When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)

When Evil Lurks was one of the first films to go on my list this year. While I had avoided spoilers, I still heard enough glowing reports to sell me. And, after some highlights of the past few years, I’m always on the lookout for new horror from Latin America.

Argentina, in particular, has been producing some great horror media recently. Murder Me, Monster, which I reviewed last year, was the best kind of weird. Even less impressive films like Terrified and The Funeral Home have stuck with me. I’m even more taken with the contemporary horror fiction I’ve read from Argentinian writers like Agustina Bazterrica, Mariana Enríquez, and Samanta Schweblin. With all this in mind, let’s see if When Evil Lurks continues this trend.

When Evil Lurks is currently streaming on Shudder in the UK.

Synopsis

Pedro and Jaime, two brothers in rural Argentina, investigate the sound of gunshots near their farm. They find a mutilated corpse, cut in two, and some strange equipment. After a visit to a nearby family, they start to realise how much trouble they are in.

One of the family’s sons, Uriel, has been possessed by a demonic entity, transforming him into a “rotten” — a bloated, pustulant shell of a man. These unfortunates are incubators, the entity inside them slowly gestating until it can be born into our world. While the rottens are in excruciating pain, immobile and covered in boils, mishandling them risks releasing the demon, which will then seek a new host.

Realising the mutilated corpse they discovered was a government-sanctioned “cleaner”, sent to deal with the possession, Pedro and Jaime are pressured by the local mayor to transport Uriel to another town, making it someone else’s problem. Of course this goes wrong. It wouldn’t be much of a horror film otherwise.

The brothers’ demonic problems only escalate from here, as does the body count. In trying to protect his estranged family, Pedro exposes them to danger and has to take his kids on the run. Jaime, meanwhile, picks up their ageing mother, who is able to look after the kids and offer some much-needed exposition.

But will the family’s bid for freedom succeed? How far will the demonic infestation spread? And do the protagonists really understand the rules as well as they thought?

General Thoughts

So much of what makes this film work is the Kafkaesque dread of being caught up in byzantine rules, the misunderstanding of any one of which could result in death or worse. The conveniences of modern life, such as electric lights and even guns, might be your undoing. Even handling one of these rottens is fraught with peril. Every action is like tiptoeing through a minefield.

As bad as not knowing the rules is, things only grow worse with understanding. What seems like a very localised problem turns out to be a symptom of something far larger. What are the consequences for one of these demons being incarnated? Is this a burgeoning apocalypse?

In what feels like a nod to Jaws, the local mayor has covered up Uriel’s possession, fearing knowledge of it will turn the community into a ghost town. This feels like a story born out of the Covid pandemic, where advice from authorities is confusing and contradictory, and we are encouraged to pretend everything is normal.

Do check out the content warnings for When Evil Lurks, particularly harm to children and animals. While this is a film with a lot of dialogue and interpersonal drama, it is peppered with brutal violence. It also cheerfully aims to disgust, with enough pustulating boils and putrescent flesh to satisfy all tastes.

Verdict

Three days in and we already have a strong contender for film of the month. When Evil Dwells could almost be an Evil Dead film, albeit slower in pace but greater in ambition. I’d even say that it’s a better Evil Dead film than the two most recent in the franchise.

Considering how gory it is, When Evil Lurks is a surprisingly subtle piece of storytelling. We are thrown into a world that differs from ours in important ways, without much explanation. Many important plot points are merely implied, and the only real exposition we get is when Pedro and Jaime’s mother explains the seven rules of demons to her grandchildren. Even then, her instructions are vague and incomplete, which only makes things more tense. We are rarely sure just how much trouble the characters are in until it’s too late.

If you’re in the market for something that reinvents familiar tropes in novel ways, and tosses around gallons of blood in the process, When Evil Lurks should be on your list this month.

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021)
Tales That Witness Madness (UK, 1973)
When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)
Under Paris (France, 2024)
In a Violent Nature (Canada, 2024)
Torso (Italy, 1973)
Titane (France, 2021)
Rorschach (USA, 2015)
The Coffee Table (Spain, 2024)
Dr Caligari (USA, 1989)
Bit (USA, 2020)
The Guard From Underground (Japan, 1992)
Oddity (Ireland, 2024)
Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (USA, 1982)
Grave Torture (Indonesia, 2024)
Bedlam (USA, 1946)
The Innsmouth School For Girls (USA, 2023)
Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)
All You Need Is Death (Ireland, 2024)
Eight Eyes (USA/Serbia, 2021)
Poor Things (Ireland/UK/USA, 2023)
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye (Italy, 1973)
Longlegs (USA, 2024)
Night of Fear (Australia, 1973)
Stopmotion (UK, 2024)
Terrifier (USA, 2016)
Azrael (USA, 2024)
Faust (Germany, 1926)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)
I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.