Frightfest: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

I was not looking forward to Tucker And Dale Vs. Evil, this was a movie that had it been shown a little later at night I’d not have stuck, after an exhausting second day of the Film Four Frightfest. Thankfully it’s those movies that you have little expectation about, that often provide the best surprises.

Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) are a pair of honest, hard working rednecks who have just bought themselves a vacation home in an area rumoured to have a “history”. It’s fair to say that Tucker and Dale in some ways, are a little mentally challenged, and it’s just this fact that leads their first encounters with college kids to be a little “disturbing”. When they save Ali (Katrina Bowden) from drowning, her friends become convinced that they have kidnapped her for despicable means, and they hatch a plan to get her back. Innocent Tucker and Dale however can only look on, as the kids are killed off one by one in a series of freak accidents, which leads the kids to believe that the holidaying couple are the most despicable killers of all time.

This for me was not just the best movie of the festival so far, but the funniest film I have seen for around three to four years, funnier still, the last film that really made me laugh was the original version of Death At A Funeral which also starred Tudyk.

The term crowd pleaser has got to be an understatement, this rib ticking comedy horror, just got sillier and sillier as it progressed, each death kind of “Final Destination” inspired became more and more elaborate. Yes it was fairly predictable, but still an awful lot of fun. From a bee-chase impalement to a guy throwing himself into machinery, each death got more and more laughs.

Tucker and Dale is nothing new it has to be said, this whole accidental misfortune thing, was something you saw a lot back in the origins of movie history, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton’s best work involved this sort of scenario and slapstick behaviour, the only thing new is the death, and the way that death occurs. So while you feel like you have gone full circle in the realms of comedy, the horror element gives it a fresh lick of paint, for want of a better term.

It’s the complete obliviousness of the duo that adds to the humour, while on occasion Tucker understands exactly what’s going on, it seems Dale never gets it. As their innocent actions lead to more and more teen deaths they concur that the kids are part of some sort of strange suicide sect, killing themselves simply for the hell of it.

While the movie dragged a little at the end, it was a totally rewarding experience, the cast performed incredibly well, and come the films release on DVD I’m expecting an incredibly long gag reel, as how on earth the cast can stay straight faced while all this anarchy goes on around them must have been a real struggle.

A UK release date for Tucker and Dale has not yet been released, however the film starts a nationwide roll out in the States from the end on September.