Horror Thoughts ‘12—Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2011) ***

R, 89 min.

Director: Eli Craig

Writers: Eli Craig, Morgan Jurgenson

Starring: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, Philip Granger, Brandon McLaren, Christie Laing, Chelan Simmons

For decades, Hollywood has committed an atrocious injustice. It has perpetuated one of the grossest social class prejudices of our lifetimes. That gross stereotyping of the horror genre is the notion that rednecks and hillbillies are all sociopathic killers. For ages, we’ve watched teenaged and college-aged morons truck off into a cabin in the woods well past the gas station that is well designated as the “Last Chance for Gas”, get themselves hacked up in every manner possible and some never dreamed of, and who always gets the blame. The redneck, that’s who. The poor redneck, who never did anything violent to anyone (except maybe the occasional deer or duck), who just dreams of their very own vacation fixer upper in the deep woods, so they can get away from the daily grind of the… Last Chance Gas Station.

Finally, a filmmaker has dared to expose the truth about these victimized hillbillies. He gives us Tucker and Dale, two good ‘ole boys looking for some vacation time in Tucker’s new cabin in the woods. Along come these college kids and suddenly it becomes clear how things can be misinterpreted to seem as if these hillbillies are responsible for the deaths of the beautiful people.

Like this year’s “The Cabin in the Woods”, “Tucker and Dale vs Evil” has a great deal of fun playing with the clichés of the dead teenager movie. “Woods” goes a great deal further than just playing with clichés. “Tucker and Dale” on the other hand is content to merely play as good ‘ole boys will do.

There are quite a few laughs as the college kids have a knack for finding original ways to die and even more original ways to make it look as if it is at the hands of Tucker and Dale. Poor Tucker and Dale just have to take it. For they are at the mercy of the dead teenager plot as so often audiences are. Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk are just about perfect as the not so stupid, but oh so innocent rednecks. It all makes for a jolly and bloody good time.