Writer/Director Demián Rugna broke onto the horror scene with 2017’s aptly titled Terrified (Aterrados), a paranormal tour de force of shocking imagery and genuine scares. Rugna continues that streak with his latest, When Evil Looks, including the central theme of infectious evil. This time, however, the Argentinian filmmaker shifts gears to take on possession horror unafraid to spill buckets of blood and jaw-dropping violence.
The possession horror feature flips the script by starting with an exorcism rather than building up to one. More accurately, the gnarly reign of terror begins with a botched exorcism. Brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimmy (Demián Salomón) discover something’s deeply wrong with the livestock in their local, rural community and trace it back to a nearby farm, where a man is grotesquely bloated by sickness and evil. The brothers decide to take on cleansing the home of its foul demonic presence themselves but wind up kickstarting a plague of demonic possession instead that leaves them scrambling to evade evil’s increasingly widespread reach.
Rugna continues his streak for horror staging and imagery that sticks with you. From the putrid origins of the evil let loose into the world to the carnage it leaves in its wake, When Evil Lurks makes for a captivating watch on its horror elements alone. The filmmaker also seems intent on topping himself in terms of horror violence, especially where children are concerned. If you thought the ghastly dead boy in Terrified was unsettling, well, Rugna’s upped the ante in ways that frequently leave your jaw on the floor. Smartly, it’s not just violence for shock value’s sake; there’s something rather prescient about the way evil spreads like an unseen infectious disease. The way peaceful people in the community abruptly, without warning, give into rage and violence as though it’s a contagion born from the complete ignorance of two well-intentioned but bumbling brothers.
It’s that central theme and the gruesome commitment to gore that carries When Evil Lurks far, even as its narrative learns further into contrivances to propel Pedro and Jimmy toward a climactic confrontation. As the propulsive feature zips the brothers across the countryside, scrambling for safety, a lack of clearly defined rules and worldbuilding shows. The narrative coasts by on the strength of its horror for the most part, but the finale frequently relies on its characters to defy logic or common sense to better position them for the horror’s sake.
When Evil Lurks operates more on a dread-soaked atmosphere and a commitment to fearlessly bludgeoning, biting, and bone-shattering taboos as two unreliable men detonate an atomic bomb of demonic forces, creating a shockwave of gruesome violence and bloodletting. Its themes of infectious evil resonate while its frights deliver maximum impact, even if its story unravels a bit at the seams. It’s this, combined with a refreshing spin that eschews the conventional possession horror formula, that ensures When Evil Lurks continues Rugna’s streak for terrifying audiences. His latest makes for a Halloween season treat you won’t want to miss.
When Evil Lurks made its World Premiere at TIFF. It will release in theaters on October 6, followed by the film’s Shudder premiere on October 27.
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