When I was planning Horrorfest, I wanted to have a day every week where we can all watch something funny to break up the general heaviness and tension of horror films. I wasn’t sure what to do with Slasher week, since so many slasher movies have their own airs of comedy to them, but one of our patrons Olejoshy requested Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, and boy, am I glad they did. This was probably my 6th or 7th time watching this movie, but it honestly gets better with each rewatch.
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is a parody of the classic slasher film formula in which, through a series of hilarious misunderstandings, a group of college kids are terrorized by their own assumptions about a couple of country boys who are just trying to enjoy their weekend away to the woods. This movie is difficult to talk about just because all of the scenes are so hilariously unexpected that I would hate to ruin anything for anyone. But rest assured, the movie turns the slasher subgenre on its head and hammers home constant laughs.
Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine a the titular Tucker and Dale deliver amazing performances as two well-intentioned hillbillies who find themselves mixed up in what can only be described to them as a college kid death pact. They sell their confusion and helpless so well that you immediately sympathize with them in between fits of wheezing laughter as more and more absurd events satirize classic horror movies. The movie can be argued as an important lesson to not judge a book by its cover, but honestly, it’s just a hilarious comedy that can be easily peppered into any horror marathon for a break from the tension. It’s on Netflix too, so it should be pretty easy to watch as long as you haven’t dispensed yourself of the dying platform yet.
“I should’ve known if a guy like me talked to a pretty girl like you, someone would end up dead.”
