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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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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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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Writer David Leslie Johnson is pretty new to a lot of people, but he plans to be making a name for himself this Friday, as his film Orphan hits theaters across the country. The film is about a married couple who go through an abortion and decide that adoption is their last chance at having a child.

They meet Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) who, on the outside, seems perfect, but later shows herself to be something “different.” We got a chance to sit down with David right before the hoopla at San Diego Comic-Con and talk about a few things.

The Flickcast: Given the premise of Orphan, would you call it more of a supernatural horror or more like a suspense thriller?

David Johnson: It has horror elements but it plays more like a suspense thriller. My mother actually compared it to films like Fatal Attraction and Cape Fear.

TF: So more of the human condition?

DJ: Yes, absolutely.

TF: A movie like this seems to stem from a history of horror and suspense thrillers, did you pick up a lot of influences from other films for the script?

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We recently got a chance to chat with Josh Keaton, the voice actor who, as of late, has been lending his pipes as the titular hero in Disney XD’s The Spectacular Spider-Man. He spoke about playing the character, the laundry list of cameos, and which other characters he’d love to voice in the world of comics.

The Flickcast: Playing a character like Spider-Man has got to be a big deal for anybody who knows the character, are you a fan of the comic?

Josh Keaton: I am. I grew up as a huge fan of Spider-Man, and I’m still a huge comic book geek, so it’s definitely a really cool thing to be able to say “Hey, I’m Spider-Man!”

TF: You’re not only known for playing Spider-Man, but you also have a cool Spidey-themed ride, correct?

JK: [laughing] Oh, yea. I have a Mini Cooper, and I like how everybody puts big graphics on the flat roof, so I have the poster art from season one of Spectacular Spider-Man up there. Also, my license plate reads “THWIPP”.

TF: Very cool. Being a voice actor, do you find yourself changing demeanor between Peter Parker and his costumed alter ego?

JK: A little bit. It’s not so much a physical change in the voice as much as an attitude shift. When he’s Spider-Man, he has a lot more confidence, and at first he’s that way because he’s able to do all the things that Peter Parker can’t do, but as the show progresses it starts changing a bit where he has to play up his “dorky side” as Peter to continue to conceal the fact that he is Spider-Man.

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