“Where Evil Lurks”, which was incidentally one of many different movies shown at the Jeonju International Film Festival early in this month, is a grimly captivating horror film which willingly pushes its evil chaos to the end, and I appreciate that despite some reservation. As its rather unwise character frantically struggles under one scary and confusing situation which turns out to be way over his head, the movie steadily doles out a series of gruesome moments to chill and disturb us a lot, and we naturally come to dread more whatever will happen at its eventual arrival point.
At the beginning, the movie throws us right into what is going on around Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and his brother Jimi (Demián Salomon). Since Pedro divorced his wife several years ago, he and Jimi have lived together in Jimi’s house located at some remote spot outside their rural town, and they become quite watchful when they suddenly hear a gunshot from somewhere outside their house in the middle of one night. On the next day, they go outside to check out whatever happened, and, what do you know, they soon come across something very disturbing to say the least.
Baffled a lot over what they have just found, Pedro and Jimi begin to wonder whether this is connected with a certain poor family living near to their residence. When they subsequently go to a small shabby shack where that poor family live, their suspicion turns out to be right, but what they discover there is much more disturbing than what they previously encountered. I will not go into details here, but you will instantly get a fairly good idea on what is exactly going on, and the movie will not disappoint you at all as giving more bad signs to be noticed by any seasoned moviegoer.
Quite frightened by what they witnessed, Pedro and Jimi naturally go to the local police, but the local police do not seem that eager to handle the ongoing circumstance. Eventually, Pedro and Jimi decide to take care of this situation along with a local landowner who is also very disturbed by what Pedro and Jimi saw, but these guys do not listen much to that poor family who seem to know a lot about what is actually going on, and, of course, they soon come to face the consequence of their thoughtless action.
Once it is ready for its full-blown horror after setting up the ground during its first act, the movie never looks back as relentlessly driving its hero into more terror and chaos. After belatedly coming to realize that some insidious force is about to be unleashed upon not only him and his brother but also the whole town, Pedro frantically attempts to have his ex-wife and children leave the town as soon as possible, but his frantic behaviors only cause more confusion and panic for him as well as others despite his good intentions. To make matters worse, he also makes more mistakes which lead to some dire outcomes (Note to everyone: Pay more attention to your hygiene if you happen to contact with anything looking evil and infectious).
Around the middle point, the screenplay by director/writer Demián Rugna, who has made several genre flicks since his debut feature film “The Last Getaway” (2007), provides some respite for us as Pedro and his brother manage to find a shelter via some friend of his brother, who turns out to be quite knowledgeable about whatever is to be unleashed upon the town. This supporting character conveniently explains a bit on some very important rules which should be broken at any chance, and it goes without saying that our hero only ends up not heeding those rules that much.
I must tell you that it can often be quite frustrating for you to observe how most of its main characters can be so unwise under a lot of fear and disturbance, but Rugna and his crew members including cinematographer Mariano Suárez keep holding our attention even during the most maddening moments in the film. Although it is sometime limited by its modest production budget, the movie is packed with enough mood and tension to engage and then unnerve us, and it also did a good job of delivering several horrific moments of bloody horror with substantial dramatic impact. As a result, what finally happens during its climactic part is accompanied with an overwhelming sense of inevitability, and we are all the more chilled while reflecting more on how all fatefully come to fall down on its hero in the end.
Rugna also draws the good performances from his small cast. While Ezequiel Rodríguez is convincing in his character’s growing panic and desperation along the story, Demián Salomon and Silvina Sabater are also effective in their respective supporting parts, and the special mention goes to a number of young performers who play a very spooky part during the finale.
On the whole, “Where Evil Lurks” does not hesitate to dive into sheer terror and chaos just like many other recent well-made horror films such as Na Hong-jin’s “The Wailing” (2016) or Ari Astor’s “Hereditary” (2018). Its starkly grim presentation of evil and darkness may not be a cup of tea for you, but I admire its commendable technical aspects at least even though I doubt whether I will revisit it soon. If you are open to any good horror flick, you may take a chance with it, and I sincerely advice you to brace for yourself in advance.