Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010) Review

Tagline: When up against pure evil...just giv'er.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010) Review

 

Happy Halloween!

In Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine play Tucker and Dale, two redneck hillbillies who scare some college kids when they first encounter them on the highway, and shortly again at the local gas station. The college kids, led by the slightly unhinged Chad (of course his name is Chad) are going on a camping trip into the woods where some brutal murders happened on Memorial Day weekend years ago, and they suspect the two hillbillies might be dangerous. When it first begins, it seems like it’ll be your typical horror movie premise: evil hillbillies stalk and murder college kids. But, it is not that kind of movie at all. 

Without wasting any time, we get to see Tucker and Dale’s side of the story. They are just two harmless buddies heading up to Tucker’s vacation home, a fixer upper not far from where the college kids are camping. Dale thought the one girl in the group, Ally, was attractive, but when he tried to talk to her at the gas station, it seemed like he was being creepy. He gets a second chance to make another impression, though, when the campers go skinny dipping at night while the two of them are fishing. Ally hits her head on a rock and gets knocked out, so Dale dives in and saves her, but to the others, it looks like the two psycho hillbillies have captured her. They try to save their friend, who doesn’t actually need saving at all, and what we end up with is a hilarious and violent situation—or, as Tucker puts it, “one doozy of a day.”  

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is one of the funniest and most original Canadian-produced horror comedies ever made. It had a limited release when it first came out; a friend and I stumbled across it on Netflix years ago, but unfortunately, it still remains relatively unknown in the horror community, and I think that’s because of its outwardly generic appearance at first glance. The writing is nothing short of genius. If you’re familiar with horror movie conventions, you’ll easily be able to see how the college kids are interpreting the events, but seeing both perspectives just makes it even funnier. Poor Tucker and Dale are befuddled by what happens, the kids are terrified, and every new situation or event builds on the previous one. Just to give an example, as one college kid approaches the cabin, Tucker accidentally saws into a log with a bee hive in it and gets swarmed by bees. This prompts him to swing his chainsaw around while screaming, swatting at the bees, but it’s clear how the kid is seeing it: he thinks this psycho is running after him with a chainsaw trying to kill him! The whole thing is the perfect blend of coincidence, absurdity, and clever humour. 

Tucker and Dale are extremely likable characters, thanks in no small part to the commitment from Labine and Tudyk, plus their great chemistry. The teens are what you’d expect, but they generate many genuine laughs. There’s more to it than just humour. It is a blend of comedy and horror (but more comedy) because the real villain comes to light toward the end as the college kids get killed off one by one, and it leads to a kick ass finale. It’s not all gore and laughs, either. There are some genuinely wonderful character moments, and even a couple real-world lessons to be learned: don’t judge people by the way they look, and learn how to deal with past trauma in a healthy way. Trying to find genuine criticisms is tough. If I had to cite anything, it would be that the cinematography isn’t that appealing. The colours are washed out and the camera work is unremarkable. That’s pretty much it. There isn’t really anything bad I have to say.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is criminally underrated, and I felt like it was my duty to help spread the word about it. At first glance, it doesn’t look like much, but if you could only watch one of the movies I’ve reviewed over this past month, I recommend this one the most. It’s just like the lesson learned within the film itself: sometimes, you have to take a chance on something, and sometimes, that chance pays off.  

 

This concludes the eighth year in a row of Clayton’s Creepy Cinema! I hope you found some enjoyable movies to watch this October, and until next time, have a safe and happy Halloween! 

The Exorcist (1973) Review

Tagline: Something beyond comprehension is happening to a girl on this street, in this house . . . a man has been sent for as a last resort. That man is The Exorcist.

 

The Exorcist (1973) Review

 

One of the few concepts that truly terrified me as a child was the idea of being possessed by evil. It has been done so many times over in mainly average-to-terrible horror films that you could compare it to the concept of a killer shark movie. The reason that’s such a good comparison? In the same way Jaws became the definitive killer shark movie when it came out in 1975 and has never been topped, The Exorcist (which came out two years earlier) became the definitive possession film, and while there have been other good ones since, none have achieved the same level of success or realism.

