I got around to watching
Tucker and Dale Versus Evil for the second time last night, and it's even better than I first thought. The primary strength of it is through the actors' performance, whether it's through the stereotypical college students' self-imposed crusade to rescue their friend or through the lovable bromance between Tucker and Dale, The actors are more or less firing on all cylinders. A horror-comedy,
Tucker and Dale isn't just a hilarious movie about misunderstandings and poor phrasing, it's also a heartfelt tale of simple, true friendship and gaining self-confidence.
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| In a nutshell, the title of this film could very well be "This ain't what it looks like...We can explain..." |
The story of
Tucker and Dale Versus Evil is one of a comedy of errors, with mutual misunderstanding and bad phrasing being the principle drivers of the plot. After striking out once again at love, Dale is brought on a vacation to help Tucker, his best friend, renovate his newly-bought vacation home. However, soon after they arrive, they find out that they aren't the only people in those parts; rowdy college students have also arrived to vacation in these here woods. Soon however, the two groups come into contact which each other, which leads to the near-drowning of one of the college students after she gets scared by Tucker peeping on her (to the embarrassment of the reserved Dale). They rescue her and yell to the college students that they have rescued their friend, but the students misinterpret the message to be a threat. This leads to a sequence of events that leads to the college students going on a wholly unneccary warpath against the hillbillies (lead by the sociopathic Chad) based on their assumptions and prejudices. In the process they essentially kill themselves trying to kill the almost blissfully unaware Tucker and Dale, who are pretty agreeable even when they become aware of the students' intentions. Without spoiling any more, that's basically the plot, and there's a great deal of self-aware humor throughout, even as it's delivered straight. Even though
Tucker and Dale is a horror comedy, it does have a great deal of surprisingly positive messaging. In terms of themes, there does seem to initially be one of class struggle, but through the film it is clarified to essentially be 'don't judge a book by its cover'. There's also a celebration of close-knit and healthy friendships, on top of general kindness shown through Tucker and Dale's candor with each other and their rescue of Allie. This is in stark contrast to the unhealthy dynamic within the group of college students, which edges being outright toxic on several occasions. When they are in a state of vulnerability they lash out, ceding their voices in favor of not rocking the boat and instead going along with Chad's idea out of essentially fear of him. When push comes to shove, both groups come together, but their reasoning couldn't be more different. The last major subject of the film is the simultaneous celebration and condemnation of ignorance. Tucker and Dale's differing levels of confidence represent the celebration of ignorance. While Dale at the start of them film has accepted his stereotype of being fat, ugly, uncharismatic, and unwanted (on top of being a redneck), Tucker has risen above such judgement by simply ignoring it. He encourages Dale to just be himself, because Dale's already a lovable person, Dale himself just needs to see it. They both are comfortable without thinking too much about the outside world, just focusing on the simple pleasures of life like each other's company. The college students however, represent a condemnation of ignorance (given greater irony through their attendance of higher education), with their attitude toward the hillbilly pair entirely stemming from stereotypes and the horror films that have perpetuated them. They don't even try to at the very least negotiate with Tucker and Dale, having already made up their minds that peace was never an option when it comes to two guys in the middle of nowhere.
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| The growth of Dale's confidence parallel to his growing tension with Tucker as he prioritizes focusing on Allie adds to the complexity of the film. It's only natural for a party to get upset as their supposed "brocation" is hijacked. |
In terms of technical execution,
Tucker and Dale Versus Evil is something of a throwback to the schlocky camp of horror film past. It's a decently gory film with a great deal of blood, which shows up in absurd amounts as the students begin to kill themselves in order to needlessly become the hero. Good makeup and injury effects are on display throughout, in all their painful detail. There isn't particularly much artistry in how the film was made, and despite the few locations where the story takes place, the dimensions and relative positions of each location aren't made clear at all. All we know is that the various locales are "somewhere nearby", which is my biggest issue. Tucker's newly purchased vacation home is given development as the film progresses, becoming essentially the central location of the film, and there's a great attention to detail in how jokes/deaths are set up in context of the set itself ("We gotta be sure to fix that beam, eh Dale?"). Exaggerated camerawork is also on full display in this film, though mostly for the purposes of pushing scenarios out of the realm of reality and into absurdity. Besides that however, there's not much else I can say about
Tucker and Dale from a technical standpoint. It does the job and helps establish the film as a work of satire, and that's really the important thing at the end of the day.
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| "Now what we have here is a failure to communicate..." |
Tucker and Dale Versus Evil in my opinion is a pretty good film, being equally hilarious and horrifying. Its messaging is at times poignant, but never overly complex, much like the central themes of the film themselves. Blood, gore, and some allusions aside, one of the most shocking things about
Tucker and Dale was how relatively tame it was in terms of content, which in retrospect does make sense given the satirical bent of the film. I'd recommend this film, it's a nice break from overly bleak and other, more goofy brands of horror. Plus, it's nice to watch with your best bud and thus spend some quality time with them.
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