Maryland's own Eduardo Sanchez (right), co-writer and co-director (with Daniel Myrick) of 1999's The Blair Witch Project, is back with Seventh Moon, which screened at the festival Friday night. The China-set horror thriller stars Amy Smart and Tim Chiou as newlyweds who run afoul of some nasty demons that only get to roam the Earth when there's a full moon during the seventh lunar month. Despite some technical glitches that left ticket buyers watching a promotional DVD (complete with a watermark that ran across the bottom of the frame throughout the entire film), the Charles Theatre audience seemed appropriately chilled when finally let out onto the streets of Baltimore just before midnight. 

What should audiences familiar with Blair Witch expect from Seventh Moon?

It's a little Blair Witch-y, very hand-held and shaky, documentary-looking at times. It's a creepy film, the story's very simple. It's kind-of a chase film, it's got some very creepy moments. I think the creatures look really great, and Amy Smart is unbelievable in it.

Has Blair Witch been a cross that you've had to bear, in some ways?

Absolutely. Every time you make a movie, it's like, 'Hey, these guys did Blair Witch.' Blair Witch was like an explosion, we had no idea what it was. It's very hard to come back and make a normal film that doesn't change (everyone's) life, that doesn't come back and scare the crap out of everyone, like Blair Witch did. It's very difficult to keep the expectations of everybody realistic.

I've done two films now, and both films have been very well received. So now I've just got to keep going and see what happens.

But I wouldn't have a career without Blair Witch, so whatever cross I have to bear, I will gladly bear it.

What's next?

I'm in development of three films right now, and whichever one gets financed first is the one we're going with. There's a huge family film called Freaps, which will actually be the first film I made that I'll be able to show my kid. And then, we just optioned a really good horror script called The Last Inmate, which we're re-writing and already has a lot of interest. And then we are talking about possibly another Blair Witch movie somewhere down the pike.

The Last Inmate will probably be my next film; it's a smaller budget than the family film. But we're really excited about the family film. It's basically Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but with kids.

Photo by Chris Kaltenbach