When Evil Lurks

When Evil Lurks
Starring Ezequiel Rodriguez, Demian Salomon, Luis Ziembrowski, Silvia Sabater
Directed by Demian Rugna

Sometimes there's movies that gain popularity by word of mouth that you wouldn't otherwise know of, and more often than not those are horror movies. "When Evil Lurks" is one such film - an Argentinian thriller on Shudder that numerous people were claiming was the most disturbing movie they've ever seen. To paraphrase a famous saying: "I've seen some stuff," so I went into it not expecting the hype to be real. While indeed it wasn't the most disturbing movie I've ever seen, it's something very unique (a mixture of "The Exorcist" with "Contagion") and also something that hasn't left my mind since. Not because it's jump-out-of-your-bones scary, but because the visuals were so haunting and visceral and the ending was so intense they're embedded in my mind. And that's a very good thing, as it supersedes some weaker narrative moments later on.

In a small town, brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Jimmy (Demian Salomon) discover their neighbor has been turned into a "Rotten" - a person who has been possessed by an unborn demon who is awaiting physical birth. There's certain rules to destroying a Rotten that won't result in the demon being born, but the brothers - as well as others in the town - aren't very keen on adhering to them. Soon the demonic force has infiltrated the entire town, and the brothers gather up their respective loved ones and escape. They head to the home of Mirta (Silvia Sabater), a "Cleaner" - someone who knows how to destroy a "Rotten" safely. As time runs out the brothers must find a way to stop the evil before it totally consumes their family.


The Good:
"When Evil Lurks" - at the start at least - doesn't waste time with copious amounts of exposition. We jump right into the evil actions as the brothers come across half a torso which leads them to their neighbor's house and finds a man turned "Rotten" who looks like the gluttonous victim from "Se7en" without any explanation. They mention "Rotten" and we don't really know what that is, but gain knowledge through context clues. At the start it seems like director Demian Rugna is more focused on the horror than supplying exposition which - as I'll explain later - changes halfway through. Still, at the start it's an intriguing mystery mixed with amazing visuals that'll stick with you, and those are just the first few minutes of the film. Much like John Carpenter did with "The Thing," you're thrust into it from the very first frame leaving a continual sense of dread throughout the festivities.

The effects of the film are top-notch and they seem practical for the most part, and if CGI was used it was done so in a way that it didn't come across as such, which shows top-notch production designs for a film like this. There's not a moment where I was pulled away from the story with terrible effects, but they only heightened the terror and shocking violence that occurs on screen.

The story is intriguing as it starts off as a mystery to the audience and slowly evolves where we're fully aware of what's happening, and it's this method of storytelling that's refreshing - we're not spoon fed the information right away but must find things out when our hapless heroes do.

Speaking of heroes, Ezequiel Rodriguez and Demian Salomon's Pedro and Jimmy are the perfect people to guide us through this near-apocalyptic setting. Both men aren't very bright nor are they seasoned hunters, but rather just two brothers trying to find a way to survive with their families. This leads them to make (numerous) terrible mistakes that only escalate the horror and will have you literally yelling at your screen like they're the blonde bimbos who run into the woods and trip over nothing. Only here they still have a charm about them that makes them more endearing than infuriating, and your yelling is to try to help them make the right decisions instead of just calling them stupid - although there are times I was doing that as well.

The main focus of this film is to not offer something we've seen before, but rather something we haven't, and envelop it in shocking visuals that will stick with you. Other films have tried this and failed, but "When Evil Lurks" more than succeeds in this venture. I saw this two days ago and several images still haunt my memory, which is something every movie like this strives to do: infest your mind, serving in a sense as a virus where you keep talking about it and having others see it as well.


The Bad:
About halfway through the film the exposition starts and hits fast and furious. We learn there's seven rules to destroying a "Rotten" successfully, much like Randy's rules for surviving a horror movie in "Scream." Then we're introduced to Mirta, who is essentially the narrator of the film. She tells Pedro and Jimmy what to do, what they need to destroy the demon, where to do it, the specifics about it, and here the film loses a bit of its mysterious magic - but again the visuals more than make up for this exposition dump.


The Summary:
Blasting the senses with unforgettable images and a unique story to boot, "When Evil Lurks" will lurk inside your mind long after the credits end.


The Score: A+