If you don’t know the story of The Exorcist, the actual summary of what it’s about might surprise you. It’s not a religious-driven tale, even, it’s just a family drama sewn into some of the most disturbing horror scenes and concepts ever to feature in a major motion picture. Chris MacNeil is an actress working and living in Georgetown, and for some inexplicable reason, her daughter Regan starts showing some worrying behavioral traits. These escalate and lead to many tests by doctors who cannot figure out what’s wrong with her, and Chris realizes there is something truly evil trying to take over her daughter’s body. In conjunction with this storyline is that of Father Karras, a psychiatrist whose faith is already on shaky ground, and the film opens with a different priest, Father Merrin, working at an archaeological site in Iraq, in what seems like a totally unrelated event. Merrin is the exorcist who eventually accompanies Karras in helping purge the demon from innocent Regan before it’s too late. 

The Exorcist was so popular when it came out that it actually almost became ruined by its own success. Nothing like it had ever been seen before, and the reactions were so dramatic they permeated popular culture and gave the film the reputation of being the scariest movie of all-time. Years ago, there was the TV miniseries The 100 Scariest Movie Moments on Bravo, and I was surprised to see them rank Exorcist at #3, behind only Alien and Jaws. I think this is a fair ranking myself, but I wouldn’t argue with anyone who thinks Exorcist deserves the number one slot, because despite its reputation, I know very, very few people who weren’t affected by watching it.

For myself, it was in grade eleven, after years of being told it was too scary for me to see, that I finally sat down one day after school and watched it from beginning to end. The core principle of what makes it so disturbing and haunting is the violation of innocence. This innocent, sweet child is subjected to forces completely out of her control and out of her mother’s control and all adults and all known powers in this world. It takes the power of faith to bring Regan back, and many of the characters don’t even seem that confident in it, which actually makes the stakes feel higher and the horror more real. There’s no specific reason Regan was chosen for possession, and every character has such clear motivation that you’re completely locked in by the time it gets to the actual exorcism. The night after I saw it I was plagued with nightmares of Regan’s blank white eyes and that inhuman growling voice spewing words from her mouth no child should ever say (not to mention the green puke, too), and I realized this was the scariest movie I had ever seen up to that point.

When I watch it now, after knowing all the behind-the-scenes tricks and crafty camera work (this seems like the best spot to note that the film is a technical masterpiece and the fact that every effect was done in-camera is truly staggering, since nearly every effects shot holds up under scrutiny), it doesn’t seem as scary as it used to, but it still has this timeless shock value and grim quality that I don’t think will ever go away. It isn’t full of gory effects, there aren’t many big jump scares, and there isn’t a high body count, but the psychological horror combined with some potent visuals really dig deep into your subconscious. It’s no wonder there were so many sequels, rip-offs, and spoofs to come in its wake: people had to poke fun just to shatter some of the illusion of it being “just a movie” because it really was that effective.

The Exorcist can be described with the phrase “one of the best…” and then have the blank at the end filled in with multiple things. One of the best horror movie makeup designs, created by Dick Smith, inspiring a whole generation of filmmakers, with the grotesque, haunting look for the possessed Regan. One of the best horror movie soundtracks, with the famous Tubular Bells (though there are many memorable scenes without any music at all). One of the best horror movies to be nominated for Academy Awards in all the major categories. One of the best child actor performances. The list goes on. 

This is one of those times when I can compare and comment on the novel upon which the film was based, and it’s yet another example like Jaws or The Silence of the Lambs where a really terrific bestseller served as the perfect source material for a horror film that achieved a level of success rarely seen in the genre. The novel by William Peter Blatty plays out very much the same as the movie, with scenes that are so close you almost can’t picture anything in your head other than scenes from the film if you watched the movie first and know it well. That being said, the novel is still its own thing from the movie, and both are classic in their own ways, but the movie is just so viscerally upsetting that it’s hard to say one is more effective than the other. William Peter Blatty wrote the screenplay, too, and even though he went on to do other things (including write and direct The Exorcist III, the best of the sequels) he would never top this uniquely terrifying story.  

The Exorcist is a tough movie to review these days, because of its resolute place in pop culture and everything that could be said about it pretty much already has been said. If you haven’t seen it, I do recommend it, but only if you really love horror movies. Even though it’s one of those mainstream successes that was seen by everyone, not just the horror crowd, if you don’t like being scared, then you shouldn’t feel like you need to see it to be part of the public consciousness about it. It is scary, plain and simple. 

