Demián Rugna's Argentinian horror film When Evil Lurks has slowly but surely been gathering momentum and industry notice across its early to mid 2023 festival showings and having recently been released on horror streaming provider Shudder, it's not hard to see why Rugna's feature has become one of the most talked about horror efforts of the year.
An unmerciful experience that is about as far removed from Hollywood horror staples as you'd care to see, Lurks throws us into a plague ridden world where churches and faith have long been abolished and possession and demonic influence is a constant threat to all who aren't vigilante, Rugna's film is one filled to the brim with lore and intriguing concepts and while not all of them are explored or mined as deeply as you'd hope, the core of Lurks horror goodness still provides a thrilling and unpredictable viewing experience.
Wasting little time bothering to do to much in the way of set-up or character building, Rugna gets us stuck straight into the thick of it as Ezequiel Rodríguez and Demián Salomón well-intentioned but ill-equipped rural farmers Pedro and Jimi get caught up in a local possession occurrence that is way over their pay grade or experience levels, threatening themselves, their families and their wider communities if they don't manage to right the wrongs of their decisions.
A film that is best watched with as little foretaste as possible, one only needs to know that Lurks is a visceral and unrelenting experience across its roughly 90 minute runtime and there are scenes here that will test a viewers tolerance level for violence and horror, including a scene involving a family pet that will likely go down as one of the most confronting scenes of 2023 but if one can manage to get through these many instances of intense carnage, Lurks offers up a rewarding genre experience that isn't comparable to other films of the same ilk.
With so many good ideas and concepts and individual scenes that will have you squirming in your seat, it's a shame that Rugna wasn't able to refine key parts of his film with Lurks script often leaning towards the amateurish side of execution while his central characters and their decisions often don't appear to be hugely well thought out making some of Lurks key segments a little hard to swallow and the engagement level in who wins the battle of good vs evil far lesser than it could've been.
Another addition to the recent growing list of unique and enjoyable foreign horrors that put much of Hollywood's horror wheelhouse to shame, Lurks might not be the classic if could've been but it's a thoroughly entertaining offering nonetheless.
Final Say -
Not all the pieces of the very anti-Hollywood When Evil Lurks puzzle come together as smoothly as you would hope for and there's some frustratingly unexplored ideas bought up but overall Demián Rugna's fast-paced and inventive film delivers a thrilling ride regardless.
3 1/2 tubs of apple ice-cream out of 5
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)
An unmerciful experience that is about as far removed from Hollywood horror staples as you'd care to see, Lurks throws us into a plague ridden world where churches and faith have long been abolished and possession and demonic influence is a constant threat to all who aren't vigilante, Rugna's film is one filled to the brim with lore and intriguing concepts and while not all of them are explored or mined as deeply as you'd hope, the core of Lurks horror goodness still provides a thrilling and unpredictable viewing experience.
Wasting little time bothering to do to much in the way of set-up or character building, Rugna gets us stuck straight into the thick of it as Ezequiel Rodríguez and Demián Salomón well-intentioned but ill-equipped rural farmers Pedro and Jimi get caught up in a local possession occurrence that is way over their pay grade or experience levels, threatening themselves, their families and their wider communities if they don't manage to right the wrongs of their decisions.
A film that is best watched with as little foretaste as possible, one only needs to know that Lurks is a visceral and unrelenting experience across its roughly 90 minute runtime and there are scenes here that will test a viewers tolerance level for violence and horror, including a scene involving a family pet that will likely go down as one of the most confronting scenes of 2023 but if one can manage to get through these many instances of intense carnage, Lurks offers up a rewarding genre experience that isn't comparable to other films of the same ilk.
With so many good ideas and concepts and individual scenes that will have you squirming in your seat, it's a shame that Rugna wasn't able to refine key parts of his film with Lurks script often leaning towards the amateurish side of execution while his central characters and their decisions often don't appear to be hugely well thought out making some of Lurks key segments a little hard to swallow and the engagement level in who wins the battle of good vs evil far lesser than it could've been.
Another addition to the recent growing list of unique and enjoyable foreign horrors that put much of Hollywood's horror wheelhouse to shame, Lurks might not be the classic if could've been but it's a thoroughly entertaining offering nonetheless.
Final Say -
Not all the pieces of the very anti-Hollywood When Evil Lurks puzzle come together as smoothly as you would hope for and there's some frustratingly unexplored ideas bought up but overall Demián Rugna's fast-paced and inventive film delivers a thrilling ride regardless.
3 1/2 tubs of apple ice-cream out of 5
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)