Danny Trejo is in his landmark anniversary era; Last May the living legend who brought colorful, lovably menacing characters to life in films ranging from Heat, Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn to Spy Kids, Con Air and Reindeer Games turned 80 years old. And next year will mark his 40th year as a professional actor. 

Yet, when asked to reflect on his remarkable professional longevity and what keeps that still-raging fire-in-the-belly ambition stoked, Trejo brings up an entirely different date – August 23, 1969.  

“That’s the day I got out of prison,” Trejo tells RUE MORGUE. “And I can still remember walking into the Greyhound bus depot and seeing this beautiful German Shepherd. I’ve always loved dogs, but San Quentin don’t got dogs. Neither does Soledad or Folsom. And that dog ran up on me and showed me love. Sounds like a small thing, but I’ve never lost that feeling of, ‘Wow! Look, a dog!’ When you know what it’s like to be without the small comforts, to be kept from the things you love, you have a greater appreciation for what you have, and for what you can do, and… for right now. For today. So, I love living my life. In the right now. Living it to the fullest. If a producer calls me tomorrow and says, ‘Hey, can you go shoot this movie in Bangladesh?’ Well, show me a good script, and I’m on my way.

“Every time you wake up on the green side of the grass, you’re batting a thousand,” he continues. “Yesterday’s gone, brother. Make the most of today.”

So, we shouldn’t expect a retirement announcement anytime soon?

“Look, man, I went fishing a couple months ago,” Trejo says. “It was fun for about two and a half hours. I caught some fish then said, ‘Okay, I ain’t ready to retire.’ I’m going to keep moving forward and doing what I love.”

It’s hard to imagine any better vindication of Trejo choosing acting over drifting in some godforsaken canoe as he waits for a bobber to jiggle than SEVEN CEMETERIES, a raucous genre-bender helmed by John Gulager (Feast, Pirhana 3DD), which interweaves so many disparate threads of Trejo’s persona and career: It’s a gritty neo-Western, borderlands revenge story. But it’s also a very funny, Raimi-esque zombified horror comedy. And it’s also an off-kilter romance.

“When I read the script, what really got my attention was that it had so many different, fun elements condensed into a movie that made sense,” he says of the film, which finds his character waking up on the wrong side of the grass – but continuing to drop suckers and one-liners in equal measure. “It’s like an undead Magnificent Seven.” 

Indeed, the logline, in this case, most definitely does the film justice: “A recent parolee gets a Mexican witch to resurrect his old posse so that they can help him save a woman’s ranch from a ruthless drug lord.”

The supporting cast slays, too. You’ve got Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite), bruja Maria Canals-Barrera (Wizards of Waverly Place, Camp Rock), Sal Lopez (Full Metal Jacket), and Trejo’s son, Gilbert, as a younger version of his father’s character. 

“It was nothing new for us to be on set together,” Trejo says. “I used to take him and my daughter with me on projects all the time, and they sort of secretly learned all the nuts and bolts. Gilbert followed Robert Rodriguez around on Machete, actually, asking questions, and after we wrapped, Robert said, ‘Dan, he knows all this stuff. Have him take the take the director’s test. I’m proud to say, he’s in the Directors Guild of America now.” 

Of course, the bonding vibe is a little different when it comes to seeing your son portray a younger version of you. 

“I’ve got this monster tattoo right here,” Trejo says, making a wide looping gesture with his finger over his chest. “So, when we recreated that tattoo on my son he looks down and goes, ‘Boy, dad, you’re really an idiot.’” He laughs and shakes his head. “I said, ‘Gilbert, I thought I’d never get outta prison!” If I had any idea how life would turn out I would’ve gotten a little hummingbird or something!’”

As someone who speaks with equal enthusiasm about both The Omen and Young Frankenstein, Trejo also found a kindred spirit in director Gulager, whose leave-them-guessing-whether-they’ll-gasp-or-guffaw sensibility was a match for his own as well as the film’s co-writer Joel Soisson (Hellraiser: Hellworld, Children of the Corn, Runaway). 

“John knew what he was doing,” Trejo says. “And it’s so much more fun when you have a director who has a vision, knows what he wants and knows how to get there… At the same time, he’ll do it his way and then, if you have an idea, say, ‘Okay, well, let’s try it your way.’ He might like yours better. I’ve seen him do that… We got to the right place, I think. There are so many old scary movies I love, but I also love Young Frankenstein, you know? It was so funny. That’s what I want a horror movie to be. And that’s what SEVEN CEMETERIES is—a little heavier, maybe, but the same kind of laughter mixed with the scares.”

SEVEN CEMETERIES is now playing on demand and digital.