[Editor's Note: This article was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being discussed here wouldn't exist.]
"We have to find the beast before more are born." Several years after bringing visceral nightmares to life onscreen in Terrified (aka Aterrados), Demián Rugna is introducing viewers to "a horror you can't unsee" in the official trailer for his new movie When Evil Lurks, coming to theaters on October 6th via IFC Films ahead of its October 20th streaming debut on Shudder.
Synopsis: When brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimmy (Demián Salomón) discover that a demonic infection has been festering in a nearby farmhouse — its very proximity poisoning the local livestock — they attempt to evict the victim from their land. Failing to adhere to the proper rites of exorcism, their reckless actions inadvertently trigger an epidemic of possessions across their rural community. Now they must outrun an encroaching evil as it corrupts and mutilates everyone it is exposed to, and enlist the aid of a wizened “cleaner,” who holds the only tools that can stop this supernatural plague.
A wildly original take on the possession film, When Evil Lurks is a shocking supernatural thriller from Argentine master of horror, writer-director Demián Rugna (Terrified).
Director: Demián Rugna
Screenwriter: Demián Rugna
Starring: Ezequiel Rodríguez, Demián Salomón, Silvina Sabater, Virginia Garofalo, Paula Rubinsztein, Luis Dziembrowski
Producers: Fernando Diaz, Roxana Ramos
Executive Producers: Fernando Diaz, Roxana Ramos, Samuel Zimmerman, Emily Gotto
Cinematographer: Mariano Suarez
Editor: Lionel Cornistein
Composer: Pablo Fuu
Language: Spanish
Country of Origin: Argentina
Running Time: 99 minutes