Exclusives
Eli Craig Talks Possible ‘Tucker & Dale’ Sequel and Next Potential Project: A Horror-Comedy Taking on the “Devil Child Genre”
During my one-on-one sit-down interview today with Tucker & Dale vs. Evil director Eli Craig at Comic-Con – where he’s promoting the upcoming September 30th release of the hick-tastic horror/comedy – he opened up a bit about his future in the horror genre now that his beloved pet project will finally be seeing the light of day (thanks to indie genre distributor Magnet).
On a possible Tucker & Dale sequel: “You know, I’ve kinda learned the hard way to not talk too much about sequels…[and] I don’t wanna get too promotional about a second movie, but we do have a treatment,” said Craig. “Mainly the reason is because Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine are just so much fun to work with. They played off each other so well. They feel like a comedy duo…[like a] Nick Frost/Simon Pegg kind of duo. And I don’t even know. I really wanna put them in a movie again. I mean, I just can’t imagine a better working situation. So that’s where the sequel comes from, and if it’s another ‘Tucker & Dale’ that’s great. I feel like they’re quality characters I’d like to breathe life into again. But if it were them in another movie, that’s a possibility too.”
On his possible next project, which he’s currently writing the script for: “Well, I’m working on another horror/comedy,” he told me. “We’ll see how this one goes over! But I can’t help but take a stab at the whole ‘devil child’ genre. ‘The Omen’, and…I love killer children! I don’t know what it is!…People are probably gonna think I’m crazy, but I wanna make a comedy out of that! [Laughs]…I’ve seen ‘The Omen’ a bunch too, right? And ‘The Exorcist’, which to me is probably the greatest horror film of all time still. But I think there’s a lot of comedy in there if you play it right. You know, you have like some like some demented-looking baby…’oh, you have a dermatitis problem, sweetie, let’s just cover up your skin!’ You know, and you have this overly doting, loving mother, that just tries to compensate for their evil son, you know?” [Laughs]
A bedtime lullaby soothes an unsettling newborn in our exclusive clip from Nightborn, from Hatching filmmaker Hanna Bergholm.
The dark fable makes its debut on Shudder on July 31.
Seidi Haarla (Compartment No. 6) and Rupert Grint (Knock at the Cabin, “Servant”) star as new parents in Nightborn, and this exclusive clip highlights mom’s harrowing transition into motherhood.
In Nightborn, “With dreams of starting a perfect family, Saga and her British husband Jon move to the isolated house where she spent much of her childhood, deep in the Finnish forest. But as soon as their baby is born, despite the reassurance of all around her, Saga knows there’s something terribly wrong with her son. As their marriage starts to crack, Jon struggles to support his wife, but only Saga suspects the terrible truth about her newborn.”
Pamela Tola, Pirkko Saisio, Rebecca Lacey and John Thomson also star.
Bergholm teased of her maternal horror movie, “In Nordic countries, there’s a long-standing mythology of trolls living in the forests. In ancient times, people truly believed that trolls inhabited the woods and had a kind of control over nature. And in Nightborn, the forest reflects Saga’s emotions and the animalistic, primitive physical side of humankind.”
“Hanna Bergholm’s audacious sophomore follow up to Hatching delivers tension and shocking moments surrounding parenthood and self discovery — with a touch of humor,” said Emily Gotto, senior vice president of acquisitions and production at Shudder. “We are thrilled to share Nightborn with audiences.”