Interview with Eduardo Sánchez - Altered
By: Marcus Ingelmo

Evil Dread: Hi Ed, how are you today?
Eduardo Sánchez: I'm doing well, thanks for asking. How are you doing? How's that rash you showed me last week?

ED: Err.. let's not talk about the rash… I can show you some pretty nasty photos of it later though. Ok, so you've recently just finished and released ALTERED. Can you tell us a little what the film is about and how it came to be.
ES: The film is a sci-fi/monster movie about these five rednecks that have their world turned upside down by an alien abduction. It ends up being a reverse-alien abduction movie because the dudes actually abduct an alien this time around. The sucker is small but mean and goes on to fuck them up in a major way.

The film was written by Jamie Nash and was originally called PROBED. I worked with him on a bunch of drafts and then sent it to my producers Gregg Hale and Rob Cowie, who dug it enough to make it happen. We shot it at UNIVERSAL STUDIOS in Orlando during the Spring/early Summer of 2005 and it came out on DVD just this past December. It was a long road but we are very proud of the film.

ED: ALTERED is your first feature film follow-up to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. How does that feel considering the enormous impact THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT had on the movie industry, (I read it was one of the most profitable films ever made). How did it feel to get back behind the camera again?
ES: Well, it's a big thing to have BW be your last film, but we knew we'd never come close to the impact that film had so we just tried to keep our expectations at a realistic level. All we can do is make films the way we've always made them.

Whether it's BW or ALTERED, we put a lot of heart into our films and really try to make shit that we don't see out there. That's always risky but it's the most exciting thing for us these days. There's always time for selling out later in our careers.

ED: Obviously you had a much higher budget with ALTERED then you had on THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Did you feel that you had more freedom this time around to create what you wanted, or was it the opposite due to the fact that you knew you were gonna release it on a big label, (Rogue Pictures)?
ES: More money doesn't always mean more freedom, but it does allow you to do some cool shit that you can't do for like 25K, you know? The pressure was bigger this time around because the world was watching but we pretty much made the film we wanted to make. ROGUE didn't have much say because they came in later on in the production.

We had a tight schedule and I always could've used more time but I'm very happy with how the film turned out. My next one is going to be more down-and-dirty than ALTERED was, just to change things up a bit.

ED: Were there any people that you worked with on THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT that you took with you to work with you on ALTERED?
ES: We took as many people as we could on this trip. Me, one of the actors, the two producers, the co-producers, two art guys that ended up as our production designer and art director and the music composer are all BW alums. And I had already talked to Neal Fredericks about shooting this film just a few months before he died in that plane crash in Key West. He would've been a part of it, too.

ED: Would you say that ALTERED has anything in common with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, I mean, are there things in it that we'll recognize that you used in THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (whatever it might be)? Obviously people will compare the too since they came from the same filmmaker, are you ok with that or do you feel that it's a negative thing?
ES: It's cool that people compare the films, but they're both about as different as they could be. That's obvious once you see ALTERED.

The biggest difference I think, besides the more conventional nature of ALTERED, is that they both come from different corners of the horror genre. BW was as dark as they come, about killing children and about something evil that is totally unexplained.

ALTERED is more of a fun ride. Some bad shit happens, of course, but it's a bit on the goofy side. I definitely didn't go into that dark hole that I went into while working on BW.

ED: What scares you on film and would you say that it has been hard trying to have scary stuff in your movies that will work for an audience when seen on screen?
ES: It's always hard to scare an audience. The whole challenge is that you have to keep disguising the scares as something else because that's really at the heart of being frightened, that is, the unknown. So you always have to keep coming up with new tricks.

The scariest things to me in film is the reality of a situation. Like I loved THE DESCENT but the scariest thing for me was when the main woman was trapped in that enclosed little tunnel. I think they could've milked that a bit more but I still like what they did with it. That fucking freaked me out.

ED: While THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT dealt with a witch, ALTERED deals with aliens and alien abduction. Was it hard to come up with a new spin on the whole alien genre? Are you into Sci-Fi and that type of stuff?
ES: I'm actually into SCI-FI more than I am into horror films, though I like all film genres. ALTERED came to me as a script and that spin on the whole over-done alien abduction story was what made me want to make this film.

ED: How has the response been so far and what kind of expectations did you have to begin with?
ES: The response has been great. Obviously, going straight-to-DVD was a huge disappointment (read the whole straight-to-DVD story here) but it's just one of those things that you have to live though and learn from. But people are digging the film and I'm loving the reaction. It's just good to see people seeing beyond BW and digging the film for what it was meant to be.

ED: Maybe it's way too soon to be asking this, but is there any chance of a sequel? I mean, would you say that the movie needs a sequel and if so, would you be interested in making it?
ES: We wrote an extensive bible that deals with events from about 10 billion years ago to many years in the future, so we hope to dive into that mythology in some way. And yes, the film was set-up for a sequel, so hopefully we can go back to it one day.

ED: Where did you find the actors for the movie? Did you have auditions or did you know what kind of people/names you wanted from the start?
ES: I cast Mike Williams before anyone else and then cast the rest of the people from LA.

ED: In short words - why should people watch ALTERED and what kind of group(s) do you think the film will appeal to, if any?
ES: ALTERED is the best film you'll ever see, guaranteed! EVERYONE will love ALTERED! It's the perfect film for any age or interest, from toddlers to senior citizens! Go out and buy it today!

I think the horror fans will dig this film. And some sci-fi people. It's pretty gore-filled but don't expect HOSTEL or SAW or anything like that. Expect more of a SLITHER approach, more of an 80's monster movie.

ED: What was it in Jamie Nash's story that first attracted you?
ES: The reverse alien abduction thing and the way the original abduction fucked these guys' lives up. That's what kept me interested. It was like these guys were molested as kids and now they had their chance to get even, like SLEEPERS but with a creepy little alien monster playing the Kevin Bacon role.

ED: Where did you shoot the movie and did you chose that location for any special reason? How long did it take to shot the whole thing?
ES: We shot the film in 31 days in Orlando, Florida. We did it there because we're kind of the home town boys there and we wanted to make a film there with all the people we knew. We ended up hiring mostly people we knew and Orlando in general was great to us the whole time. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS was awesome.

ED: How have you been promoting ALTERED? There has been some pretty good web coverage - do you feel that the movie got a good buzz on the net?
ES: That's the only thing this film got, mostly thanks to our efforts. I don't think UNIVERSAL put much marketing muscle into this film, which sucks. We still haven't found anyone who has seen any marketing for this film besides the BEST BUY sales flyer.

But it again proves the power of the web because we're getting some great rental numbers for a film with no real marketing.

ED: Now that the film has been released, do you have anything coming up next, will you be promoting ALTERED further or what are your future plans, if any?
ES: I have a feeling that I'll be promoting ALTERED for the rest of my career, man. It's going to be one of those "I've never heard of that one" kind of films. But that's cool.

I'm writing a new movie right now called SEVENTH MOON that I'll be shooting in China later this year or early next year. I'm co-writing it with Jamie Nash again though this time it's my idea and we're trying to make it a real scare the shit out of you kind of film. I'm pretty excited about it.

Now if I can only stop doing these damn interviews and get back to writing!

ED: Ok, I'll let you get back to writing now. Anything else that you would like to add and say to the readers before we wrap this up?
ES: Ummm, I don't know. I guess check out ALTERED when you can and let me know what you think about it at . Thanks for the opportunity to write to you. Peace!

ED: To find out more about Ed Sanchez film ALTERED, head on over to the official website at alteredmovie.com!