Tucker and Dale are best friends on vacation at their dilapidated mountain house, who are mistaken for murderous hillbillies by a group of college kids. A film by Eli Craig, starring Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, Philip Granger, Brandon McLaren, Christie Laing, Chelan Simmons, Travis Nelson, Alexander Arsenault, Adam Beauchesne, Joseph Sutherland, and Karen Reigh.

Directed by American filmmaker Eli Craig in his directorial debut from a screenplay he co-wrote with Morgan Jurgenson, TUCKER & DALE vs. EVIL is a rare breed of horror-comedy film which isn’t a typical mindless comedy or parody that spoofs other horror movies.

The main plot follows the classic slasher film formula: a group of male and female college students go on a trip to a remote forest. This particular forest has a local legend about a pair of killers who murdered a group of teenagers there 20 years ago and were never caught.

Tucker and Dale are two best friends who have just bought their dream vacation cabin and are heading to their very rundown retreat. Along the way, they encounter the group of college students, who flee in terror due to Dale’s intimidating appearance and scruffy beard, which frightens the women.

The group of young people sets up camp and goes night swimming, which happens to coincide with Tucker and Dale’s fishing trip. They rescue a drowning woman and pull her onto their boat.

When the teenagers see Dale dragging their friend onto the boat in the middle of the night, they jump to the wrong conclusion, thinking Tucker and Dale are psychotic killers.

They devise a plan to storm in and rescue their friend, but through a series of unfortunate timing and mishaps, the would-be rescuers end up getting themselves killed instead.

This only convinces the remaining teenagers that Dale and his friend are indeed murderers, while Dale and Tucker believe the teenagers are some kind of death cult planning mass suicide in the forest. The situation spirals completely out of control from there.

This Canadian horror film is incredibly entertaining as a comedy, even though death is certainly no laughing matter. It masterfully blends horror, fun, excitement, humor, romance, love, and blood-splattering gore into a perfectly balanced mix. The screenwriters really knew what they were doing!

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 22 January 2010. It was theatrically released in Russia on 17 December, where it grossed over $3 million USD during its theatrical run. The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States on 30 September 2011.