Set in a remote Argentinian village,Shudder’sWhen Evil Lurksis a Spanish-language horror movie that follows a group of residents who realize a demon is about to be set loose upon their community. Brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Jaime (Demian Salomon), along with local farmer Ruiz (Luis Ziembrowski), try to get rid of the possessed villager — but that only makes things a hundred times worse. Despite earning an impressivehalf a million dollars during its theatrical releaseand securing a place on the horror streaming platform Shudder, it’s fair to sayWhen Evil Lurksis somewhat of a hidden gem. Many horror fans discovered the movie via word of mouth on Reddit’s Horror sub, aptly nicknamed “Dreadit.” In the month since its release, Dreadit posters have heaped praise uponWhen Evil Lurks,with one member going so far as to saythey “haven’t felt this moved since [Ari Aster’s mind-blowing psychological horror]Hereditary.” As well as featuring blood, guts, and demons galore,When Evil Lurkspreys upon the most innocent among us — animals and children — and succeeds in crossing the moral boundaries of horror. In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the shocking scenesthat firmly cementWhen Evil Lurksas the goriest, most depraved horror movie of 2023.
Official warning: Spoilers abound, so if you think you’re brave enough to watch this flick, come back to this page after.
‘When Evil Lurks’ Has Plenty of Body Horror
The first ten minutes ofWhen Evil Lurksare, frankly, stomach-churning levels of disgusting. Immediately, viewers are thrown into the deep end when Pedro and Jaime discover the bottom half of a cleanly severed corpse — complete with the insides spilling out onto the grass — in the nearby forest surrounding their home. We’re barely given time to catch our breath from the gruesome discovery before we meet Uriel (Pablo Galarza), the possessed villager harboring the demon. Uriel, or “The Rotten” as he’s known to the locals, looks exactly how you’d expect a person who has an evil demon growing inside their stomach might look. Bloated beyond recognition, and weeping copious amounts of green puss out of every orifice in his body, the sickening sight of Uriel lying in his soiled bed will stay with you long after the credits roll. This scene depictsbody horror at its bestand makes it crystal clear thatWhen Evil Lurksisn’t the kind of movieto watch while eating dinner.
‘When Evil Lurks’ Uses Animals and Children to Elevate the Horror
The tropes ofcreepy kids in horror moviesandanimals on the attackare nothing new, but it’s hard to think of a movie that pushes the boundaries on these well-known formulas to the extent thatWhen Evil Lurksdoes. While the children in the film are shown perpetrating evil under the influence of the demon, some of themare also victims in the worst, most unimaginable ways. The same can be said regarding the animals in the movie, which, interestingly, often provoke an even more visceral audience reaction than children. Populartrigger warning database Does the Dog Diewas initially founded due to the hatred of seeing an animal unexpectedly come to harm on screen. This universal terror of seeing innocents — whether it be animals or children — in distress is an ongoing theme throughoutWhen Evil Lurksthat adds a new layer to thebleak horror.
In one scene, farmer Ruiz and his pregnant wife realize the demon has transferred itself into the body of one of their goats. Overcome with desperation, Ruiz takes the demon’s bait and breaks an important rule: never use a firearm on a demon, because the evil will be released once again. The goat presses its head to the gun barrel, and Ruiz pulls the trigger. After the goat meets its bloody end, Ruiz’s wife knows that the demon will jump into the body of her unborn child if she doesn’t take drastic action. She hits Ruiz over the head with an ax, killing him, and then hacks at her face before she succumbs to her self-mutilation. This scene is perhaps one of the bleakest in the movie, and it isn’t easy to pinpoint whose fate is worse; the innocent goat, who had no choice over the demon inhabiting its body; Ruiz, who was so overcome with frenzied panic he acted on impulse and ended up being murdered at the hands of his wife; or the wife in question, who not only had to kill both her husband and herself, but her unborn child as well. The devastating farmland interlude is a shockingly stark message that showcases exactly what the audience can expect going forward:no one, not even children or animals, is off limits. It also sets the tone of hopelessness and plants the seed that no matter how hard these characters try, or the lengths they’re willing to go to fight, their efforts will ultimately be futile. Honestly, the concept of wasted effort might be more terrifying than the idea of a body-hopping demon.
