Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Directed by Eli Craig.

2010. Rated R, 88 minutes. 
Cast: 
Tyler Labine 
Alan Tudyk 
Katrina Bowden 
Jesse Moss 
Chelan Simmons 
Philip Granger 
Brandon Jay McLaren 
Christie Laing 
Travis Nelson 
Alex Arsenault

A group of college kids is doing what groups of college kids do in some of our favorite slasher flicks. They’re going on a camping trip deep in a secluded wooded area. These kids have seen a few of these movies themselves. Maybe they’ve seen too many. They’re even aware of the slaughter of another group of co-eds that happened twenty years ago in the very spot where they decide to roast marshmallows. Our bunch is made up of the usual cast of would-be victims: the obnoxious preppy guy, two blondes we can differentiate by cup size, a generic but not stereotypically urban black guy with matching girl, and a couple other “just dudes”. Somehow an Asian is missing, but I digress. All you really need to know is that they’re hyper-sensitive to the idea that the local yokels are homicidal maniacs itching for fresh meat.

Enter the local yokels. They’re named Tucker (Tudyk) and Dale (Labine) and are pretty obviously inspired by George and Lennie from Steinbeck’s classic “Of Mice and Men.” They are far from maniacal. Slow witted? Yes. Killers? No. They spend most of their time fishing and drinking beer. As luck would have it, they’re going into the same woods as the co-eds to fix up the old cabin Tucker has just purchased and intends to use as a vacation home. We get the idea they have not seen many slasher flicks. Through a massive misunderstanding the kids think they’ve stumbled into a real life version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Because of a series of unfortunate events, Tucker and Dale think the co-eds have some sort of weird suicide pact. Believe it or not, comedy ensues.

Yes, I said comedy. The dialogue is insanely funny and makes clear that everyone on both sides just wants out of the situation yet, no one can figure out how to make that happen. There is one exception: the obnoxious preppy guy. He’s anxious to rescue the not-as-busty blonde. It seems to him and the others that Tucker and Dale have her bound, gagged and are torturing her. More misunderstandings, of course.

On display is some seriously clever writing to keep this ruse going as long as it does. It also keeps us laughing in the process. That is, you’ll be laughing if you’re a slasher fan and/or can take a joke about our beloved genre. Oh, it helps to have a twisted sense of humor. I suppose a kid accidentally impaling himself on a spear isn’t funny to everyone. Meh…(shrugs shoulders)…I laughed and did so heartily. The wood chipper scene is even more hilarious. What can I say? Occasionally, I’m only physically an adult. No matter how mature you are, you’ll probably laugh even as you cringe. That’s because it’s all about tone. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil strikes the perfect one.

The Uninvited

Directed by Charles Guard, Thomas Guard.

2009. Rated PG-13, 87 minutes.

Cast:

Emily Browning

Arielle Kebbel

Elizabeth Banks

David Strathairn

Maya Massar

Kevin McNulty

Jesse Moss

Heather Doerksen

Dean Paul Gibson

A year or so after her mother died in a horrible fire, Anna (Browning) comes home from the mental institution. Of course, she still has ghastly visions and nightmares, a whiny older sister and dad's new girlfriend, and mom's ex-caretaker, appears to be...e-e-evil...muwahahahahaha...ahem...sorry. Anyhoo, it's a remake of the Korean movie A Tale of Two Sisters.

Whenever Anna starts seeing stuff, we get some fantastic visuals. There's not a drop of blood until very late in the movie but the sights are arresting, nonetheless. The twist at the end has been done before but its still fairly effective and almost enough to redeem the movie.

Unfortunately, the movie just plods along, re-enacting bits of better horror movies we've already seen. Though it's a remake of A Tale of Two Sisters, the movies that most readily come to mind are Pet Sematary and The Sixth Sense as it borrows heavily from both. Even if you don't see that comparison, there's another major problem: Elizabeth Banks is horribly miscast. She's supposed to be creepy, even a bit of a scary prospect for a stepmom but she can't quite pull it off. This is no knock on her acting ability in general, but she just doesn't seem to have a real dark side to pull from. It's too easy to tell that she's manufacturing vaguely mischevious facial expressions and delivers many of her lines flatly, mistaking monotone for menacing. The overall effect is we don't believe she had to do much of the conniving attributed to her to get into dad's bed. She's simply the hot blonde hanging around after his wife died; a wife that couldn't give him any for quite awhile anyway. Sorry to be blunt. Speaking of the dad, he's played by David Strathairn whom I respect a great deal as an actor. However, he seems to be slumming for a paycheck.

I will say this: the wanna-be boyfriend's back bends at a rather impressive angle.

Fans of The Sixth Sense will likely eat this up and proclaim it an awesome movie. For me, it was way too formulaic, moved way too slow. Seriously, I had no idea 87 minutes could take so long. Still, the last 15 minutes or so elevates the rest of it, making it an overall decent watch that comes up a bit short. Personally, I'm going to seek out the original.

MY SCORE: 5/10