WHEN EVIL LURKS - Mark Reviews Movies

When Evil Lurks, IFC Films

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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 5, 2023

The world has moved toward obvious, inescapable, and supernatural evil in When Evil Lurks, a horror film that functions as a relentless thriller and gets at a concept of demonic possession that feels different. After seeing so many horror tales tackle that subject, the fact that writer/director Demián Rugna finds a way to make it seem fresh in any way is a minor miracle of storytelling.

This does feel a bit different on a foundational level, even if the screenplay does lose some of its imagination and momentum when the third act, which is more traditional than anything that comes before it but still chilling, comes around. Until that point, though, this is an unnerving and occasionally ingenious piece of filmmaking.

The story takes place outside Buenos Aires, where we learn the city has become a hotbed for demonic activity for reasons that aren't explained—because, after all, they probably can't be. On a farm outside a small village live two brothers, the bearded Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and the mustachioed Jimmy (Demián Salomón), who are just trying to live quiet, uneventful lives out of the reach of whatever's happening in the city and after being plagued by some personal problems.

In the middle of the night, the pair hear some gunshots. That's not a unique event, except for the time, the fact that the shots come from a pistol and not a hunting rifle, and the erratic pattern of said shots. In the morning, Pedro and Jimmy bring their rifles and a couple of dogs to investigate the source of the noise, only to discover a box containing some mysterious device and, more importantly, a bifurcated dead body.

From what the brothers can tell, this was no animal attack, as the fatal wound appears to have been caused by a sharp object. There aren't many suspects, because there aren't many people living in the area. There's shepherd and landlord Ruiz (Luis Ziembrowski), who doesn't seem the type but, at this point, could be. He's housing a family in a cabin, and after finding evidence that the dead man was on his way to visit that family, the brothers make their way there. As it turns out, the elder son is a "rotten"—someone infected by a demon, resulting in bulbous growths, pus-filled sores, and the usual bad mood and threatening language that we're used to when it comes to demonic possession in the movies.

This film, though, is a bit distinct in that regard, because possession is treated as a kind of virus and, with churches being abandoned, it's not as if any priest will be arriving to perform an exorcism. No, there's a level of pragmatism and practicality to Rugna's plot, which has the brothers and Ruiz trying to move the possessed man as far away as possible, in order to prevent this quiet area from becoming overwhelmed by evil. There are rules, of course, to how to defend against and treat a "rotten" and the demon within it. Using a firearm will only transfer the disease, and without the right tools or methods, it's very possible the demon could escape.

Things go wrong, obviously, meaning that the brothers have to escape, after gathering their mother and Pedro's kids from a dissolved marriage, and that those rules will start to matter quite a bit. It's better not to become too caught up in the specifics or logic of those guidelines to stopping a demon, because Rugna certainly doesn't. The filmmaker is too busy concocting elaborate, grisly, and genuinely horrifying setpieces to shock and terrify, while also distracting us from the thin plotting and thinner exposition for what's going on in this world.

To put it mildly, he succeeds in both the shocks and the terror, beginning almost from the start with the discovery of the mutilated corpse, leading to the revelation of the gruesome appearance of the possessed man, and continuing the ride in assorted sequences of unsettling suspense and sudden, bloody payoffs. The first major one has Rugna showing solid knowledge of and firm control over the so-called rule of threes, as a shotgun blast triggers an ax attack, which leads to another—with each bit of violence being more surprising and horrific than the last.

Then, there's Pedro's attempt to retrieve his children, ex-wife, her new husband, and their daughter from the nearby town, before the evil spreads there. One can sense what's coming, since Rugna establishes how demons affect certain creatures and keeps a lingering shot returning with almost sinister delight, but even after the dread and perfectly timed payoff, the sequence keeps escalating the stakes and shifting who, as well as where, the threat is.

This is quite effective stuff on a formal level—in the way Rugna uses framing and rhythm to create tension and play with the timing of scares in unexpected ways. As the survivors of the suburban incident continue their attempt to get as far away from the evil as possible, the film also establishes a pretty convincing set of motives and methods for these demonic forces. They want to isolate people, make them feel afraid and alone and helpless, and use others to accomplish those goals.

There's something refreshing about a tale such as this one approaching and confronting this threat on a purely psychological level. It comes across as sinister in a way that means Rugna never quite falls into the typical clichés of this horror subgenre. It also means When Evil Lurks is genuinely frightening beyond its violence, because this is as much a story about people dealing with uncertainty and terror as it is about the shocks, which are, to make it clear, quite shocking.

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