When Evil Lurks — When Evil Lurks( Blu Ray)
When Evil Lurks is a 2023 Argentine film that tries to do something a little different with the demonic possession genre. Set in a small rural town, it regards the dumping of a bloatedly infected and possessed body, which makes things a hell of a lot worse. The decidedly bleak and glum-toned film brings together elements of supernatural horror, family drama, and body horror- blending broodingly unease with moments of jarring/ brutal violence. Here from Second Sight Films- coming as either a standard UHD or Blu-ray, or dual ltd edition- is a new reissue of the film. All versions feature a new 4K scan of the picture, new commentary, and other new interviews/ featurettes.
When Evil Lurks ( aka Cuando Acecha La Maldad ) was written and directed by Haedo, Buenos Aires, Argentina-born Demián Rugna. He has six feature credits and seven shorts. His features move from The Last Gateway (2007), regarding a demonologist accidentally opening a portal to hell in a man's stomach. To gipsy mafia-focused action/comedy, You Don't Know Who You're Talking To(2016). Though to creepy supernatural meets a cop-out of his depth thriller action Terrified(2017).
The film kicks off introducing us to brothers, breaded/ gaut Pedro(Ezequiel Rodríguez) and moustached/Beere wearing Jimi (Demián Salomón)- who have just heard gunshots in the countryside near their small holding- so they go to look to see what’s up. In time they approach a red-painted tin shack house- inside is a very obese man, with a highly infected face- his relations declare he is possessed, and in somewhat of a panic, the brothers and another land owner drag the man out, hauling him into the back of a pick-up truck, unfortunately they lose him at some point along the road, and so things go from bad to a lot, lot worse.
As we get folks hacking themselves in the face, a young girl gets brutally mauled by a dog, several people are run into, and faces/ limbs are smashed up. Around these moments, there is a feeling of dread, heavy unease- as the brothers try to fix things, though there are several rules they have to follow- like don’t shoot the possessed, don’t use electricity, and a few others.
For the first half an hour or so, When Evil Lurks is rather taut and eventful, as we move from the body dumping, tense & explosive family drama, and a fair bit of panicked running. After this point, things slow somewhat as we go from a nighttime house, then nighttime car-based set action, which feels somewhat of a letdown after the start.
Both Rodríguez & Salomón are good as our leads, adding a feeling of believability and grit to the proceedings. The supporting cast is largely fairly good too, often having a world-worn down down-to-earth look.
I reviewed Rugna's fourth film Terrified (2017), a few years back, and that also seemed to lose its stream/ focus later on, so it’s clearly an issue with his films in genreal. I certainly say When Evil Lurks is an improvement on his earlier films, and I can see why it’s got a lot of interest/ praise in the horror press- and yes, it’s good, but not a masterpiece/ a wholly perfect film.
On the extras side, as we’ve come to expect from a Second Sight- we get a good/ worthy selection of things. Firstly, we have a commentary track with Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodríguez, author of The Migration and Politics of Monsters in Latin American Cinema. He begins talking about how writer/ director Demián Rugna brought back supernatural horror into Argentine horror, which had largely been focused on releasing slashers. He discusses the film's rural location, and we find out that our two male leads are well-known actors in Argentina. He says the translation from the original Spanish title to English is word-for-word. He discusses how the film nods towards the real-life crimes the country's government carried out on their people, as between the 70’s and 80’s, thousands of people disappeared. He talks about different social classes in Argentina. Later on, he discusses lulls in the film's pace. He talks about the dramatic elements in the picture and how these reveal different facets of the characters. This commentary track is fine, with Eljaiek-Rodríguez making some interesting observations, though at points he does just detail what is on screen.
Otherwise, we have: It Was Always There (27.38) interview with writer/ director Demián Rugna. Tragedy is Inevitable (23.24) interview with actor Ezequiel Rodríguez. We Made a Movie ( 17.26) interview with actor Demián Salomón. Stripped to the Bone (18.42) interview with actor Virginia Garófalo. Terror and the Unknown in When Evil Lurks( 8.44) a video essay by Mike Muncer.
When Evil Lurks certainly is an original, distinctive, if bleak take on possession horror- personally, I just wish the whole thing had been more evenly paced/ balanced. But there is no doubt Rugna is a real talent, and I’m keen to see what he does next.