When properly executed, few genres are as delightful as the horror comedy. Laughs are often used to break the tension in horror movies so this genre just loads in a few more jokes and bit less terror. Also, while every genre has established its own set of rules and cliches, the horror genre seems to have carved those into stone over the course of several decades, and watching any movie play with those conventions is always a treat.

"Tucker and Dale vs Evil" is particularly adept at this. It has an inspired premise: what if the deaths in a slasher movie were simply grisly accidents and the so-called slashers were just two creepy-looking dudes in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's about misunderstanding and judging people by your own prejudices. But it's mainly about people getting killed with power tools. Director Eli Craig and his co-writer Morgan Jurgenson take that premise and plumb every laugh from it that they can. They also respect their characters enough to give them a bit more dimensions than the average horror character...well, the lead characters anyway. The college students on vacation in slasher-land are pretty disposable. But I suppose that giving them too much in the way of personality would undermine the humor of them being dispatched in horrible accidents. And I'm fine with them being treated exactly as they are, because the "accidents" made me laugh harder than any movie I've watched in a long, long time. My wife and I were both doubled over with laughter at times, laughing until we were nearly hoarse. The movie loses some of its steam in the back half and is riddled with a LOT of the poor decision making standard to characters in the horror genre (although that is a big part of the overall joke, so I'm fine with it) but it's a solid, hilarious entry into the comedy horror genre from beginning to end, anchored by a sweet performance by Tyler Labine as Dale, an awkward hillbilly who has problems talking to people. Alan Tudyk and Katrina Bowden (of "30 Rock" fame) are also very good here, and combined with Labine make this gory affair surprisingly sweet. It makes the gore easier to take, and helps the laughs flow more freely. And though Katrina Bowden is given a fair share to do, I do wish the filmmakers would have given her a bit more to do and wouldn't have just left her unconscious for a lot of the film's running time. It's indicative of the convoluted plotting required to keep the film in motion, I suppose, but it does feel a bit lazy after while.

It's not brilliant, and it never achieves the heights of the best films in this genre ("Shaun of the Dead" and "American Werewolf in London") but it is clever, has great gore and infectious energy and is often gut-busting. It pairs well with beers and late nights.