Psycho Goreman (2020) Review

Tagline: He Will Bathe in Your Blood

Psycho Goreman (2020) Review

 

Given a title like Psycho Goreman, you’d probably expect me to use words in this review like “violent”, “gory”, and “insane” to describe it. All those descriptors definitely apply, but here’s one I bet you wouldn’t expect: wholesome. And as far as the quality of the film? Fantastic.

Luke and Mimi are siblings, and Mimi is always overruling Luke. They play a ball game they made up called “Crazy Ball” and it more than lives up to the name. It’s just the kind of complicated, nonsensical game I remember making up as a child. After Luke loses, Mimi forces him to dig his own grave! Okay, that’s a little darker than the consequences my friends and I would invent. Grave digging gets interrupted when they unearth a glowing gem in the backyard, which summons a sadistic extraterrestrial warlord from the planet Gigax. It turns out as long as Mimi wields the gem she can control the nightmarish creature, which she names Psycho Goreman (“or PG, for short”). PG is forced to hang out with them instead of destroy the entire galaxy like he intends, but a council of aliens intends to locate him and annihilate him once and for all.

Psycho Goreman is just the kind of cheesy sci-fi/horror/comedy that I love. I have no idea what year it’s supposed to be set in, but it definitely has 80’s vibes, despite the kids playing a Nintendo 64 at one point and their dad’s new TV being a flat screen. The special effects are mostly old school (monster suits, puppets, elaborate makeup, even a bit of stop motion), which I enjoyed immensely. There are some unrefined computer generated effects throughout which look like advanced YouTuber quality, but they don’t detract too much from the overall aesthetic or enjoyability. The whole thing is evidently low-budget and a little uneven, but it overcomes those limitations with fun concepts, great character moments, and a particular brand of humour.

PG himself is an awesome character. He reminded me of a Cenobite from Hellraiser mixed with the villain Krall played by Idris Elba in Star Trek Beyond, with a little bit of Captain Holt energy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He has an epic voice, and so many incredible lines of dialogue, some of which are bone chilling, and some are straight-up hilarious. The design for PG is great, too, and the filmmakers were smart enough to know how to utilize him for maximum entertainment value. All other character designs are cool too, or funny, or both. The council of aliens is charming and hysterical, and just wouldn’t have had the same effect if done in cgi or with higher quality practical effects. The little girl Mimi could make or break the movie for some. She’s such an over-the-top brat I couldn’t decide if I loved how much I hated her or hated how much I loved her. She delivers every line with gusto and some of the things she says are truly outrageous, but it gets to be a bit much after a while. Her dad, though, is incredible and hilarious, for reasons I can’t even fully explain.  

Often when a movie features extreme special effects, they are shown with short, precise shots or specific angles, but rarely does the camera linger on them. Psycho Goreman doesn’t shy away from giving the special effects plenty of screen time. An example is when a cop gets his arms and face melted and messed up by PG, but he doesn’t die, he sticks with the trio. Moments like these feel like they go against the norm for the genre in the sense of holding focus on those effects, which I really appreciated. A great comparison is to the guy who gets melted by toxic waste in the original Robocop. He’s all goopy and gross, and we see it for only a few seconds before he gets hit by a car and splatters all over the car’s windshield. Melty cop staggers through multiple scenes, with great close-ups and hilarious moments.

In many ways, it’s a sendup of genre conventions, and the more you're into the kinds of movies it’s sending up the more you’ll enjoy it. It’s R-rated and chocked full of brutal violence and gore, but isn’t plagued with excessive swearing for the sake of being outrageous, and I actually found that refreshing. The kids don’t swear (their repeated use of “frig off” is much funnier than if they had actually sworn) which I appreciated; it adds to that oddly wholesome energy. How could a movie be so wholesome and comedic while featuring a monster who considers it honourable to devour his defeated enemies (which we get to witness)? It’s an impressive accomplishment. You just have to see it to fully comprehend it. 

Psycho Goreman has all the makings of a cult classic, and I hope the right audiences continue to find it. If you subscribe to the horror streaming service Shudder, you can find it there, or on blu ray or VOD. If you do give it a watch, be sure to stay for the hilarious mid-credits scene.