If “The Exorcist: Believer” (2023) made you lose faith that anything fresh could come out of demon possession movies, then Argentinean director Demian Rugna’s “When Evil Lurks” (2023) is an unremitting must-see movie. The Yazurlo brothers, Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Jimi (Demian Salomon), live in a remote rural area stumble upon a horrifying discovery. A neighbor has become a “Rotten,” a demon possessed person who will give birth to a demon, and someone murdered the only “Cleaner” who can safely kill the Rotten and abort the demon without spreading the infection. With authorities refusing to take any action, the pair enlist hothead, more prosperous neighbor Ruiz (Luis Ziembrowski) to join them and solve the problem themselves, but their efforts only exacerbate the situation. Will they be able to save those they love?
Pazuzu would not dare roll up in this town because the demons in Argentina are built different. “When Evil Lurks” creates a new mythology. It has been awhile since there was a demon outbreak so few remember how to solve the problem. Even if they did, most people do not have the temperament to handle the situation. At the beginning of the movie, it may hard to distinguish if the people are hysterical, or their fears are credible. They know enough to endanger others and spread the infection while trying to save them. To further complicate matters, these people did not like each other or communicate effectively on a good, demon-free day. Jimi is suspicious of Ruiz. Ruiz resented the people at the center of the outbreak. The authorities hate Pedro and possibly for good reason. Pedro’s ex and two sons are estranged from him. Jimi is supposed to be a ladies’ man, but Pedro lives with him. While crucifixes decorate houses and adorn necks, churches are dead, and the only living pastors are forthright about how they were charlatans.
“When Evil Lurks” snowballs as if it started from Everest. From the noise to the people, it starts with the sound of a revolver and two people alone in an isolated house then escalates by moving into more populated places like nearby towns with the chaos of panicked, argumentative, excited voices. The pacing and tension are perfect with an ideal runtime of ninety-nine minutes. Rugna merges the outbreak/disaster movie with the demon possession movie. Outbreak/disaster movies are a race against time with a goal of reuniting a family. Demon possession films are limited to one house or person. By combining the two, it begins to follow horror genres like vampire and zombie movies where numbers compound the problem without losing the intimacy and insidious invasiveness of a demon possession movie where a demon uses shame and displays a character’s most private secrets and sins.
“When Evil Lurks” is a provocative and subtle anti-Christ, apocalyptic movie by creating an anti-Nativity scene. Instead of women, a bulging, decaying and pus oozing man is the impregnated person. Gutierrez (Diego Sampayo), a law enforcement officer who doubts the brothers’ story, asks, “We are at the end of the world. Why would there be a possessed one here?” It may remind one of John 1:46, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Instead of wise men, Rugna provides so many dumb men who compound the situation. They want to be protectors, but they end up hurting the people that they claim to protect. If there is toxic masculinity, it exhibits itself in the ways that men act without consulting women. The women also fail to appreciate how threatening the men whom they trust are. Their men are just as vulnerable to evil as the ones that they fear. The women know the rules, but the men refuse to listen and adhere to them, which leads to the men’s doom and destruction at the hands of those whom they ignore or could brutalize. There are twisted miracles where possession heals disabled people. The animals are not peaceful farm animals, but it is nice to see that the goat from “The Witch” (2015) is still getting work, and there are plenty of dogs upholding “The Omen” (1976) aesthetic.
While some viewers find subtitles daunting, “When Evil Lurks” is worth the effort. There are some predictable moments, but Rugna may have surpassed Ari Aster in making scenes that will leave viewers stunned that he went there. It is so nice to have a demon that is not all talk, but wreaks complete, merciless havoc wherever it goes. An ax to the face is the amuse bouche before all hell breaks lose, and no character is immune from harm—little girls, elderly women, pregnant people. While some viewers may try to rationalize that the outbreak is biological, there are enough inexplicable supernatural moments like reanimated dead bodies, moving shadows and people materializing and dematerializing out of thin air to keep it rooted in the mystical world. It is also refreshing to have men be vulnerable to possession, and the ones who end up being the easiest to manipulate. The demon leverages the people’s failure to communicate and existing tensions to proliferate, traumatize and increase the body count.
“When Evil Lurks” had one promising moment by suggesting that autistic people may be more resistant to demon possession than the average person because of their brain structure. Rugna does not capitalize on this idea because he is aiming for a bleak movie with no saviors. He is not here to make improbable heroes though navigating how a nonverbal, physically disabled autistic person fights demons would be an awesome idea. He also underutilized how nonverbal autistic people communicate and understand danger, but again, Rugna is not here to give the story hope or a fighting chance.
“When Evil Lurks” turns the tables on the apparently universal assumption that life in the country is peaceful and safe whereas danger resides in cities. Evil hits the most vulnerable: tenants who appear to be indigenous on Ruiz’s land, but because no one cares about them or respects their autonomy, they never get help or receive respectful treatment. The propertied countrymen’s belief that they can handle anything and be independent creates false, unfounded confidence, which does not serve them. Rugna creates a world in which the city people need protection from the antisocial, exiled countryfolk who need the space that vast land ownership provides because they are unable to coexist and have healthy relationships. Ruiz’s paranoia against the state and other human beings makes him miss the real nature of the threat. The police and Ruiz politicize a (super)natural phenomenon instead of addressing the real threat. Who knew that Argentina had so much in common with the US? It is when the country people with their prejudices and problems enter the city that the denizens face danger and fall precipitously. They are unprepared to face any threat whether normal—an abusive ex—or supernatural. They do not have the tools for resilience. People never rise above their flaws and play to their strengths then unite.
Shout out to Mirtha (Silvna Sabater), who did better than Ellen Burstyn and knew that she was in trouble from jump. If you like horror, you cannot miss this one.
