With his film Tucker & Dale vs. Evil playing the crowds at Austin, director Eli Craig is looking to become the American Edgar Wright. We recently had a chance to sit down with him to chat about his new movie, classic horror in general, and plans for the future.

The Flickcast: What are some of your classic horror influences?  I see some Texas Chainsaw in there.

Eli Craig: I really tried to put a lot of different films into this one; I like a lot of the older horror films going back to Sam Raimi and The Evil Dead and a lot of Peter Jackson’s older films—the old zombie slasher films. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a bit of Friday the 13^th, Cabin Fever, and even threw in a little bit of Fargo.

And definitely Wrong Turn. This is basically the opposite of Wrong Turn. And then sprinkled on top is just a little bit of I Love You, Man.

TFC: Is there something about the splatter genre that attracts you?

EC: In regards to I Love You, Man?

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Tonight marks a pretty big night for fans of the USA Network series Psych as it finishes off another successful season. Ending the fourth season will be quite a big episode, as 80’s star Ally Sheedy reprises her role as the serial killer Mr. Yang in “Mr. Yin Presents.” The episode will also stand as a send up to many classic Alfred Hitchcock films in a half-spoof half-homage episode.

We were lucky enough to talk to star James Roday and Sheedy about the episode, and they were able to give us some insight on what we can look forward to seeing. Be sure to catch the season 4 finale on USA at 10 PM EST.

Clearly in this episode there is a lot of Hitchcock references.  James I was wondering if there is anyone else you drew inspiration from – influences from when you were directing this episode?

Roday: You know, I really do try to stay as faithful to Hitchcock as I could both aesthetically and in pacing and I just shamelessly ripped off four or five shots straight out of his films, quite frankly.  It was an homage episode and I’m a Hitchcock fan, and Andy Berman who wrote the episode with me, is a Hitchcock fan.  As much as we could get away with doing Hitchcock in a Psych episode that’s definitely what we set out to do. 

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Every once in a while, we’ll get an opportunity to check out a new indie film from out of nowhere and get blown away by it. Sadly, this happens less often than we would like, but in this case, it was completely true.

We recently got to check out the short film The Legacy, written and directed by Mike Doto, about a boy who discovers that his father is the world’s greatest superhero. The film is, by all definitions of the word, fantastic. It captures some of the elements that made the original Superman films so great, without treading into campy territory.

With that in mind, we got a chance to sit down with the writer/director of the film, Mike Doto, about what it took to make the project, and where he goes from here.

The Flickcast: With a concept like The Legacy, what drove you to this idea? Were you a big comic fan growing up? If so, which books were you inspired by the most?

Mike Doto: For The Legacy I really wanted to get back to the roots of why I wanted to be a filmmaker to begin with. I feel like I grew up in a time when movies really connected with kids and I’ve never forgotten the impact that those films have had on me.

Most of these films starred a young protagonist that I could relate to quite easily, films such as E.T., Goonies, Wargames, D.A.R.Y.L., The Last Starfighter, and Back to the Future. What I’ve learned is that these weren’t just kid movies, these were movies for all ages, they appealed to the both the young and the young at heart.  So I thought about what movie I would have written when I was 10-years-old and I decided that I probably would have written a movie about being a superhero.

Superman was my boyhood hero so naturally that’s the hero I wanted to emulate.  In thinking further about the Superman story I decided that it would be more effective to write a film about the relationship between the father and the son since this is at the heart of the Superman character. I actually wasn’t a big comic book fan growing up. I was a huge fan of the Superman movies, but I didn’t really spend much time reading comics.

I would much rather dress up as a superhero or play with my action figures and imagine what that world would be like to live in. Even though a camera wasn’t rolling, I think this was the start of my filmmaking career although I didn’t realize it at the time.

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We at The Flickcast are pretty diligent about serving up all the news that comes out each week. However, try as we may to cover it all, some things occassionally slip by. Well, no longer.

Welcome to On The Radar! This weekly post will be your premiere destination for a comprehensive roundup of items that may be developing stories we’re watching, Twitter commentary, or other relevant news that wasn’t quite ready for prime time just yet.  In short, a grab bag of geek items which are sure to please.

Let’s see what blips are on the radar this week.

‘Zombieland’ devours video rentals

Zombieland dominated the video lists this week, “…on the Nielsen VideoScan Blu-ray Disc chart, “Zombieland” went three for three, bowing at No. 1 and …racked up 31% of its total first-week sales from the Blu-ray Disc.” Way to go Zombieland, we can’t wait for the sequeal.

‘Avatar’ 3D boosts Cineplex ticket sales in Canada

3D showings of Avatar did wonders for Cineplex’s bottom line in Canada, “Despite running for only 13 days during its latest financial frame, “Avatar 3D” was Cineplex’s biggest boxoffice performer during the fourth quarter to Dec. 31, and has done around $74 million in Canadian ticket receipts to date.” No surprise really given the popularity of this film and the fact 3D showings are still being sold, out or causing line-ups.

