Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

Rating: 10/10 (31 August 2016)

Brilliant, wonderfully absurd, backwoods slasher black comedy (graphic violence included) defines quite significantly that "looks can be deceiving". Two lovable hillbillies, Tucker and Dale (Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine), are misjudged by misguided college students, on a vacation in the woods, who consider them menacing creeps just because of their attire and not-so-clean-shaven appearance. Neither is violent at all, just up at Tucker's newly bought ramshackle cabin to start renovation repairs. Dale has eyes on blond honey, Allison (the yummy Katrina Bowden), but when she sees him and Tucker in their fishing boat while about to swim, the psychology major slips after freaking out and falls in the water, nearly drowning. Tucker and Dale load her in the boat, saving her because she had a concussion, but her friends believe they are kidnapping her! When they say, "We got your friend!" they think Tucker and Dale are warning them! Early on, when Tucker and Dale first see them and vice versa, the latter approaches Allie in the hopes of talking to her (encouraged by Tucker when Dale thinks he's not good enough), but having a scythe in his hand and a nervous giggle scares them all! Chad (Jesse Moss; Ginger Snaps)--the ringleader of the gang--vows to rescue Allie from the "murderous psycho hillbillies". What instead happens is the feckless kids start trying to upend what they believe are threats to them and their friend's life but only walk right into their own deaths!
Hilarity ensues like one of the kids believing Tucker, who cut into a log which had a hornet's nest, is running after him with a chainsaw (all he is actually doing is fleeing from the hornets!), which causes him to flee through the woods recklessly, impaling himself on a sharp tree sticking out! One of the kids charges towards Tucker, who is operating a woodchipper, falling headfirst into the machineÂ…the legs sticking out, with all the spewing blood, as Tucker tries to save him is another grisly highlight (the sheriff driving up on Tucker and Dale dragging the legs and waist of the dead victim has to be seen to be believed). There's a sequence of startling events where a weedeater blade carves a face, a fire starts (ignited further by moonshine!), and gas canisters (on the inside of the cabin!) send Tucker's "dream home" to go up in flames! Perhaps one of the kids lighting up a cig didn't help matters. A loose plank in the cabin is leaned on by the sheriff who actually listens to Tucker and Dale when appearances seem to say they've just killed a few kids, receiving a wood block with nails right into his forehead! Retrieving the dead sheriff's gun, one of the kids points the weapon at his face while unlocking the safety, shooting himself! Another kid dives at Dale while he and Allie are digging a hole (the kids think he is forcing Allie to dig her own grave!) for an outhouse, causing the kid to impale himself on the handle of the shovel! Chad, who tells his posse about a campfire tale about a camping massacre on Memorial Day, actually admits (during a "counseling session" where Allie wants him and Dale to talk things over peacefully) that his mom and dad were involved in that! A revelation involving Chad's history will only further send him off the deep end (the movie does well at recognizing that Chad is a bit too excited about engaging in violence with the hillbillies).
The film opens with Tucker giving Chad what seemed like an ominous look (he was in the middle of a request for supplies), reading off a list of items which would ideally indicate him and Tucker are backwoods serial killers. Then you see them talk once their outside, harmless and affable; from their perspective, there would be no reason to fear them. But then the film looks at Tucker and Dale from the side of the college kids, presenting them as sinisterÂ…the direction is fantastic at these dueling perceptions. Allie realizing that Tucker is a sweetheart who wouldn't harm anybody, and Dale is oblivious to why her friends are running around hysterically (both Tucker and Dale question if they are "off their meds"!) is a fun development, too. The kids just can't help but invite disaster upon themselves. A real gem. Sadly, despite being a festival circuit darling, the movie never got a deserved theatrical run. It is better than most wide releases these days.