Horror anthology Satanic Hispanics assembles five Latin American horror filmmakers to celebrate Hispanic talent in front of and behind the camera, curating tales that spotlight Hispanic myths and legends. Uniting four tales of terror is Satanic Hispanics‘ wraparound from producer/director Mike Mendez (Don’t Kill It, Big Ass Spider, The Convent).

In Mendez’s wraparound, a police raid uncovers a grisly crime scene full of dead bodies. They take the sole survivor, a man that refers to himself as “The Traveler” (Efren Ramirez), into custody for answers. The Traveler attempts to explain the bizarre events that led up to his capture to skeptical detectives Gibbons (Sonya Eddy) and Arden (Greg Grunberg). He entertains them with four tales of supernatural encounters, hoping to persuade them to let him go.

Ahead of the film’s theatrical release on September 14 (tickets on sale now), Bloody Disgusting spoke with the filmmaker about the challenges of curating an anthology and helming a wraparound that doubles as a standalone story.

Satanic Hispanics was conceived by Mendez and fellow filmmaker Alejandro Brugués (Juan of the Dead), who directs raucous segment “Hammer of Zanzibar.” With filmmakers Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock), Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project), and Demian Rugna (Terrified) locked into their respective shorts, that left the wraparound to Mendez.

The filmmaker explains his approach: “I think making anthologies, there’s a certain art form to it, and I still haven’t cracked the perfect one. I will keep trying, but I think it’s about finding the right filmmakers, finding the right subject matter, and then how do you make it all flow? I had an idea a long time ago about this character named The Traveler, and basically the idea was that there was this guy that was immortal and he could travel all over the country, all over the world, and he’s been around forever. He knows everything, how to play every instrument; he’s got all this knowledge. But there was a reason he had a very high price for his immortality, which is that death is always following him, so he always has to be on the move.

“I never knew what to do with that character, but I always thought that was an interesting thing. I always thought maybe that’s a supporting character in another movie or something like that. Then when the opportunity to do this came out, I was like, man, The Traveler actually lends himself to be a Crypt Keeper, because he’s traveled. He’s seen these lands, he knows these worlds. That became the framework. I’m a big fan of The Terminator. I like the famous Schwarzenegger police raid in The Terminator, and Demon Knight was also a big influence. I thought, what if we did a Demon Knight/Terminator kind of framework, and he had different stories that could then kick off into whatever story that we wanted to tell. Hopefully if we gave enough parameters of do a myth or legend of Latin America, make it about 20 minutes, shoot it in the 2.35 aspect ratio, and hopefully if we communicate enough, I can weave as I film my stuff, start off to your story and return. So is it perfect? No, but that is the challenge when you’re out there.”

Mendez continues, “These shorts were all shot in different parts of the world. One was shot in Argentina, one was shot in Mexico, one was shot in Maryland, two were shot in LA. So trying to unify something like that is a challenge. But I think partially by picking cool filmmakers and everyone being on board with the wraparound, we were able to do it and they were able to do something that I think is more cohesive than your typical anthology.”

Casting a Crypt Keeper-like storyteller to introduce each tale required a charismatic presence, someone capable of conveying a Traveler whose lived a supernaturally long life. Enter Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite), playing against type.

Mendez walks Bloody Disgusting through Ramirez’s casting, “I made Greg Grunberg my casting director. I’m like, ‘Okay, who do you know that you think could do this?’  The original idea was John Leguizamo, which I did try to get to, but he’s big time. We’re independent. It just wasn’t going to work out. So, once that wasn’t a realistic possibility, I’m just like, ‘Look, I just need a good solid actor.’ And Greg said, ‘Oh, Efren. Efren’s great.’ We sent the script to Efren, and I got a voice message back. It was a voice message from The Traveler. There was music playing. He was already in his character and he was telling me about how he should do this thing. That he has been traveling, he’s been waiting for something like this. And enthusiasm, especially when you’re dealing with a low budget, enthusiasm is everything.

“So, just the fact that he wanted to do it and was that committed and already was crafting a character. It was amazing. I mean, honestly, he’s a third author to this piece because you write the script, and then I as a filmmaker add my stuff to it. But he really did a lot of research. He taught himself a little bit of a few different languages. He taught himself in Nahuatl, which is one of the languages he speaks throughout the film and just added a bunch of little phrases, a bunch of little things, really gave purpose to every statement he made and really thought about it and internalized it. Efren just absolutely killed it, and now I can’t think of The Traveler as anybody else.”

Of course, opposite The Traveler is the looming specter of Death, personified. Mendez turned to an incredible special makeup effects artist and friend to bring Death to life.

“I am very fortunate to know an incredible makeup artist named Norman Cabrera,” Mendez states, “who is the one who actually coined, at least for us, the phrase Satanic Hispanics. He’s an amazing creature creator. He did Death in Hellboy II for Guillermo del Toro. He did some of the ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ also for Guillermo. He’s worked for Rick Baker. I mean, he’s just honestly one of the greatest sculptors there is. I really truly mean that. And luckily, from producing so many heavy metal videos for him, he owed me a favor. Again, you allow the artist to make [the design]. You give him the parameters. I’m looking for an angel of death. I’m looking for something special. We both like big menacing grins. We both like skeletons and skulls, but we wanted to have an Aztec vibe. So, that’s how we designed that.”

The concept of Satanic Hispanics feels ripe for continuation; there are so many countries, cultures, and, more importantly, mythologies to mine for horror from Latin America. When asked if this would be something Mendez would love to see continue, the answer was swift and obvious.

“We’re just scratching the surface. We have four. There’s probably 40 that we could do at least. I would love to see The Traveler continue. I would love to see his journeys and adventures and stories continue. But sadly, that is not up to me. That is up to audiences on September 14th to come out and support the film.”

Check out Satanic Hispanics in theaters on September 14. Get tickets now!