was actually more fun for me to guess which stereotype they were going to subvert next than to try and figure out how the next death was going to occur.

The college characters are exactly the sort you see in your modern, generic slasher movie.  They are all unlikable toads and hot/stupid girls who the viewer wants to see die by the slasher's hands (with Allison being the only real exception in the long run).  The fun part about it is that nobody is trying to kill any of them!  They take care of that themselves.

I got a real kick at how straight they played the opening scene.  College kids driving out to the woods and almost hit a redneck's truck.  Said rednecks drive up next to them and give them the stare as they pass.  The opening played to a cliche that the viewer is comfortable with, making the first time you see Tucker and Dale interact with each other all the more entertaining.  Also, "Beer" brand beer is always funny.

There's a scene where the college characters are sitting around and one of them tells the story of a massacre that happened in the very same woods 20 years before.  It's shown via flashback and for some reason I was highly amused by how fitting everything seemed.  The clothes everyone was wearing, their hair, even the cassette tape playing "Pump Up the Jam" by Technotronic (a popular song in 1990).   I loved it.

I have to disagree with my compatriot on Chad (Jesse Moss).  I kind of liked him as an antagonist.  Early on he came across as a spoiled rich kid who thought too highly of himself and acted like people owed him something.  Eventually his frat boy shell begins to wear away and he starts to show signs of being a sociopath, thinking nothing of his "friends" or their deaths and seeing the whole battle against the hillbillies as about him.  Does the viewer quickly come to hate him?  Yep, that's his job as antagonist.  Is he a little over the top?  Yes, but I see this movie as much more of a comedy than horror and, to me, it fits just fine.

I really enjoyed the way Tudyk and Labine played off each other as Tucker and Dale.  They weren't just a couple of stupid hillbillies, they were just two friends who live a simple kind of life.  They were pretty much oblivious to what was really going on when the college kids started coming after them, never even considering that those city folk would want to harm them.  /*Spoiler:  Heck, when they finally do notice the kids accidentally getting themselves killed while trying to attack them, Tucker and Dale think it's some kind of suicide pact. Spoiler*\

Overall Thoughts

Mr. Tropnevad's Thoughts

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil lived up to my expectations and some more. I found myself laughing more times than I would have expected. I may have not liked Chad, but I was able to get past that and enjoy the film. While writing this review I have an urge to rewatch it. This is a movie that you should tell your friends about and I can say that I am disappointed I missed this in theaters that were showing it. If It was to play at midnight in a theater I would recommend seeing it with several friends.

Overall this film is something new to the horror genre by letting you look on the other side of things by seeing how annoying kids can treat a bunch of hillbillies who just want to have some quiet time. I highly recommend buying this movie. You can buy it on blu-ray at Amazon for fifteen dollars and I do think it is worth it. I am tempted to get it at some point to watch the bloopers, deleted scenes, and listen to the commentary. If, you don’t have the money to buy it, you can stream it on instant Netflix.

Overall- Buy

Zentilack's Thoughts

Seeing as how I didn't really have any expectations going in, it's safe to say I was pleasantly surprised.  This was an amusing turn on the stereotypical inbred hillbilly killer trope, and it's more of a slasher comedy than anything else (even though most of the slashing is unintentional).  If you like horror or parody, or especially if you like both, give this one a watch.