Movies
Director Eli Craig Talks ‘Tucker & Dale vs. Evil’ Sequel Hopes, Scrapped TV Series
15 years removed from its Sundance debut, fans are still clamoring for the long-gestured sequel to Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.
In a recent interview with /Film, director/co-writer Eli Craig spoke about the the follow-up to the horror-comedy’s many false starts.
“Honestly, Tucker & Dale 2 has died more deaths than the college kids in Tucker & Dale,” Craig quipped. “We’ve had so many versions that have almost got off its feet or, for one reason or another, have gotten killed. It really does set us back that people can’t look at the box office, the actual box office, of the movie.”
Craig went on to reveal that David Zaslav — the notorious Warner Bros. Discovery CEO who scrapped completed productions like Batgirl, Scoob! Holiday Haunt, and Coyote vs. Acme for tax write-offs — killed a Tucker & Dale TV series.
“It’s always been a struggle, and then when we do set it up, and we get all the pieces together, it gets killed somehow. We almost did a TV show with it that was on TNT/TBS, and you’ll be happy to know that David Zaslav, the slayer of all cinema [laughs], came in and put the final nail in the coffin for Tucker & Dale as we were about to go to series, and just cancelled all production.”
Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk were set to reprise their titular roles on the show, which Craig described as “like Tucker & Dale, but detectives. Detective Tucker and Dale stupidly trying to figure out what’s happening in a world where they’re always getting it wrong and people are dying around them.”
Despite the hardships, Craig is keeping hope alive for a sequel.
“I’ve never completely let go of the idea we’d make a sequel. And part of the reason people want to see a sequel is because it’s set up for it. Tucker & Dale, when I wrote it, there were these elements I wanted to follow, like Chad is still alive, Allison and Dale’s story. So I always wanted to do a sequel, but Hollywood is a slayer of great ideas. But stay alive, fans! Because there’s always a possibility.”
In the 2010 film, affable hillbillies Tucker and Dale are mistaken for murderous psychos by a group of vacationing college kids. As the misunderstanding grows, so does the body count.
Craig’s latest film, Clown in a Cornfield, opened in theaters this past weekend to the tune of $3.6 million, giving IFC its biggest opening in history.
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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