It seems like ever since Sam Raimi launched the comedic splatterfest “Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn,” directors have been trying to recreate the perfect mix of horror and humor that cult classic captured. One movie that has been floating around for a while now is “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.” I don’t know what took it so long to get a proper release of some kind, but now that it’s here, how did critics and audiences respond?
Top movie critics were all for watching the showdown of “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.” Entertainment Weekly’s Keith Staskiewicz wrote, “The lovable duo of [stars] [Alan] Tudyk and [Tyler] Labine and an endearing layer of sweetness under all the blood make it a fully enjoyable comedy of (t)errors.” Dennis Harvey of Variety commented, “‘T&D’ offers good-natured, confidently executed splatstick whose frequent hilarity suffers only from peaking too early.” MSN Movies’ Kathleen Murphy said the “… deft/daft mix of authentic feeling and sharp parody, belly laughs and visceral dread, makes ‘Tucker & Dale vs. Evil’ a keeper…”
A few reviewers would have rather skipped “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.” The Orlando Sentinel’s Roger Moore stated, “‘Evil’ fails to triumph. Utterly.” Kyle Smith of the New York Post declared, “Essentially a student film offering nothing but absurdly contrived coincidence.” Movieline’s Alison Willmore complained, “If you’re seeing this as the midnight movie it’s destined to best be experienced as, you could safely drift off after the 45-minute mark…”
Audiences agreed with critics who felt “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil” was a winner. Stuart B. stated, “One of the funniest films I have seen this year. An excellent movie with a great twist on the usual ‘Lost in the woods in Hillbilly land’ theme. Supreme acting from the two leads; I wish they could make a sequel.”
Troy N. said, “Genuine wit and hilarious, laugh out loud dialogue. ‘Tucker and Dale vs. Evil’ is worth the time.” Cailin T. related, “A tremendously entertaining and refreshingly original horror-comedy with plenty of gore, laughs, and silliness. Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk are a fantastic, endearingly dim-witted and red-necky duo who is a thorough blast to watch.”
A few party-poopers found “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil” to be a failure. Jackiee C. stated, “It had its moments but nothing I would watch twice.” Saskia R. simply stated, “Not my kind of movie.” Ben C. commented, “So- so, not as funny as I thought it would be. It kind of lost steam toward the end.”
Family entertainment website Movieguide.org reported, ” ‘Tucker & Dale vs. Evil’ is a pretty hilarious spoof, with some sweet moments between one of the hillbillies and one of the female college students, but it contains excessive foul language and very gory accidental deaths.”
Eli Craig directed “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.” It stars Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, and Philip Granger (II). The movie is rated R for bloody horror violence, language, and brief nudity. It was distributed through Magnet Releasing in limited theaters on September 30, 2011.
For more articles by Eric Shirey, check out:
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Eric Shirey is the founder and editor of Rondo Award nominated movie news websites MovieGeekFeed.com and TheSpectralRealm.com. His work has been featured on Yahoo! Movies, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! TV, Associated Content from Yahoo!, DC Comics, StarWars.com, KISSOnline.com, and other national entertainment websites. Eric has interviewed and worked with actors like Harrison Ford, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Gerard Butler, Brooke Shields, Brendan Fraser, Michelle Monaghan, Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Gene Simmons, Ashley Tisdale, Selena Gomez and many more.
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