Geek flicks drive Viacom profits

DVD and Blu-Ray disc sales from Star Trek, Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe stimulated Viacom’s fourth quarter earnings to the tune of $694 million.  Not bad considering the $173 million it made in the same quarter in 2008.  Also helping was the indie hit Paranormal Activity which increased operating expenses by 24%.

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With the second episode airing last Friday on SyFy, things have been picking up quite a lot for the first season of Caprica, the prequel spin off of Battlestar Galactica. Many of us remember the events that took place in the pilot, which hit DVD shelves back in April, and now things are underway for a whole season of action, drama and cylons.

One star in particular has been stirring up some buzz on the web, as Alessandra Torresani’s provocative photo shoot has been circulating around. We got the chance to sit down with star Alessandra, who plays “Zoe”, at New York’s Big Apple Convention. We spoke about her role on the show, how much more we’ll get to see of “Zoe”, and what Alessandra’s plans are now that she’s been introduced to the world of science fiction.

Check out our exclusive interview after the jump, and be sure to catch Alessandra and the rest of the Caprica on SyFy, every Friday night.

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We’re all pretty big fans of the original Showtime series Weeds around The Flickcast offices. The show has managed to stay strong and innovative since it’s launch back in 2005, with plenty of plot twists and fan favorite cameos. One of the main reasons we love the show so much is the use of the ensemble cast, especially any major story arcs with Andy Botwin, played by Justin Kirk.

We recently got a chance to sit down with Justin about the show, his work on the recently released season five DVD, and where he sees the upcoming season going. One cool feature on the DVD is a collection of the University of Andy web shorts. We asked Justin where the idea came from, and he knew that it was already going to be a success.

The writers had done various web-based content over the years. I don’t know if you remember ‘Good Morning, Agrestic’, which was a faux public access channel, but it was all meant to be for the web and DVD’s, which inevitably turned into a big hit. There’s also a new round out right now. We are only 3 episodes deep into round 2, which is going on right now.

One of the biggest events of this past season was the jump ahead six months and the story progressed. Justin was more than excited about that idea when he first heard about it.

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The world of hour-long legal dramas have had a strange relationship with ABC in the past. From their lengthy term with The Practice, to the even longer relationship with the spin-off, Boston Legal, the network seems to give more of a chance to programming that revolves around the courtroom.

With that in mind comes the newest mid-season show, The Deep End. The show brings in an interesting twist on the established genre, focusing more on the lives of the up-and-coming lawyers, with the named partners taking more of a supporting role.

We recently got a chance to sit down with famed actors Billy Zane (Titanic, The Phantom) and Tina Majorino (Waterworld, Corinna Corinna) about their roles, what attracted them to the show in the first place, and where they see their characters going.

Check out the interview after the jump, and be sure to catch The Deep End on ABC every Thursday at 8/7C.

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Tonight marks a big episode for NBC’s freshman medical drama Mercy, as TV veteran James Van Der Beek joins the ranks of Mercy Hospital as the newest doctor. Van Der Beek will be a regular after tonight, which means he’ll be there to mix things up and throw a wrench into the relationships we’ve already come to know and love.

We recently got a chance to talk with the former Dawson, and his intentions on the show.

What I heard about the character’s intentions, I actually learned from the press release: he may be a womanizer, he could have dark secrets, maybe a gambling addiction, we don’t know just yet. What I know about him right now is that he’s somebody who is completely result oriented, and he’s not at all precious with anyone else’s feelings.

If he has a goal, he goes for it, gets to it, and doesn’t really care who he steps on to get there. We’ve got some really sensitive, well-rounded characters developed around him, and he doesn’t care.

Check out more of our interview after the jump, and catch an all-new preview of James Van Der Beek on the Mercy there as well. Catch “Can We Talk About The Big Elephant In The Ambulance” tonight on NBC, at 8pm/7pm Central.

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Last week, we got the fortunate opportunity to visit the set of NBC’s newest medical drama, Mercy. There, we got an official Q & A with the cast of the show, including stars Taylor Schilling, Michelle Trachtenberg, Jaime Lee Kirchner, James Tupper, Diego Klattenhoff, James Legros, Guillermo Diaz, and newly added cast member James Van Der Beek.

One of the stars we got to speak with in particular, Guillermo Diaz, stuck us as interesting. Diaz is best known for playing the bad guy in many roles, from Weeds to The Shield, to guest starring as the drug dealer in plenty of Law & Order or The Closer episodes.

Guillermo is now stepping out of his “bad guy” suit and into the role of the charitable male nurse, Angel. When we asked Diaz about his role change, he was even a bit surprised to be playing the good guy for once.

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We recently brought you news that the newly released video game from comic creator Joe Madureira, Darksiders, may be growing legs and moving onto the world of film. Recently, we got the chance to talk to “Joe Mad” about his video game, and any thoughts he had on adaptations before the game was even released.

Darksiders, which hit game stores on January 5th, is an innovative action-adventure game from the creator of such comics as Battle Chasers and Marvel’s Ultimates 3. In the game takes the role of “War”, one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse, and throws you in a post-apocalyptic world where you must fight your way to the top.

Check out our exclusive interview with Madureira after the jump, and be sure to also check out our hands-on first impressions with Darksiders, which can be found for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 where video games are sold.

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