Another hair-raising scene that pushes the boundaries beyond anything seen in a horror movie before involves Pedro’s stepdaughter, Vicky (Lucrecia Niron Talazac), who’s nothing more than an innocent child. Without a host, panic sets in as the demon is once again free to hop into the body of any living thing. Pedro arrives at his ex-wife Sabrina’s (Virginia Garofalo) house to collect her and their two sons, Jair (Emilio Vodanovich) and Santino (Marcelo Michinauz), as well as Sabrina’s new husband Leo (Federico Liss) and daughter Vicky. While the adults argue, the family’s dog begins acting strangely as he sits with the kids in a quiet corner of the house. Suddenly, he lunges, locking his jaw around Vicky’s face and dragging her around the room like a rag doll before taking off into the street with Vicky’s head still clamped in his mouth.
Leo finally notices and gives chase, and — despite being warned not to — shoots the dog after assuming his daughter has sustained fatal injuries. Seeing every unwavering moment of a child being violently attacked — as well as yet another innocent animal meeting an unavoidable end — this way is almost unheard of. Again, creepy kids in horror are nothing new,but they’re usually the ones inflicting the evil, not the ones being so brutally subjected to it.The closest comparison that springs to mind isThe Shiningtwins, who haunt the famous Overlook Hotel but who were initially the victims of their father’s murder spree. With the twins, however, we don’t see the attack happen, only the brief aftermath of them lying in the corridor. InWhen Evil Lurks, the audience is forced to watch every harrowing second of Vicky being mauled by the dog, incitinga cold, helpless feeling of nauseating dread that blows any cheap jump scare out of the water.
‘When Evil Lurks’ Subverts Common Horror Tropes
What Pedro’s ex-wife Sabrina does under the demon’s influence is easilythe most jaw-dropping, insidious plot point inWhen Evil Lurks. In one of thebest demonic possession scenes in a horror movie, Sabrina infiltrates the safe house and takes her youngest son, Santino. The boy’s uncle Jaime drives into town to find them and spots Sabrina carrying Santino down an isolated road. However, when Jaime drives in front of the pair to get a better look at the situation, it’s worse than anyone could’ve imagined. Sabrina has killed Santino in a bloody massacre and is casually taking bites out of her little boy’s head as she walks along the road. Knowing that both of them are beyond help, Jaime drives over them with his car. This scene is the culmination of all the hopeless, depraved, stomach-churning moments sprinkled throughout the movie. The idea that a mother could act this way toward her child is unthinkable. In most horror movies featuring families, a mother’s love is often the “magic ingredient” needed to destroy evil. Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor) inThe Conjuring, for example, is about to murder her young daughter after becoming possessed by an inhuman spirit. However, at the last moment, she snaps out of it by remembering the love she has for her child. This is a common theme in countless horror movies, with families overcoming evil by sticking together. In an original twist,When Evil Lurksflips this trope on its head.
What Is the Meaning of ‘When Evil Lurks’s Ending?
When Evil Lurksquite literally brings the horror from start to finish, with even the final,seemingly hopeful scenedescending intodelightfully gory chaos. Despite monumental losses, Pedro, his eldest non-verbal son, Jair, and his brother Jaime find themselves in a moment of peace after battling the evil that has torn their family apart. As Jair tucks into his favorite apple ice cream, however, he starts choking. Pedro warns Jair to take it easy but rushes over when the boy struggles to catch his breath. As Pedro checks for a blockage in his son’s mouth, Jair coughs up a deluge of blood and stringy clumps of coarse hair. Slowly, the reason for this dawns on Pedro:
Earlier, we learned that a previous victim of the demon “puked up his family” after eating them while possessed. Throughout the film, Jair remains a mystery to us due to his muteness, but it’s finally confirmed thathe’d also briefly been under the influence of the demon. Towards the end of the film, Jair walks into the safe house and speaks with perfect ease to his grandmother, who’d never heard the teenage boy utter a single word before. Unlike the majority of the horrific events, what happens next isn’t shown on screen, the scene ending with Jair slowly coming to stand behind his cowering grandmother.
Following Pedro’s chilling realization, Jair chokes up his grandmother’s necklace, spitting it into the ice cream and blood soup covering the floor, and a devastated Pedro rushes outside and collapses to his knees. This final shot of Pedro is the visual embodiment of the bleak and hopeless nature ofWhen Evil Lurks. Every single expectation of how far a horror movie “should” go is stretched beyond imagination. No character remains unscathed, and the most innocent end up suffering the worst fate.When Evil Lurksis definitely a movie that willleave a stain on your psychefor years to come.
When Evil Lurksis available to stream in the U.S. on Shudder.
