‘In Case You Missed It’ Review – Tucker & Dale vs Evil

This is perfect for the ‘In Case You Missed It’ moniker, because smart money says – you did. It played hardly anywhere and was slid threw completely under the radar. This movie is currently touting a 7.6 on IMDb, and a staggering 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s the trailer…

So a lot of people are comparing this movie to stuff like Shaun of the Dead. And while I don’t think it’s as good as Shaun of the Dead, I can see the reasoning behind the comparison. I think however, it’s more like Club Dread (a movie I was apparently alone in liking), or what Scary Movie should’ve been like.

It starts of with Tucker (Alan Tudyk – Firefly, Dodgeball) and Dale (Tyler Labine – Reaper, Sons of Tucson) driving to go see the new ‘Vacation Home’ Tucker bought, ultra excited to finally be living the good life. In classic horror movie fashion they encounter some borderline, mildly retarded college kids. A group whose makeup reminded me quite a bit of Cabin Fever.

Except in this case our protagonists aren’t the intrepid students, but the hillbillys instead. The table is set when the kids almost hit them on the road, and they catch up looking as creepy as possible. Nothing says ‘Class’ like a shirtless redneck driving around drinking.

The first real encounter between the groups however is at the gas station. And it’s priceless. Dale sees and instantly falls for one of the girls – Allison (Katrina Bowden – 30 Rock, Piranha 3DD). Tucker and Dale though, look like nothing more than crazed hill people to the kids, and this first meeting doesn’t go so well for the kind intentioned Dale. Tucker convinces his friend that he needs to be more confident, and just go talk to the girl. When Dale tries to make small talk with the beauty though, he isn’t meet by open minds.

Perhaps it’s the sickle (or scythe if your picky)…

Needless to say, Dale fails to garner Allison’s digits and both parties go their own ways. After this Tucker delivers a beautifully heart-felt speech about how good a guy Dale is, and that the girl doesn’t deserve him anyway.

They pull up to their new ‘Vacation Spot’ and though it looks more like a ‘project’ than a ‘move right in’ situation, they’re thrilled. So while our beloved hillbillys are sorting though the cabin, the students have made campfire and are sharing scary stories. What appears to be the lead Frat Boy – Chad (Jesse Moss – Final Destination 3, Double Dragon), tells the others about a series of murders that took place in those very woods some 20 years earlier. The murders were perpetrated by a group of hillbillys. This of course feeds into the imaginations of our young dumb campers, including The Killing star Brandon Jay McLaren.

The scary story campfire is immediately (of course) followed by some skinny dipping! This is when things really start to get moving. Dale and Tucker are out for a peacefully moonlit fishing trip when the skinny dippers show up and noisily leap into the water. Allison however sees the fishermen and, startled, falls into the water and hits her head.

Dale quickly dives in to save her. As he they pull her out of the water, her friends see it from a far and misunderstand the situation. Assuming the hillbillys have ‘captured’ her, the kids pretty much declare war on Tucker and Dale.

From here it’s a non-stop Death-fest with Frat Boys dying left and right, at their own hands that is. From spears to guns to wood chippers, it’s an all you can kill (yourself) bonanza.

As the college kids continue to drop, it becomes more and more clear that Chad is a bit unhinged. It turns out that it was his family that was involved in the hillbilly killings all those years earlier. His mother was raped and he is in fact half-hillbilly. He turns evil and decides to kill everyone. Then like something out of an episode Adam West’s Batman, Chad takes Allison and ties her to a logging buzz saw. Classic villainy.

I don’t want to spoil anymore of the movie, so I’ll leave it there. Personally, if I were Eli Craig (the Director) I’d be pretty pissed. With the amount of garbage that comes out now, here is an immensely enjoyable movie and its taken over a year to get a release.  Good cast and great execution. If you can find it, watch it. 3.5/5 Bears.