Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is a 2010 black comedy horror film directed by Eli Craig and written by Craig and Morgan Jurgenson. It stars Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Brandon Jay McLaren, Jesse Moss, and Chelan Simmons. Labine and Tudyk play a pair of well-meaning hillbillies who are mistaken for killers by a group of clueless college students. The film premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and received a limited release in the United States.

Plot

A group of college kids – Allison, Chad, Chloe, Chuck, Jason, Naomi, Todd, Mitch, and Mike – go on a camping trip in West Virginia. While at a gas station, they encounter Tucker and Dale, two well-meaning hillbillies who recently bought an abandoned lakefront cabin in the woods. On Tucker's advice, Dale tries to talk to Allison, but his appearance and inferiority complex frightens her and her friends. While Tucker and Dale repair their cabin, Chad tells the group about the "Memorial Day Massacre"; a hillbilly attack that took place 20 years prior. They later go skinny-dipping at a lake where Tucker and Dale are fishing. Startled by the pair, Allison hits her head. The hillbillies save her from drowning, but the others run off, believing they are kidnapping her. The next day, Allison awakens at Tucker and Dale's cabin. Initially frightened, she gradually befriends them. Concurrently, Chuck leaves to get the police while Chad leads the others in heading to the cabin to save Allison from the hillbillies. They arrive as Tucker unknowingly hits a beehive while chopping wood, causing him to wildly swing his chainsaw. Believing he is attacking them, the group scatters, during which Mitch accidentally impales himself on a fallen tree branch. After finding Mitch's body, Chad persuades the others that they are in a battle for survival. They return to the cabin, where they misinterpret Allison and Dale digging an outhouse hole as her digging her own grave and attack. However, Todd impales himself on a spear he brought, Mike dives into a wood chipper while attempting to tackle Tucker, and Allison gets knocked out by Dale's shovel. As Dale takes her inside, Tucker assumes the group are part of a suicide pact and dissuades Dale from calling the police for fear that they will be accused as murderers. Before long, Chuck returns with Sheriff Gurr, who expresses doubt over Tucker and Dale's theory before accidentally killing himself with a loose beam. Chuck grabs Gurr's gun, but shoots himself with it. Chad returns, taking the hillbillies' dog Jangers hostage. Tucker rescues Jangers, but gets captured by Chad, who tortures him and cuts off two of his fingers to lure out Dale. Dale leaves to save Tucker while Chad and Naomi try to rescue Allison. She explains what happened, but they accuse her of having Stockholm syndrome. Tucker and Dale return before Allison leads everyone in a calm discussion, during which Chad reveals his grandmother told him his father died in the Memorial Day Massacre while his mother was the sole survivor. Jason and Chloe break in to save Allison, but a fire breaks out. In the ensuing chaos, Tucker, Dale, and Allison escape; Naomi, Chloe, and Jason are killed; and Chad is injured, disfigured, and rendered insane. The trio try to escape in the hillbillies' truck, but crash. An injured Tucker tells Dale Chad took Allison to an old sawmill, where Chad threatens to kill her for "[going] hillbilly" unless she becomes his girlfriend. However, Dale arrives and rescues her. While barricading themselves upstairs, they find newspaper clippings revealing Chad's father was one of the hillbillies responsible for causing the Memorial Day Massacre. While Chad is distracted by the revelation, Dale throws a box of chamomile tea at him, causing him to have an asthma attack and fall out of a window to his apparent death. Three days later, the police and a news crew arrive at the cabin, concluding the deaths appeared to be part of a suicide pact and a deranged killer, Chad, who survived and kills the news crew. Elsewhere, Tucker convalesces at a hospital while Dale goes bowling with Allison. While there, Dale encourages a fellow hillbilly to talk to some girls, leading to a new misunderstanding while Dale and Allison confess their feelings for each other and kiss.

Cast

Additionally, the film's director, Eli Craig, and his wife Sasha make cameo appearances as a cameraman and reporter respectively.

Production

The production began in June 2009 with the casting of the actors. Principal photography started one month later in Calgary, Alberta. In October 2009, post production ensued in British Columbia, and the first images were released as part of the American Film Market.

Reception

Box office

The film premiered on 22 January 2010 at Sundance Film Festival and was on 12 March 2010 part of the SXSW Film Festival. The film was distributed by Magnolia and received a limited theatrical release in the US on 30 September 2011. On its opening weekend, the film grossed $52,843 from 30 theaters. It grossed $223,838 in the US. It grossed between $5 and $5.3 million outside the US.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 85% of 116 surveyed critic gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.9/10. The critical consensus states: "Like the best horror/comedies, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil mines its central crazy joke for some incredible scares, laughs, and—believe it or not—heart". The film also has a score of 65 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Todd Gilchrist of Shock Till You Drop wrote: "Eli Craig's feature debut celebrates genre conventions while turning the traditional view of horror film heroes and villains upside down." Roger Ebert also gave the film a positive review, writing: "Students of the Little Movie Glossary may find it funny how carefully Tucker and Dale works its way through upended cliches". Noel Murray of The A.V. Club rated it C+ and called it "surprisingly clever" but "too slick and too cute". Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote that the film "offers good-natured, confidently executed splatstick whose frequent hilarity suffers only from peaking too early."

Accolades

Proposed sequel

In an interview with Choice Cuts, director Eli Craig expressed thoughts on a sequel titled Tucker and Dale Go To Yale and described it as "Good Will Hunting meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre". In that same interview, Craig also liked Alan Tudyk's idea of doing a sequel that was similar to From Dusk till Dawn. At HorrorHound Weekend 2014, cast members Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk confirmed that a sequel is in development. In 2016, the two revealed that they are still actively developing the project despite other commitments. When asked of the status of the sequel at Boston Comic Con 2017, Alan Tudyk responded that a script had been written but was disappointing and unlikely to be moving forward.

Remake

A South Korean remake titled Handsome Guys, was released in South Korea on June 26, 2024.