Eduardo Sánchez talks to Macabre Daily about “Satanic Hispanics!”

Trying new things can be scary.  As Eduardo Sánchez recently discovered, they can also be absolutely hilarious.  Sánchez is best-known for being a co-director of “The Blair Witch Project,” but he’s been directing horror for over 2 decades, including a segment in this year’s horror anthology “Satanic Hispanics.”  Dipping his toe into the horror comedy subgenre,  Sánchez’s “El Vampiro” is a slapstick comedy about a vampire who has to make it home before Daylight Savings.  

Sanchez sat down to talk about the origin of “Satanic Hispanics,” working with his screenwriter (and “Clown in a Cornfield” author) Adam Cesare, and the possibility of expanding “El Vampiro” to feature-length.”.

Horror comedy is a new subgenre for you.  How did you get involved with “El Vampiro,” of all the shorts in “Satanic Panic?”

I’ve known Alejandro Brugués since we [directed] TV together. He introduced me to Mike Mendez and we started talking about doing something together.  They came up with this idea for a Latino anthology and they said they were going to call it “Satanic Hispanics,” and I said “I’m in.”  The great thing about anthologies, at least the ones I’ve been a part of, is that they give you a lot of creative freedom.  In this business, it's rare to have that kind of control over anything.  This was an opportunity to do whatever I wanted to do.  I’ve also wanted to do something with Hemky Madera [who plays El Vampiro] for a long time.  We’ve become friends since we worked on “Queen of the South,” and we’ve been trying to get something together.

Eduardo Sánchez, pride of Frederick, Maryland.

The idea for the script came across my desk and I thought it would be good for Hemky.  He agreed and he brought in Patricia [Velasquez, who plays El Vampiro’s wife].  They were friends, but they hadn’t really worked together before and they had great chemistry.  The rest of it was basically pointing the camera and staying out of the way to let Hemky do his thing.  He’s known for his “tougher” roles, so this was an excuse to ham it up and be goofy.  I thought he did a great job.

Did you work with Adam Cesare?

Yeah, he sent me a few ideas and I picked [“El Vampiro”].  I was actually thinking of doing a “serious” movie.  Something scarier.  But once you read something like this you have to do it.  So I immediately thought of Hemky and we started working on it.  Adam and I passed notes back and forth and it was a great working relationship.  Once the actors showed up, we changed a lot of lines to Spanish just to give it a bit of a mix.  The actors translated their own scenes and there was some improv.  All around it was great.  I shot it where I live in Frederick, Maryland, and it was really the local community that came together to make this film.  We try to have fun on a low budget and we definitely squeezed as much fun as we could out of it.

Hemky Madera, seen here losing his deposit from the costume shop.

You could tell even Hemky was having fun even though he’s covered in blood the whole time.

The costume got nasty for sure [Laughs].  But again, Hemky and Patricia are working actors in film and tv, and it was cool that they came down to “slum it” with us.  It was a pleasure to work with them and I hope we can all work together again soon.

Have you ever considered expanding “El Vampiro” into a full-length feature?  There’s a lot you can do with that concept.

Absolutely.  “What We Do in the Shadows” has set the bar, but I always thought there was room for some other flavor of vampire comedy, which Hemky and the crew really set the bar for.  So it depends on where we take it.  We’d obviously have to bring in more characters and get Hemky back in there.  It was a perfect idea for a short, but you’re right that it has the potential to be one long night of him trying to get out.  I can totally see it.

Interview edited for length and clarity.  “Satanic Hispanics” is in theaters this Friday September 15th.  For more, head to the official website.

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