Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

This horror comedy takes a classic genre trope—good-looking city kids tormented by grimy rednecks in the backwoods—and turns it inside out. Drawling buddies Tucker (Alan Tudyk), the “smart” one, and Dale (Tyler Labine), a sweetly stupid idiot savant, are the proud owners of a vacation home: a rotting cabin that apparently once belonged to a disciple of notorious murderer and body snatcher Ed Gein. Their idyllic life is interrupted by a group of frat boys and sorority girls who see a potential psycho lurking within every hillbilly cliché they encounter during their wilderness holiday. Think of it as a comedy of errors with a body count: these arrogant, sneering kids act like they're in a horror film, but wind up inadvertently killing themselves in their ill-advised “pre-emptive” strikes and hysterical flights of panic. Director Eli Craig delivers exaggerated comic violence and over-the-top bloody humor (including a hilarious twist on the Fargo wood-chipper scene), and the great chemistry between Labine and Tudyk helps ground the outrageousness (their gob-smacked reaction to the unprovoked attacks is perfect). Meanwhile, Katrina Bowden shines as Allison, the one sensitive soul who sees the harmlessness behind the titular twosome's rough exteriors. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Eli Craig and costars Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk, a “Tucker & Dale ARE Evil: The College Kids' Point of View” featurette (17 min.), a “making-of” featurette (13 min.), outtakes (8 min.), an HDNet behind-the-scenes segment (5 min.), storyboards, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a creative spin on the horror survival flick.] (S. Axmaker)