Danny Trejo gets undead help in shot-in-Oklahoma film 'Seven Cemeteries' (2024)

Actor Danny Trejo came to Oklahoma to raise a few allies from the dead and help a damsel in distress.

Trejo is often cast as a baddie, but he was a protagonist in “Machete,” and he’s the guy you want to root for in “Seven Cemeteries,” a shot-in-Oklahoma film that will make its world premiere July 13 at the 2024 Circle Cinema Film Festival. Director John Gulager, son of late Oklahoma actor Clu Gulager, will attend the premiere. For tickets and a full schedule, go to circlecinema.org.

Gulager said he didn’t know Trejo until they teamed up on “Seven Cemeteries.” Gulager said Trejo is “just a really nice guy.”

Trejo was, in fact, this nice: “When we shot this thing, Covid was still going on, and we were trying to keep him from getting Covid. But he would keep going off to the resorts or the casinos and, anyone that would come up to him, he would just let them give him a big hug, and we’d be like, ‘No, no!’ But it worked out OK.”

Though “Seven Cemeteries” was filmed primarily in Okarche, the story takes place in a county on the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s a classic story with a supernatural spin.

“Seven Cemeteries” is based (very loosely, said Gulager) on “The Magnificent Seven” and “Seven Samurai.” The latter was a 1954 Japanese film that inspired a 1960 Western and a 2016 remake.

In “Seven Cemeteries,” Trejo plays ex-con Santana Bravo, who is summoned to Diablo County to help Carmela (Samantha Ashley) defend her home from a takeover by a merciless drug lord. Conflict ensues, and, left for dead, Bravo is rescued by a witch who knows (and shares) the secret of raising the dead. Bravo visits a series of cemeteries to resurrect undead allies who will assist with his mission.

“We call them the living impaired,” Gulager said. “I guess it could be the living adjacent.”

The allies (among them are two luchadores, a hockey goon and a baseball enthusiast who goes by the name Tommy Lasorda) are blessed with specific skills that should come in handy in a rumble against a drug kingpin’s enforcers. Undead fighters who are immune to bullets should be able to kick butt in a turf war, but complications arise to create moments of what’s-going-to-happen-next suspense.

Said Gulager during a phone chat about the film: “It’s not ‘The Godfather.’ But it’s fun.”

Don’t assume from the title that “Seven Cemeteries” is straight horror. Some moments are not for the squeamish, but, as Gulager acknowledges, it’s really not a scary movie. It’s a crime and adventure film with comedy and horror elements. That’s Gulager’s wheelhouse. His first feature film was 2005’s “Feast,” described as an action horror comedy. “Feast” emerged from “Project Greenlight,” a documentary TV series that gave first-time filmmakers a chance to direct a feature. Producers included Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Two “Feast” sequels followed for Gulager, as did other horror-flavored films.

Horror comedy runs in the family. Clu Gulager starred in the 1985 zombie comedy “Return of the Living Dead.” Born in Holdenville with roots in Muskogee and Tahlequah, Clu made his first major film appearance 60 years ago in “The Killers.” Other motion pictures on his resume were “The Last Picture Show,” “McQ” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” his final film before his death in 2022.

John Gulager was born in New York and raised in California. He said he still has family in Oklahoma. An actor, cinematographer and director, he was asked about gravitating to film work.

“It’s the industry out here,” Gulager said, referring to California. “It’s like movies and aerospace, I guess. So, I kind of did (film work). I don’t know how to do anything else. I’m not saying I’m good at this, either. I just say I don’t know how to do anything else. But, at the same time, my dad kind of had a distrust of the industry part of it, the studios, because they’re a little repressive as far as ideas and just anything wild. They want everything pretty hom*ogenous. And so I kind of fought against it for a long time, but then I sort of gave in so I can actually earn a living, I guess. So that’s worked out.”

It “worked out” with Gulager getting solid performances from actors in “Seven Cemeteries.” Audiences will want corrupt Sheriff Jake (Ronnie Clark) and accordion-playing drug lord El Abuelo (Sal Lopez) to get a comeuppance.

The cast includes Efren Ramirez (“Napoleon Dynamite”) as Miguel, Vincent M. Ward as Eugene Dobroz, Lew Temple as Tommy Lasorda, Richard Esteras as Quasimodo, Emma Ramos as Dolores, Mickey Koga as Stickface, Terri Hoyos as Viejita, Maria Canals Barrera as The Bruja and Sol Rodriguez as Guadalupe.

Gilbert Trejo — Danny’s son — appears as Young Bravo in flashback sequences and served as the second unit director.

“He’s a filmmaker,” Gulager said. “We’re probably going to see some big things from him.”

Gulager said “Seven Cemeteries” was filmed in Okarche because of a “great” farmhouse he and others have used as a shooting location. Chickasha also was among shooting locations.

“We would base out of Oklahoma City because that’s where we could all stay,” he said. “Then we would head out.”

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