Rating: 8/10

Writer: Eli Craig & Morgan Jurgenson (screenplay and story)
Director: Eli Craig
Cast: Alan Tudyk, Tyler Labine, Katrina Bowden

TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL is a clever idea gone awesome. It takes the "backwoods folk slashing up hot teenagers" genre and makes an ingenious comedy out of it. The change here is that the creepy-looking hillbillies, Tucker and Dale (Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine), do not want to chop up the college kids looking for a good alcohol-fueled time on a camping trip. It's the young, pretty playing characters who mistakenly think they are on the hillbilly death list.

Why do the college kids think that the hillbillies want to kill them? Well, the hillbillies look odd, plus the kids have probably seen a lot of slasher films themselves. And Tucker and Dale always tend to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. By the way, the reason I keep using the terms "college kids" and "hillbillies" is because that is how they are consistently referred to in the film (a clever tongue-in-cheek decision that becomes increasingly funny as the film goes forward).

There are a lot of gory deaths in TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL, but I don't consider it a horror-comedy, more like a cleverly developed comedy-of-errors with slasher window dressing. The deaths are bloody, funny gags (yeah, I hit two levels with that comment, please be impressed) that are usually followed by an amusing remark by the nice guys misplayed for killers. Tucker and Dale continually keep getting blood on their heads (and splattered on their face) despite not wanting to hurt anyone.

Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine both play Tucker and Dale with a convincing simplicity that works well for laughs. As their characters try unsuccessfully to keep the violence from escalating - while the body count gets higher - the laughs stay strong. The performances from those playing the the college kids are, in general, performed in a deliberately campy, but appropriately playful way. Although Katrina Bowden as Allison, the sharpest of the college age characters in the film, does not bring the laughs like several others in the film. But it is hard to make a version of the stereotypical smart, pretty girl found in horror films a lot of fun without getting ridiculous, and her role does not do any serious damage. In general, the acting by the two leads, and some of the actors playing the idiotic college kids helps keep the film's humor level high.

TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL churns out many solid laughs. It turns the slasher film upside down in the name of spot-on comedy, making our lives so much better for it. Well, at least for an hour and a half.

Other articles that you might like:

• TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL picked up by Magnolia’s Magnet
• Comic-Con 2011: EXCLUSIVE Interview with Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine for TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL
• Sundance 2011 Review: THE ART OF GETTING BY (a.k.a. HOMEWORK)
• Sundance 2011 Review: SALVATION BOULEVARD