Movies
SXSW ’10 REVIEW: Another Look at ‘Tucker and Dale vs Evil’
Ryan Daley reviewed the film at this past Sundance Film Festival, now below you’ll find Tim Anderson’s take on Eli Craig’s horror-comedy Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, which is called “a backwoods comedy of horrific errors” in which two unsuspecting buddies, Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine), fall victim to the crazed machinations of a group of spring breakers who have mistaken them for backwoods killers. Keep up with all of our SXSW coverage by clicking here.
Tucker (Alan Tudyk, Serenity) and Dale (Tyler Labine, Reaper) are just your everyday average, overall-wearing, redneck, hillbilly, backwoods, country boys. But hey, they got dreams too. And, Tucker’s dream is to buy a vacation home. So, when the pair arrive at their newly purchased ramshackle cabin in the woods, they’re so excited, or perhaps clueless, that they totally ignore the bee hives, the leaky roof, the rotting floor and all the serial killer décor that adorns the crusty spotted-brown walls. Sure the whole place looks like a death trap and a stiff wind might blow the roof off at any second, but damnit, this is home, and Tucker and Dale are just thrilled to be here for some quality fishing time. Of course things never go as smoothly in a horror film as one would like, and when a group of doofy college kids show up, it’s only a matter of time before Tucker and Dale’s little vacation time turns into the holiday from hell.
Thanks to a little happenstance, one sexy co-ed Allison (Katrina Bowden) bumps her head on a rock skinny dipping in the vicinity of our hapless hayseed heroes. When Dale rushes to rescue her, in the dark and foggy night, the other half-wit college kids swear they just watched their friend get kidnapped. When they try to rescue her from the “evil” Tucker and Dale, that’s when the hilarity ensues. In their efforts to save their friend, the college kids one by one `accidentally’ kill themselves off–every new death effectively blamed on our intrepid heroes. For Tucker and Dale’s part, the daft duo are absolutely horrified by the senseless carnage and assume it must be some kind of sick suicide pact.
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is s seriously one-note flick, but into that single solitary comedy of errors-set up is delivered every possible fulfilled promise. There are boatloads of bloodshed, but it’s almost all punctuated with a slapstick smack of silliness. The stunts that you can see coming are still hilarious and the ones you don’t anticipate detonate like a smart bomb against your funny bone.
The film wouldn’t work half as well if it weren’t for the “best friends forever” chemistry of leads Tudyk and Labine. Both actors–who are instantly recognizable by genre fans (even if you can’t place their names)–shouldn’t be able to blend as seamlessly into their personas as they do. It’s a testament to their skill that we believe immediately that not only are they who they say they are, but that they really have been friends for life. This instant connection really helps the audience bridge the gap between simply viewing a jokey film and actively participating in the journey that takes place on screen. It also helps us suspend disbelief a little bit easier when an unsuspected relationship between Allison and Dale begins to blossom. As the pair of “least likely’s” connect and progress very believably (even if it seems unbelievable) we can’t help but root for the crazy kids to make it out alive.
Horror comedy is hardly a venue for great characterization and development, and aside from Tucker, Dale and Allison, everyone else in the film is your requisite Friday the 13th cast of cardboard cutout kids that are destined for the business end of a sharp stake or the gnashing teeth of a good old wood chipper. But the crazy glue that holds these three leads together is something very special and that sense of camaraderie elevates Tucker and Dale far above your run of the mill gore-drenched gut buster.
4/5 Skulls
Ghostface is back on the big screen this weekend… well, sort of… with the release of Scary Movie, which marks the Wayans brothers’ return to the horror spoof franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2 back in the day. It’s likely to be the talk of the horror community for the weekend, but don’t overlook the other six genre movies that were freshly unleashed today.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Friday, June 5, 2026.
The horror spoof franchise is back with Scary Movie now playing in theaters!
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directs Scary Movie 6 from a script written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, original Scary Movie director Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans (Scary Movie 2), and Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House).
From IFC, shark attack movie Chum is now available on Digital.
Alice Eve (Haunting of Queen Mary) stars in shark attack movie alongside Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock, Elle Haymond, Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat.
This one sounds very similar to last year’s Dangerous Animals…
Here’s the plot: “A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.”
Jonathan Zuck directs Chum, from a script by Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) come together in Carolina Caroline, a sexy crime thriller now playing in theaters.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but it’s worth a mention here all the same.
Kyra Sedgwick (Family Movie) and Jon Gries also star in the romantic crime thriller.
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s film stars Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast.
Adam Rehmeier previously directed the films Dinner in America and Snack Shack.
Tom Dean wrote the screenplay for Carolina Caroline.
Similar to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming big screen blockbuster Disclosure Day, Signal One explores humankind’s enduring question: what if we aren’t alone in the universe?
The sci-fi thriller is now available on Digital.
Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Josh Hutcherson (Five Nights at Freddy’s), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Raoul Bhaneja (Possessor), Emma Ho (“The Expanse”), and Dennis Quaid (The Substance) star in Signal One from director Jonathan Sobol (The Art of the Steal).
When tech billionaire Sam Houston (Quaid) hires the brilliant computer scientist Annika (Fuhrman), she ventures to an isolated facility run by the brilliant, nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine which can communicate with alien intelligence.
Annika soon learns some humanity-altering facts: that we are not alone in the universe, that alien intelligences are communicating around us at every moment, and that we are likely too primitive to even remotely understand what they are trying to tell us.
When the goal of the endeavor shifts from listening to talking back, the project rapidly devolves into chaos. With contact comes consequences, and soon Annika and the team must work to ensure the very survival of our species.
A schoolyard dare becomes an urban legend in the creepypasta-inspired horror anthology The Summoning. The indie film is now available on Digital from Brainstorm Media.
“A babysitting gig becomes a nightmare of urban legend when three teens summon Baby Blue. Survival depends on uncovering the past to escape a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave.”
Felipe Vargas (Rosario, Hive), Sergio Gonzalez, Brandon Piskorik, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk direct the segments. Valeria San Martín, Justina Ceballos, Daniela Flombaum, Nannu Spannauss, Agustín Olcese, and Giovanni Onetti star.
The Summoning is written by Camilo Zaffora.
Happy Death Day actress Jessica Rothe stars as a mom struggling to keep her grip on her sanity and memory in the mind-bending Affection, now available on Digital at home.
In Affection, “Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again.“
Joseph Cross (“Big Little Lies”) and Julianna Layne (“Chicago P.D.”) also star in the sci-fi horror thriller. Affection marks the feature debut by writer/director BT Meza.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review out of the film’s premiere, “Affection is steeped in existential questions and fears that plague modern society, while it embraces the ethos of the ’80s through bold body horror. Add to that Rothe’s revelatory performance, and Affection is a hidden gem that will connect with your mind, body, and soul.”
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s latest dark fairy tale, The Ice Tower, loosely reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Snow Queen,” and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
In the ’70s set film, “Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot of a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.“
Clara Pacini stars as Jeanne. August Diehl and Marine Gesbert also star in The Ice Tower, and look for a cameo from director Gaspar Noé (Climax, Irréversible).
“For me, The Ice Tower solidified Lucile Hadžihalilović’s place amongst the most fascinating creators of fairy tales today,” said distributor Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick.
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