“When Evil Lurks” 4K UHD Blu-ray for Purchase!
Two brothers in a small, remote community discover a neighboring man infested and rotting with a demon inside the body. Fearing evil will spread once the birthed demon is free from the bloated and pus-oozing human host, they move the body miles out of town with the help of an impatient and bellicose farmer, but when they lose the body, a dark violent force spreads across their rural outlook, beginning with the horrendous death of the farmer and his pregnant wife. Escaping to the city, the two brothers hightail out of town, picking up family along the way, only to unintentionally spread evil from contamination by the rotting body. Local folklore has a set of established rules, seven rules in fact, when face-to-face with a demon and they enlist a reclusive woman, a proper cleaner of the rotten, to help them against the clinging evil determined to never let their family go unscathed.
The 2023 released, heavy demonic and folkloric horror from Argentina, entitled “When Evil Lurks,” tells the whole story of a family’s past regrets, the road-splitting life choices they make, and the consequences that follow using graphic, unabashed violence and a campiness that’s corrosive to the soul. Demián Rugna writes-and-directs “When Evil Lurks,” aka “Cuando acecha la maldad,” after his breakout hit “Terrified” from 2017. The Buenos Aires filmmaker continues to push a singular amalgamate of wide-range tradition and horror to the extent the world has never seen, and he continues to shoot on location from his own country, mostly in or around his home municipality. Fernando Díaz of Machaco Films alongside Roxana Ramos under her founded production company Aramos Cine with the support of the national cinema institute, the Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales or the INCAA, and the streaming horror service and productions, Shudder.
“When Evil Lurks” primarily follows Pedro and Jimi, two brothers living on the outs of their own lives stagnantly inside their rural family home. Ezequiel Rodríguez (“Legions”) sports a grizzly beard as the lead, older brother Pedro who frantically and desperately needs to get his family away from the spreading evil while returning to collaborate with Rugna “Terrified” actor Demián Salomón tracks as a more youthful footloose, Jimi, not tied down by a family or even a girlfriend but rather is dialogued as free lover amongst women. Every character they encounter exposes them to the evils that lie ahead, or generally around the vicinity, as the this rotten, as they label the formless rotten presence that is solely an inhabitant of people and animals alike, can jump to another host if the rules are not followed, with the most common rule being broken is using gun powder to kill the possessed rotten. Up for to be demonic fodder is Pedro’s estranged family who have alienated him because of his ambiguities’ surrounding possible unforgivable crimes and family abandonment. The latter speaks more specifically to his severely autistic son Jair (“Emilio Vodanovich, “Fever Dream”) Pedro once hated himself for spawning, per his ex-wife and restraining order enacting Sabrina (Virginia Garófalo, “La Vagancia”), but his Pedro’s pre-narrative occurred change of heart sends him frantically into the fire to save his children Jair and younger brother Santino (Marcelo Michinaux, “Fever Dream”). Also demonically targeted is Jimi’s once city affair now turned socially isolated former cowwoman-turned-rotten cleaner Mirta (“Silvina Sabater, “The Wrath of God”). Mirta pivotally provides audiences insight by solidifying what other characters only know by hearsay or try to understand intuitively about the rottens, or the possessed, and how it spreads and what rules to follow. Without Mirta, a lot of the supernatural circumstances involving children, the insidiousness, and the mindset of evil. Other cast members interlocked with the gruesome violence and gut-wrenched storytelling is Luis Ziembrowski (“The Rotten Link”), Paul Rubinstesztein (“Portraits of the Apocalypse”), Isabel Quinteros (“High Heels”), Lucrecia Nirón Talazac, Ricardo Velázquez, Desirée Salgueiro (“Luciferina”), Federico Liss (“Portraits of the Apocalypse”), and Berta Muñiz (“Plaga Zombie”) as the voice of the bloated rotten Uriel.
“When Evil Lurks” accompanies with it a strong theme of children replacing their parents or adults in a metaphorical, supernatural demon enriched context. Children are drawn to the demon as the demon is drawn to children, a verbatim more-or-less statement said by Mirta about the rotten, or demon, that shows children as it’s bewitched devoted servants and protectors, like little underage Renfields, who try and trick adults off the rotten’s hidden location or carry out for more sinister acts. One of those acts is literally devouring adults which becomes a regular theme throughout seen with Jair and Eduardo, and even in anecdote told by Mirta about a previous witness to a rotten’s case of regurgitation. In a way, the demon is a child itself being birthed into the world under a swelling and oozing Uriel’s sinew and viscera and indulges in childish acts of fibbing, mischievous tricks, and playful portents that happen right under our noses and can be shocking to the system as we want to believe what our children, our flesh and blood, have to say but there’s always that inkling of untruthfulness in our minds. Rugna couples the manipulation with bold, visceral violence, even some on children, and a grotesque folklore inflamed by poor and naïve choices by those who don’t understand or are unwilling to fully comprehend the extent of consequences that follow because of their hastiness to act, solve, and be rid of a threat. “When Evil Lurks” clearly points out our innate flawed existence and makes abundantly clear our mortality with our progeny to dominate the world.
Second Sight Films emerges “When Evil Lurks” onto a 4K UHD Blu-ray. The BD66 is HVEC encoded with an ultra high-definition, 2160p resolution and presented in the original widescreen aspect ratio 2.39:1. Second Sight Films produce the high dynamic range with Dolby Vision, approved by director Demián Rugna. The result is immense image immersion that inarguably has the wherewithal for a fluently stable color timing, a range of depth, and phenomenal detail. Every aspect of what is on screen is crisp to the bone and Rugna’s violence, under Mariano Suárez’s eclectic cinematographer eye that builds toward suspense, benefits from the grisly faced display. Audio fidelity through a Spanish DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio holds and delivers exact reproduction. Plenty of back and side channel clinks and clunks to establish a presence created coincidingly with the image. Dialogue is unobstructed, confidently paced, and above the layers whenever appropriate with Pablo Fuu’s score sneaking int folkloric tones and a despairing timbre and tempo there in the mix but subconsciously eats away the soul of the viewer. Optional English subtitles are available and accurate but in moments of great hasty dialogue, the rhythm of display can be quick. Special features include a new audio commentary by cinematic academic Gabriel Eljaick-Rodriguez, four new interviews with director Demián Rugna It Was Always There, actor Ezequiel Rodríguez Tragedy is Inevitable, actor Demián Salomón We Made a Movie, and actress Virginia Garófalo Stripped to the Bone, and a video essay by UK film podcaster Mike Muncer Terror and the Unknown in When Evil Lurks. There are no during or after credit scenes. The 4K UHD Blu-ray release comes in a black UHD Amaray with a new monochromatic art rendition of young Vicky holding the leach of the French Mastiff, same as the pre-release promo still for the film. There are no internal supplements with the region free release that has a runtime of 100 minutes and is UK certified 15 for Strong Horror, Bloody Violence, Gore, and Language.
Last Rites: There’s no stopping death. Our children will replace us no matter how hard we try. A seemingly evil accursed death will come for us all and the choices that are made will be the design to our destruction. Director Demián Rugna sees the path and knows “When Evil Lurks” it has us completely encircled with no escape, no hope, and no compassion. How soon we choose to parish depends on how rash and unwise our decisions are in the grand scheme of life.
It's Bloggin Evil! 