From the director of nothing and the writer of also-nothing comes a movie for everyone, where victims and killers are one and the same and the bad guys are actually the good guys and the good guys are also the bad guys and lots of people die gruesome deaths and each death is funnier than the last. Yes, it's Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, one of the funniest and ingenious movies of 2011.

A horror-comedy if there ever was one, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is about two lovable Virginian hillbillies (Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine) who have journeyed to their vacation home in the woods. Their holiday is interrupted when they have to save a beautiful college student named Allison (Katrina Bowden) from drowning.

Unfortunately, Allison's friends think they've kidnapped her and decide to go on the offensive to rescue her. Instead, one by one they end up dying in freak accidents, which are subsequently misinterpreted as horrible, deranged murders.

So, like I said, it's a horror movie where the victims are also the killers, and the bad guys are really the good guys.

As a horror movie, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil isn't much. It has some great, gory death sequences - much better than those found in most horror movies, frankly - but it isn't even momentarily scary. Nor is it meant to be. The movie makes fun of the genre while embracing it, much like Scream only not at all, with a full emphasis on laughs and Harold and Kumar whimsy. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is absurdly over-the-top and yet satisfyingly relatable.

As clever as the movie is, it works largely thanks to the three leads. Tudyk ("Firefly") and Labine ("Invasion", "Sons of Anarchy") are priceless. They have great chemistry together and play their parts to perfection. Labine is especially strong as Dale, a romantically cursed bumpkin who doesn't have a violent cell in his body. Bowden is also very good as the love interest and voice of reason among the "stupid college kids."

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is one of the funniest, most entertaining movies of 2011. It's deserving of a broader release than it's receiving, though on the positive side it's currently available on Video On Demand. Let's hope to see more Tucker & Dale adventures, but in the mean time, watch this movie now. No, seriously. Like right now.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.