Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010) Trailer Review (Solo)

Name of film : Tucker and Dale vs Evil

Year released : 2010

Genre of trailer : Comedy

Your mark (after viewing) : 8/10

 

What happened in the trailer?

In this redband trailer we see a group of teenagers driving along the road in a truck when they are passed by two men in another truck who look stereotypically like “hillbillies.” The group of teenagers end up in the woods where they go skinny dipping during the evening. One of the blonde characters falls in the lake which is also being occupied by the two men who are fishing. They see her fall and drag her into their boat to rescue her; however her on looking friends think they’ve captured her. The two men take her to their cabin and look after her while she rests her injured head. Her friends try to get her back but misunderstand the situation by thinking she is digging her own grave when in fact she had offered to help them dig a hole. Her friends end up killing themselves whilst attempting to save her by running into branches, falling in the wood chopper and one even shoots themself. The two men believe the group is on a suicide attack whereas the group think the men are plotting to kill each of them off. The trailer ends with one of the hillbilly’s laying on the floor with half a dead body on top of him, only to be dragged off across his face by the other hillbilly.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?

The trailer establishes the characters well; we know who is who and what role they are playing in the film. Although, according to typical horror conventions, the blonde female character should be the ditzy one who dies but in this trailer the main blonde character appears to be independent and not worried about doing psychical work. We do not know from the trailer if she survives until the end but it is implied that she will. The trailer is comedic but with added gore which will draw audiences in who like the comedy/gore hybrid genre of horror. The body horror effects are realistic and believable which will entice the audience further. I like the idea of making a comedy horror trailer but however feel it is hard to tap into what makes a good comedy piece so will probably venture away from this genre.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful, and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?

One negative point I could make with this is that it could potentially alienate some audiences due to it being so gory. From the trailer you can distinguish a certain amount of gore but primarily it is a comedy so a viewer may buy the film thinking it’s more of a comedy and be put off by the gore. I was not so keen on the font used in the inter-titles as it looked a little bit cheesy. I also felt that the actual vocabulary used was not entirely necessary as the wording didn’t really help establish the narrative. From watching this, I feel I would more than likely stay away from making a gory horror trailer due to the fact that I want to be able to appeal to the widest range of audiences possible.