AN SUV FULL of douchey college kids sets off into the woods for a camping trip in the Appalachians. They stop at a backwoods store. And there, at the creepy yokel Plaid Pantry, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil begins its supreme send-up of the horror genre. Director/writer Eli Craig's first feature blends broad (and hysterical) slapstick with tons of gross gore, loveable characters, and a genius upside-down riff on a horror trope.

Two hillbillies seem to menace the co-eds on their drive into the woods, leering at the kids and drinking beer after beer in their pickup truck, but it's just Dale (Tyler Labine) and Tucker (Alan Tudyk), two crusty but sweet BFF hillbillies out for their first trip to their new cabin—a dilapidated shack full of cobwebs and ominous newspaper clippings. They are perfectly flummoxed why these preppy kids are so freaked out by them, especially after they save the pretty Allison (Katrina Bowden) from drowning in a skinny-dipping accident, letting the unconscious girl recover in their Evil Dead vacation home. But all the clueless college chuckleheads see are two ominous hillbillies making off with Allison's semi-nude body, so they set off to rescue her.

Through an elaborate string of misunderstandings and happenstance, one by one the college kids start to die in bloody and delightfully ludicrous ways. Meanwhile, Tucker and Dale can't wrap their heads around why Allison's friends would be committing what looks to be seppuku all over their property. It's a joke you'd think would get old, but Tucker & Dale vs. Evil keeps the laughs coming strong and steady, through blood and guts and eviscerations. And because Labine and Tudyk play the hillbilly besties as so gruff and charming and doofy, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is a perfectly apt title—part buddy movie, part horror flick, and all-out funny.