Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010)
This year spring break is cut short.
Alright, it’s that holiday where you spend time eating food and being thankful with your family. Well, it’s also a movie night, so great minds do what great minds do when pinched for time - they choose a movie they’ve already watched a ton and never did a review for, so they can review while they watch and watch while they review! Thematically this little horror comedy actually does fit kind of nicely with the idea of being thankful, as well as a whole lot of misunderstanding - so grab some of that pie and strap in for Tucker & Dale vs Evil.
Tucker and Dale is a story with two sides, which the movie will flip back and forth between to give a wonderful splash of double context. On one hand, a bunch of kids go out camping in the middle of nowhere, when they come under attack by a bunch of hillbillies. On the other hand, we have a pair of buddy hillbillies who just bought themselves a sweet vacation home out in the middle of nowhere, and a bunch of psychotic kids start committing suicide all over their property. As you can tell by the two contradictions there, a whole lot is going on with a lot of understanding not being one of them. It’s really less a question of whose gonna get got, and more a matter of will anybody make it out of this situation alive?
The acting here is great. For a group of folks that I largely don’t recognize at all - with the exception of Tudyk - they all just nail exactly what they are supposed to - be it low self esteem redneck with less social skills or absolutely moronic college kids who amaze you by having survived so long to get in college in the first place. Of course, a lot of the kids are played off as that kind of stupid that’s still somewhat adorable - like an idiot baby - but there’s one in particular that plays up the “I’m the character you should be hating” quite phenomenally as well. Given the number of situations that people are in, it’s nice to have some good acting going on.
The characters are a bit more of a mixed story - the ones that are more central to things actually get some good development but most the school kids characters exist as ignorant and dumb for the point of it being what’s needed. In fairness, a bunch of them do frequently have good ideas until the main dis-likable ends up pushing them in a different direction. Of course, the main joy of it is the hillbillies whom exist as two thirds of the title. Between them trying to unravel everything that’s going on, as well as Dale’s little journey into being more confident with himself.
Just a couple of buddies.
Line deliveries are good, audio helps to add the scenes going on, and there is enough little background noises to help things feel lively. Of course, the key thing for a lot of folks is going to be the effects department this time around. It is at least part horror after all. The kills are pretty gruesome as needed - without being too explicitly graphic. You’ll have a good amount of dangerous situations and outcomes to keep you happy - especially if you aren’t the person that needs massive amounts of realism. The settings play out as slight attachments into the story at times, with plenty of things set up getting used at later points. Kill-seekers will enjoy the range of things on display, even if the overall body count is relatively small in comparison to heavy hitters of the Slasher genre.
The jokes in this one are fun but dark - as one would expect from misunderstandings that would lead to a body count. For horror fans it won’t bother them that much and they’ll be able to just enjoy it for what it is, but I could see why some would perhaps not want to go through the more violent stuff to get the less violent jokes (or the more violent ones that still get a chuckle). It’s a subjective thing, just like people violence thresholds you know? Still, it’s a finely constructed setup with plenty of good moments on multiple accounts - although more so in the comedy side of horror comedy than the horror side. Most the horror comes from the misunderstanding, which can be pretty terrifying if you take it in stride against modern times and how everything anyone believes remotely to be true must be true and fit their own narrative - than the horror suddenly becomes way more potent than any of the jokes in the movie.
The balancing of the audio is well done, and some of the music can be quite fun while it’s playing. The actors do a good enough job with putting some emotion into their lines as needed, and it lends itself to both the more comedy oriented and serious parts of the narrative. Watching it with other people and hearing their reactions to things as it goes on is great as well - although that also might be a side effect of having watched it multiple times myself.
Scoobies idiot want to be gang.
This movie is an absolute hoot to be honest. It won’t be for everyone on account of the horror/violent side of it, but there’s a lot to love here. Characters - at least the main ones - are likeable, the events as they unfold are funny in a twisted sort of way, and there plenty of fun death scenes for the folks that like horror movies. It’s one of those fun movies that you can just keep coming back to, and still have just as much fun each time.