4 star shockingly visceral possession horror.
When Evil Lurks is a 2023 Argentine supernatural psychological horror film, written and directed by Demián Rugna (Satanic Hispanics, Terrified).
An international co-production of Argentina and the United States, it is available to stream on Shudder from 27th October 2023.
“Uriel is dying! He is swollen, he is a puss ball. Bring the Mayor! Give me the phone, call him!”
In rural Argentina, brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez – Legions, La Flor) and Jimi (Demián Salomón – Into the Abyss) hear gunshots coming from the forest and head out to investigate. They make a grisly discovery, a dismembered body, with a box of equipment and note indicating that his destination was their neighbour Maria Elena. 
When they head over there, they make a worse discovery, her son Uriel is a Rotten one, possessed by a demon looking to be born.
He must be killed by a professional, but unfortunately, he lies dead in the forest. They go to neighbour Ruiz (Luis Ziembrowski – The Rotten Link), who insists that they should move him, against the advice of pretty much everyone. With the help of the brothers, the body is moved 300km away, but they lose it somewhere along the way. Not their problem anymore, they head back to town.
The next morning, Jimena (Desirée Salgueiro – Still Life), the wife of Ruiz, discovers that one of their goats is possessed. When he shoots it against her advice, she takes an axe first to him and then to her own face. It looks like evil may be afoot. With no regard for the rules or common sense, Jimi and Pedro attempt to contain the situation, leaving a trail of chaos in their wake.
“Mr Ruiz, don’t shoot, please. You don’t kill the evil like that, it will be for worse…It will take our bodies. It will take our souls.”
When Evil Lurks is a very well executed horror film with a number of genuinely shocking moments. Some of them I could hardly believe I was seeing, even though you know where they are going with it.
It builds the tension very well, and the combination of an incessantly ringing phone and an autistic child drives you almost as insane as the poor hapless brothers. There is no shortage of blood and gore either, this one is definitely not for the faint hearted, it made me wince a few times and it’s very graphic.
Demián Rugna was going for the shock factor with this one and he landed it spot on. It’s brutal, it’s brilliant and just remember, if the Yazurlo brothers offer to help you with something, just say no.
“I must tell you something. Don’t use electric lights. It’s shadows call the evil.”
When Evil Lurks is available to stream now on Shudder.
| Director | Demián Rugna |
| Genre | Horror |
| Starring | Ezequiel Rodríguez, Demián Salomón, Luis Ziembrowski, Silvina Sabater, Emilio Vodanovich |