Smart, funny and very, very bloody, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil became a cult sensation after it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010. Alan Tudyk (TV's Firefly) and Tyler Labine (TV's Reaper) starred as best friends Tucker and Dale, respectively, heading to a cabin in the woods for a much-needed vacation. But here's the thing: they dress and talk like the most stereotypical movie hillbillies ever -- the crazy kind that will maim, torture and rape as soon as look at you. So when they cross paths with a group of uppity college kids, the young folks expect the worst, making a series of mistaken assumptions that leads to their untimely demise.
That may not sound like a comedy, but that's one of the reasons the movie is so hilarious. Writers Eli Craig and Morgan Jurgenson are fully aware of all the tired tropes that attend many hillbilly horror movies, and they constantly pull the rug out from the audience, upending expections by showing that we really shouldn't judge people by their appearances. Despite their rough looks, Tucker and Dale are gentle, kind and loving souls who are intensely loyal to each other, and their relationship is memorably portrayed by Tudyk and Labine with good humor and grace.
With all that in mind, it's great to hear that a sequel is in development. Tudyk and Labine made the announcement at the Horrorhound fan convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. They say that the producers of the original film informed them: "We have an outline, we’re honing in on who we want to write it, we really want to make another one." The actors declared their determination not to make a bad sequel.
While that's good news, the note of caution here is that original director and cowriter Eli Craig does not appear to be involved. Obviously he had a good deal to do with the first movie's tonal balance between horror and comic elements, but his potential absence doesn't rule out a good and successful sequel. If a good script emerges, Tudyk and Labine have the comic chops and chemistry to knock a sequel out of the park.
You can watch the video announcement below. [SlashFilm]
