Horrorx52: 2026
7/52

When Evil Lurks is a nasty, pulls-no-punches film which made my jaw hit the ground looney toons style at several points. All I knew going in was that it was a dark film that ‘really goes there’ but had zero inkling of what I was actually in for. There is a real air of risk for everyone in the film, and once this settles in, there’s an added layer of fear which accompanies that unpredictability.

The film follows brothers Pedro and Jimi who live in rural Argentina and encounter a neighboring family dealing with a touch of possession. In the universe of the film, a possessed individual is referred to as a ‘rotten’ which requires particular disposal lest they contaminate everyone that comes in contact with the evil itself or someone who has been exposed. Pedro and Jimi go to the authorities to report this discovery only to be dismissed, as Maria Elena was when she reported her son Uriel’s possession over a year earlier.

These opening scenes establish both ‘rottens’ and ‘cleaners’ (those who exorcise evil) as known realities of the world in which these characters reside. Because of this, there is protocol for confronting a rotten, which is drip fed to the audience throughout the film. Seven rules are detailed, most pivotal of which is seemingly no firearms. Because of this, straight up killing the rotten isn’t an option.

Instead, the brothers join the owner of the land they reside on, Ruiz, in disposing of Uriel in the most big-brained way they can think of: load him into the truck, drive a few hundred kilometers, and ditch him on the side of the road to become someone else’s problem. From here, shit hits the fan…and every other part of the room.

In an interview, writer/director Demián Rugna noted the widespread use of pesticides in Argentinian farming communities, negatively affecting health outcomes of adults and children alike, while an apathetic and corrupt government dismissed and ignored the needs of its poor, rural communities—a theme which is clearly mirrored in When Evil Lurks. Having to rely on bureaucratic institutions to save a community from evil is horrifying and unrealistic. This means poor, rural communities must take matters into their own hands, which is exactly what we see unfold in this film. A large part of the fear in this story stems from how alone they truly are in confronting this evil. No authorities, no cleaner, no help. Just poor, isolated families doing what they can. Ruiz, Pedro, and Jimi choosing to relocate Uriel and make him someone else’s problem (out of sight, out of mind) perhaps then metaphorically mirrors the Argentinian government turning a blind eye to a known plight of its suffering citizens.

While the majority of the film really worked for me, there were certainly moments of frustration surrounding character decisions. That said, I don't think they were particularly unrealistic. In the face of the unknown, people panic and make choices which lack reason due to fear overwhelming their ability to think rationally. I will say, the one instance I found totally inexcusable was grandma in the car noting “don’t speak its name” as one of the rules, then immediately rattling off every example that pops into her head. Like ???? You just got Jair possessed, good job grandma.

Yes, there are known rules which everyone seems to repeatedly neglect despite knowing better. However, I think we are also quick to forget just how easily people throw rules and reason out the window when faced with a threatening unknown. If covid taught us anything, it’s that you can give humans the simplest instructions backed by evidence and they will still proceed to do whatever the hell they want. This may not have been a purposeful covid movie, but it certainly feels at times like an allegory for pandemics and the human inability to work together to confront a crisis of public health (unless you’re Taiwan or New Zealand, of course). Because a handful of you failed to follow basic instructions, all these people will now die, good job fellas. Like, tell me this film doesn’t translate so well as a covid film?

On that note, despite being possession horror on the surface, When Evil Lurks really reads more like infection horror. Rotten’s must be disposed of in such a way that limits the spread of possession (rather, infection). It feels like the evil inside Uriel brought about this plague of possession, spreading unevenly following contact and people not listening to simple rules for controlling it. There’s a real helplessness that accompanies putting your faith in others to be rational. Many individuals just aren’t levelheaded in the face of crises, electing instead to engage in self-serving actions and doom others in the process (see again, covid).

This was an incredibly successful horror film in my eyes. The story felt hopeless at every turn for our characters and there was an elevated sense of urgency from start to finish that made the runtime absolutely fly by. There were lots of good individual moments that will likely remain etched in my brain for life, but I do think saying “there’s one scene that sticks with you’ does a disservice to all the other unnerving imagery on display throughout the film.

When Evil Lurks has a considerably elevated degree of brutality compared to more mainstream horror flicks, which is certainly part of what makes it so memorable. The killing of the goat and the evil jumping to take control of Jimena happened so fast that I yelled at my TV in shock. When the dog scene transpired, I physically stood up out of my seat, jaw agape, hands on my head. And when Sabrina was eating Santino’s brains like popcorn all I could do was stare at the film completely dumbfounded. All these turns were so unpredictable that I was constantly on the edge of my seat, in fear of what was going to happen next. Now that’s a solid horror movie!

Not only do our protagonists fail in the end, they lose everything. It's a bleak ending with a seemingly dim view of humanity: no one is coming to help us, and ultimately, we are human and will panic and fumble when faced with unknown evil, which leads us to perpetuate our own self destruction.

#30: domestic horror