This October has been quite the letdown when it comes to new horror films. Once again, we’re inundated with soulless, big studio sequels, requels, and everything in between. However, while such intended studio “blockbusters” as SAW X and THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER (don’t get me started…) were receiving lavish marketing treatments, one indie/foreign horror flick has snuck its way into theaters and created a word-of-mouth marketing strategy of its own: Argentina’s WHEN EVIL LURKS.
Written and directed by Demián Rugna, the film tells the story of two brothers, Pedro and Jimi (Ezequiel Rodriguez and Demián Salomón, respectively), who encounter something disturbing (to say the least) near their home. In an effort to hide the problem instead of fixing it (can we say, “machismo”?), they make a series of quick and brash decisions, each one setting off a chain of events that leads to some of the most malicious, cruel, and violent acts of evil ever committed to screen. (No, that’s not an exaggeration.)
To call WHEN EVIL LURKS bleak, cruel, and mean-spirited is an understatement. It’s a vicious and refreshing new take on a tired subgenre that typically has nothing new to offer. I won’t give anything away, as this is a film best viewed without any knowledge about it whatsoever – don’t watch a trailer, don’t read a synopsis, don’t even let your hip, indie-film-going friend tell you about it. Just see it… blindly. Rugna is not afraid to lead his characters to the deepest depths of despair and leave them there; he’s even less afraid of doing so to his audience. The film thrives in its fast pace and ability to shock, but very smartly backs up each jaw-dropping moment with a driving reason behind it. Rugna is not just going for the shock factor for the sake of being shocking. He’s telling a story here; a good one.
He also asks a lot of his actors. As Pedro, Rodriguez’s emotional gymnastics display raw and genuine grief, despair, and fear. While the character’s decision-making is often questionable (perhaps symbolically-so), Rodriguez justifies each confounding and frustrating beat of the character’s arc with a solid and gut-wrenching performance. He cares deeply about his family and would do anything for them. As his brother, Ezequiel, Salomón plays the seemingly stronger, more silent type very effectively, if not, perhaps, under a bit of an over-furrowed brow. Their relationship is solidly believable, and subtle hints throughout the film reveal bits of the history of their relationship. Also worth mentioning is Desiree Salgueiro’s performance as Pedro’s ex-wife, Sylvia, who accomplishes a lot with what little screen time she has. Each actor makes the best possible use of what they’re provided on the page. In hands other than Rugna’s, they may seem over the top; fortunately for them (and us), their heightened emotions are delivered as disturbingly real and valid.
The film’s first half is all about putting together hints (both subtle and not so subtle) to make sense of what the hell is going on. It’s disappointing to find the second half playing catch-up and over-explaining itself. A sequence in which an impactful sage character (played excellently by Silvia Sabater) gives the backstory and history of the world we’re observing feels like a hand-out to less savvy audience members. It’s forced and breaks the palpable tension built by the hour leading up to it. O, that Rugna had trusted his audience, the film may be considered by this reviewer to be a perfect horror film. Still, if that’s the only complaint, then the film is doing just fine.
It should also be noted that WHEN EVIL LURKS boasts some of the best gore and body horror committed to screen in recent years. One particular character is a true feat of practical effects, and while I won’t give anything away, as they say in the film, “If you’d seen one, you’d know it.”
To take a tired subgenre that seldom brings anything new to the table, turn it on its head, and subvert expectations to this degree is a feat worth applauding in and of itself. Moreso, to do so while creating characters we care about, can relate to, and can simultaneously be angry at for their choices is a masterclass in storytelling. WHEN EVIL LURKS is something special and should not be missed by horror fans or fans of good filmmaking who think they can stomach it.
WHEN EVIL LURKS is still in a few select theaters (this reviewer caught a last-minute pop-up screening at NYC’s IFC Center) and will be released for streaming on SHUDDER on October 27th.
