C-W Halloween-Tucker & Dale vs Evil: On Judging Books…

It has been said that horror movies are the “Morality Plays” of our age.  Teenagers that partake in underage drinking, drugs and / or sex are certain to die at the hands of a slasher.  Those who are mean, bully and selfish find Karma in the blade of a knife or the head of an axe.  Tucker and Dale vs Evil takes this to a new level.

In this dark comedy, Allison, Chad, Chloe, Chuck, Jason, Naomi, Todd, Mitch and Mike are going camping. While at a gas station, they meet Tucker and Dale,  two well-meaning rednecks, who have just bought a vacation home, a dilapidated cabin deep in the woods. Dale tries to talk to the pretty Allison, but his shyness just scares her, and the rest of the college kids imagine Tucker and Dale to be the hillbillies from Deliverance.

Tucker and Dale begin cabin repairs on their property while nearby in the woods, Chad tells a story about the “Memorial Day Massacre”, a hillbilly attack which took place 20 years ago.   Later that night while fishing, Tucker and Dale come upon the college kids skinny dipping, Allison gets spooked and slips and hits her head.  Her friends believe that Tucker and Dale have kidnapped her.  When Allison wakes up, she is befriended by Dale and as the story progresses, we learn that Allison has much more in common with the rednecks than with her friends.  After finding Mitch’s body, Chad persuades the others that they are in a battle for survival.

The college kids, led by Chad, mount an attack to get Allison back.  And through a series of comical ironic events and misunderstandings each college kid begins to die at their own hand.  Chad becomes the only survivor of the remaining college students and we soon discover he has a dark truth about his past that not even he was fully aware of.  He becomes the true “Evil” from the title, trying to kill Tucker, Dale and Allison.

When you peel back the layers of this movie though, there are some definite lessons we can learn.  The biggest being “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”.  Tucker and Dale look like stereotypical rednecks, dumb, rough and have little to no communication skills outside their own social circle. When the truth is, they are sweet, smart wonderful people.  Allison can see this quickly as she is from a similar world and she realizes her friends can be very judgmental.  What truly is the “Evil” in the title of this film?  Is it a person, or the judgmental attitudes society has towards those that are different?

This movie resonates with me and has become one of my favorites partially because I can relate so deeply with Dale (Tyler Labine).  His shy good-natured personality is endearing.  He is not the dashing, muscular good-looking hero.  The movie as a whole is beautifully written and brilliantly performed and directed.  Tyler Labine (Invasion) and Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Doom Patrol) turn out comical yet non-stereotypical characters.  They look rough and tough but have hearts of gold and just want to be accepted.  The story flows seamlessly and the pacing is fast but easy to follow.