Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is a doozy of a time

It’s always fun to take the hallmarks of a genre and subvert them but rarely is it done as successfully and to such great effect as it is in “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil”.

When Tucker and Dale’s trip to their newly purchased holiday cabin coincides with a group of college kids camping out in the woods, the stage is set for a misunderstanding of epic and bloody proportions as the hapless and innocent hillbillies’ every move is misinterpreted by the increasingly desperate to survive teens.

Alan Tudyk (“Firefly”, “Transformers: Dark Of The Moon“) and Tyler Labine (“Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes”, “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy“) are perfectly cast, bring real charm and pathos to the deceptively dimwitted eponymous heroes, grounding the film’s central conceit of seeing the typical backwoods horror film from the other side for a change.

But “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil” isn’t content just to be a spoof, poking fun at the genre; it’s also prettty successful as a survival horror in its own right, with well drawn characters, a clever plot and some pretty effective scares. As the situation spirals out of control for our well-meaning but unlucky heroes, debut feature Director Eli Craig keeps things moving with wit, humour and just enough blood and gore to keep both horror fans and comedy aficionados happy, even finding time for a sweet romance amidst the carnage. “Shaun Of The Dead” may be held up as the pinnacle of the comedy/ horror genre but as much as I liked Edgar Wright’s ZomRomCom, I enjoyed “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil” more.

There’s not much else to say without risking spoiling the many delights this film has to offer apart from seek it out as soon as you can and then you too can be excited by the news that there’s apparently a sequel in the works…