Horror comedy is one of the toughest subgenres to do right. As
I’ve written before part of my fascination with both genres is how involuntary
they are. How they completely bypass most of the usual criteria that we use to
judge films and live or die by the gut instinctual reaction that they cause in
the viewer. That’s a tough thing to do when you’re just going for one reaction,
but when you’re going for two gut reactions that run directly counter to one
another, well then you’re spinning plates while riding a unicycle.
I can say without hesitation that Tucker And Dale Versus
Evil is the most successful horror comedy since Shaun Of The Dead. If it misses
that movie’s heights well that’s because most things do.
Tucker And Dale follows two good hearted, slightly dim
witted Good Ole Boys, who plan to spend the weekend fixing up the old shack
they’ve bought deep in the heart of Appalachia. Unfortunately their trip
coincides with a group of college kids led by the loathsome Chad, who quickly
convinces the others in the group that they are about to star in an
unauthorized remake of Just Before Dawn. After their rescue of the kids is misinterpreted as a kidnapping attempt, Tucker and Dale find
themselves under siege. And before you can say “Mass Epidemic of Suicides” they
find themselves dealing with quite a body count.
The strength of Tucker And Dale is the effortless way it
swings between goofy splat stick and comedy of errors material (such as an
early encounter which has Dale holding a scythe, giggling menacingly and asking
“Y’all going camping.” But builds to it in a way that feels totally natural)
and some genuinely witty material. Somehow the film manages to become more than
a one joke movie.
It’s a genre lover’s treat of course, with a flashback to
“The Memorial Day Massacre” proving that Eli Craig has just as good of a feel
of/affection for the subgenre of the slasher film as Edgar Wright has for the
zombie movie. The atmosphere is creepier and more consistent than most straight
horror films released these days and needless to say the gore gags, including
the already classic “head long dive into the woodchipper” bit are pretty great.
If the film has one flaw, which I will admit is kind of a
nitpick to the point where I was genuinely trying to figure out whether to
bring it up, it’s that the balance of the characters is a bit off. If you think
back to Shaun Of The Dead (and yeah I know I’m bringing this up a lot but it’s
the gold standard) the balance between Shaun, Ed and Liz is just perfect, with
each character getting equal weight. With Tucker and Dale I feel like the
balance is just a little off. The film does a great job establishing the
relationship between the two, but after the first third it takes kind
of a back seat to the budding romance between Dale and one of the “college
kids”. With Tucker popping up mostly to deliver a few of the gags, and then act
as a hostage. He becomes more of a supporting character than a co lead and I
think the movie suffers for it.
This could just be me. Or the simple fact that I prefer
Tudyk to Labine (who I was actually a fan of from way back on Reaper, a show I
wish had gotten more of a chance, but who has played out his persona to
diminishing returns ever since). He plays a hell of a straight man to the chaos
here and the understated way he delivers lines like “That Chad kid has got some
issues” raised some of the biggest laughs in the theater I was in.
But like I
said, that’s just me. On the whole Tucker and Dale is a blast, a nostalgia
piece that doesn’t rely on it and a horror comedy that delivers the goods on
both fronts.
5 comments:
So much fun. An instant horror comedy classic.
Officer, me and Dale was just doin' chores and these kids showed up and just started killin' themselves all over my property.
Excellent review, agree completely with every point you make from Shaun to Labine and Reaper. If in the future I don't watch this as frequently as Shaun, it's only because as you say it's the pinnacle.
This was the first film I reviewed for "The Life & Times of Lucy In Da Sky" and it's certainly one of my favourite films I have this seen along with "Drive"
I would love to see Tucker and Dale in another situation, maybe this time taking on Zombies or werewolves, especially as the chemistry between the two leads is too great to be confined to just one film.
I liked how it managed to be funny even, when it wasn't poking fun at the "Hicksploitation" genre and I totally agree there is some definate love for these movies on show here, as otherwise it may have just been another clumsy Horror comedy, rather than the fun movie it turned out to be.
I was suck when i had seen that movie. All the screen were really horrible. I have that movie two to three times.
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