Tucker & Dale vs Evil

A group of teenagers encounter a bunch of bloodthirsty hillbillies somewhere in the American wasteland. This story has been told countless times in the slasher genre. "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" nevertheless manages to wring entirely new sides out of this overused plot framework.

When the clique of self-absorbed Chad (Jesse Moss) and attractive Allison (Katrina Bowden) head off to the woods for a weekend of partying, they cross paths with hillbillies Tucker McGee (Alan Tudyk) and Dale Dobson (Tyler Labine). Immediately, all the hillbilly clichés grown from consuming countless horror movies come to mind in the teens and they quickly begin to fear for their lives. What they don't suspect: Tucker and Dale couldn't be more adorable and want nothing more than to spruce up their newly acquired weekend cabin in the woods. But when a mishap lands them Allison and any attempt to contact their friends is misinterpreted by them as a murderous threat, things begin to escalate and the peaceful weekend getaway turns into a bloody nightmare.

To cut right to the chase: "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" is the best horror comedy since "Shaun of the Dead". It's not often that a genre's clichés are juggled so inventively, relentlessly, and lovingly at the same time as they are here. Alone the many absurd ideas of directorial debutant Eli Craig, who also wrote the screenplay, make this slasher comedy so worth seeing. The bizarre accidents, through which the ranks of the teenagers thinning, should of course not be revealed here. Only this much: rarely have brutality and slapstick been mixed together as entertainingly as they are here.

However, as wonderful as Craig's script may be, without the two superbly chosen main actors the macabre events would only be half as amusing. Alan Tudyk ("Serenity", "Knight of Passion") and Tyler Labine ("Reaper") harmonize wonderfully with each other and, after only a few minutes on screen, manage to prove themselves the most likable on-screen duo in recent memory. Katrina Bowden, who is part of the cast of the award-winning comedy series "30 Rock", plays perfectly with the "naives blonde" stereotypes, making her at once a stark contrast, yet the perfect complement to the two men.

If you like horror movies, you'll love "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" - provided, of course, that you don't take the genre itself too seriously and can also laugh at inherently endearing clichés. But even those who otherwise can hardly make friends with bloodthirsty battle plates a la "Friday the 13th," are guaranteed here almost 90 minutes of the best cinema entertainment. A film with cult potential and therefore also: absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp