‘When Evil Lurks’ Review: Demonic Doings Spread Like Wildfire in an Unpredictable Thriller

The other demonic possession movie opening this week, When Evil Lurks is unlikely to steal major box-office thunder from The Exorcist: Believer. But Argentine genre specialist Demian Rugnas latest is no mere opportunistic cash-in, either, with its own distinctive and non-formulaic take on the notion of an evil spirit that strikes like a malignant disease. IFC Films is releasing this uneven but engrossing, sometimes startling horror thriller to several hundred U.S. theaters on October 6. Shudders first Spanish-language original production begins streaming on that platform October 27.

Rugna had an international breakout five years ago with his third feature Terrified (aka Aterrados), about a fantastical, lethal infestation in a couple of middle-class Buenos Aires households. A Guillermo del Toro-produced English-language remake was announced, as well as Terrified 2, though neither has yet come to pass. (In the interim, Rugna completed only one directorial segment in the recently released omnibus Satanic Hispanics.) Instead, we have this new contagion thriller, which trades its predecessors supposedly scientifically-explicable menace for a supernatural one, and a domestic suburban setting for a road-trip structure. But in conceptual and tonal terms, the two are very similar.

Once again, Rugnas screenplay commences with nocturnal sounds that alert our protagonists to something amiss. Here, its gunshots in the distance that rouse taciturn Yazurlo brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Jimi (Demian Salomon) in their rural farmhouse. Waiting till daylight to investigate, they make a grisly discovery the lower half of a corpse in nearby woods, surrounding evidence indicating it was a cleaner (or exorcist) arrived to chase a hostile entity from some unlucky host. That in turn leads them to the shack inhabited by Maria Elena (Isabel Quinteros) and her two sons, one of whom is in a ghastly state. Uriel (played by different actors under a great deal of icky latex) is bedridden, bloated, covered in pustules, leaking green fluids that might give Linda Blair a nostalgic twinge. Hes just alive enough to beg, Kill me.

Apparently this whatever it is has been going on for a year, and local authorities have duly been notified. But when the Yazurlos harangue police to do something, theyre laughed out of the station. Realizing theyll somehow have to deal with the issue themselves, the brothers enlist neighboring landowner Ruiz (Luis Ziembrowski), whose main concern is for his property values. Its his idea that they simply drag the near-dead rotten (an odd, repeatedly used term here for the possessed) to a pickup truckbed, then drive him/it to some place of anonymous disposal a good long drive away.

But apparently moving a rotten only spreads its insidious influence further. In any case, once theyve driven far enough, the men find their nasty cargo has disappeared en route. That this hasnt solved the problem at all very soon becomes apparent, as terrible things happen on Ruizs ranch, then follow the fleeing brothers as they attempt to warn Pedros ex-wife (Virginia Garofalo) and children. Continued flight eventually leads to the drafting of another cleaner (Silvina Sabater in a role much like Elvira Onettos in Terrified). But by this point, the demonic force might be anywhere or anything, as it is capable of reanimating corpses and/or controlling the living. Nor does it politely shy from messing with either children or pets, as some rather alarming incidents demonstrate.

Though When Evil Lurks may well have developed out of Rugnas ideas for Terrified 2 in terms of scale, it seems a logical next-step expansion from that film it manages to sufficiently establish its own turf as a potential franchise-starter. While once again the changeling menaces backstory and goals remain murky, its rules of engagement likewise (we do get appraised regarding the dangers of utilizing gunfire and electric light), the havoc it wreaks does not lack for sudden vividness.

As in Terrified, Rugna front-loads the most shocking content, diminishing taut urgency after a point. It can be disconcerting that his rather convoluted plotting tends to abandon some principal characters for long periods in favor of others. Still, if the effect is a bit wayward, it has the virtue of being unpredictable. In refusing to tie up loose ends or even explain exactly what our protagonists are up against, the writer-director doesnt frustrate expectations so much as whet appetite for future installments where those concerns will presumably be addressed.

Its a major plus that the actors all play their frequently thorny, argumentative characters with a straight face, allowing us to grudgingly swallow the scripts insistence that nearly everyone here accepts the reality of a demonic invasion with little skepticism or protest. Also making a persuasive case are the atmospherics wrought by Mariano Suarezs first-rate widescreen camerawork, Pablo Fuus edge-of-heavy-metal score, editor Lionel Cornisteins taut pacing, Marcos Bertas visual effects, and all other major design contributions.

Where Evil Lurks is occasionally gross, confusing, and near-arbitrary. At times it feels like a series middle chapter, one disinclined to explain things were unclear about. Yet it never lacks the conviction, style or sardonic wit needed to make those flaws seem incidental to whats overall a pretty bracing ride.