The Reel Review
When two brothers in a farming village in rural Argentina discover a rotten, a demon-possessed individual, they quickly attempt to remove him from their community. But when they fail to contain the evil, they end up spreading it, in this supernatural horror from writer/director Demián Rugna (Terrified) on AMC+.
Rugna has assembled a pretty gory tale, about an unstoppable, rapidly spreading evil contagion. But besides a lot of gore and unyielding suspense, there are only a handful of truly shocking moments – most involving children and none involving priests – which at least upends the typical possession horror tropes. About halfway through the film, one character lays out the seven rules for dealing with the possessed: don’t use electricity, stay away from animals, don’t hurt the possessed, don’t take any of their belongings, never use a gun, never say the demon’s name, and do not fear death. Unsurprisingly, time and time again, the people in this tale fail to do these simple things and pay the price.
The recurring theme of When Evil Lurks is how people, even when aware of what they need to do to save themselves, are all too often incapable of doing so. The convoluted story filled with intentional misdirection is far from perfect, and by the third act, it starts to fall apart, but its underlying message, about how people all too often remain indifferent to problems until the problems come for them, is a timely one.
REEL FACTS
• Argentine writer/director Demián Rugna is best known for his 2017 horror/thriller Terrified, about paranormal phenomena terrorizing a Buenos Aires neighborhood.
• When Evil Lurks won Best Picture at the 2023 Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival.
• When Evil Lurks is Shudder’s first Spanish-language production
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