Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)

Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil (2010). 7.6/10 on IMDB. Per IMDB the story is as follows. Tucker and Dale are on vacation at their dilapidated mountain cabin when they are attacked by a group of preppy college kids. It stars Tyler Labine (Dale), Alan Tudyk (Tucker) Katrina Bowden(Allison), and Jesse Moss (Chad). Directed by Eli Craig and written my Craig and Morgan Jurgenson.

It's such a simple idea at the core, you have to wonder why it wasn't thought of before? Craig and Jurgenson have flipped the age old Hillbilly Killers vs Preppy College Kids idea on its head, and in the process smothered it gleefully with dark humor, laugh out loud moments and inventive deaths. There's also some social comedy nestled nicely in the narrative, big points about first impressions and ideas of stereotypes.

The neat trick is having the film unfold from the Hillbillies viewpoint, where the carnage that unspools gets increasingly difficult for them to explain, this in spite of their innocence. Each death is logical to the college kids who go on the attack when one of their number, they think, is kidnapped. And it's logical to us the audience as well, were it not for us being privy to these wonderfully funny sequence of events, we too would have them hung, drawn and quartered after a guilty verdict was reached in 10 seconds. This is the ultimate horror/comedy flip-flop movie. So many funny sequences light up the picture, with a chainsaw scene one of the finest moments to have ever graced a horror comedy movie, but the dialogue, too, is not found wanting in the fun and charming department. Cast are on top form, with Tudyk & Labine a most agreeable double act, where their comedy timing is impeccable, and Bowden & Moss are more than just pretty faces.

A group of college kids are going camping in the deep backwoods south for some drinkin', weed smokin' and skinny dippin'. Stopping for beer at a scuzzy looking store, they notice two mean and ornery looking hillbillies staring at them. When one of the hillbillies attempt to strike up a convo, the teens beat a hasty retreat, as let's face it, we all know what mean looking hillbillies tend to do with bothersome city slickers.
However, looks can be deceiving. The two hillbillies are actually Tucker & Dale, two all round nice guys who wouldn't hurt a fly, and who are on their way to Dale's "vacation home" aka ramshackle shack in the woods, for their own vacation of drinkin', fishin' and doing repairs on the old homestead. One night, while fishing, they stumble across the teens skinny dipping, causing one of them to slip and bash her head on the rocks, and fall under the water unconscious. Dale immediately dives in to save her, after the teens run away, and take her back to the cabin to recover.
However, to the teens, it looks like their friend has been kidnapped by murderous hillbillies, as they've seen enough horror films to know the score. Especially as a mountaintop massacre occurred on this very spot 20 years ago...
Tucker & Dale Vs Evil is quite frankly a joy. A brilliant horror comedy, that brings forth plenty of belly laughs via a hilarious set of misunderstandings between the hillbillies and teens. I highly recommend this movie and plan to watch it again, It is currently on Netlix Watch instantly and Amazon Prime.

8.5/10