---
title: "When Evil Lurks"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/when-evil-lurks"
fi1m_id: "when-evil-lurks"
imdb_id: "tt16300962"
tmdb_id: 744857
wikidata_id: "Q121367826"
fi1m_score: 76
critics_score: 72
critics_reviews: 12
published: "2026-09-30T22:12:20.867168+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-30T22:12:30.534134+00:00"
region: "SI"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# When Evil Lurks (2023)

Directed by Demián Rugna · 1h 40m · Horror, Thriller

## Identity

When Evil Lurks

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/when-evil-lurks
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** when-evil-lurks
- **IMDb ID:** tt16300962
- **TMDB ID:** 744857
- **Wikidata ID:** Q121367826
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16300962/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/744857, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q121367826

**Fi1m score: 76** · Critics 72 from 12 reviews

*In a sentence:* The rules for surviving a demon are simple, and every man in this film has broken all of them before lunch

> Demián Rugna’s possession film treats the demonic as a rural outbreak, handled badly by farmers and ignored by the authorities. For an hour it is as frightening as anything we have sat through; the second half loosens its grip, though never its nerve.

## Synopsis

On a farm in rural Argentina, brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimi (Demián Salomón) hear gunshots in the night and at dawn find half a man in the grass. At the neighbours’ shack they find a son swollen and rotting in his bed, still breathing, possessed by something the locals call a rotten, and a mother who has waited a year for someone official to come. Nobody is coming. Pedro, Jimi and the landowner Ruíz (Luis Ziembrowski) load the body onto a truck to dump it far away. There are rules for handling a rotten, and they break the first within the hour. Pedro drives for the town where his ex-wife Sabrina (Virginia Garófalo) lives with their sons Santino (Marcelo Michinaux) and Jair (Emilio Vodanovich).

## Review

Demián Rugna’s second horror feature, after *Terrified* (2017), takes the possession film out of the suburban bedroom and puts it in a field. In his corner of rural Argentina a demon is not a visitor but a condition, something like foot-and-mouth: it gets into a body, festers there for months, and spreads to whoever handles it carelessly. The men who find it are farmers, and they treat it the way farmers treat a sick animal, which is the film’s best idea and its cruellest joke. It frightened us more than anything we have watched in a long while, and it does not quite hold together to the end.

The first hour is close to faultless. Mariano Suárez shoots almost all of it in daylight, in wide frames of flat grey land under low cloud, so that there is nowhere for anything to hide and it hides anyway. Laura Aguerrebehere’s neighbours’ shack is the film’s one great set: a mattress black with seepage, a man on it so bloated the skin has split, flies, a mother in a cardigan pouring tea beside him as if he had a cold. Fuu Pablo’s score barely exists for long stretches, a low hum under the wind, and when it does arrive it arrives late, after the image has already done the work.

Rugna, who also wrote it, gives us the rules the way the characters get them, in fragments and arguments. Do not shoot it. Do not use electric light near it. Do not say its name. Do not take anything that belonged to it. Ezequiel Rodríguez plays Pedro as a man who has heard all of this since childhood and believes about half, and his gradual understanding that his father’s generation was right about everything is the film’s real story. Luis Ziembrowski’s Ruíz is the landowner who wants the problem off his property by nightfall, and Demián Salomón’s Jimi is the brother who keeps his mouth shut and his eyes open. Silvina Sabater, as Mirtha, arrives well into the film carrying the knowledge everyone needed at the start, and plays her as tired rather than wise.

Here is what we felt. There is a scene, early in the town, involving a dog, that we will not describe further, and it made us put a hand over our mouths and keep it there. Rugna does not cut away from it and he does not linger either; Lionel Cornistein holds the shot for exactly as long as it takes to understand what has happened, then moves on to the people who saw it. We were horrified, properly, in the way we had assumed a horror film could no longer manage after thirty years of practice. It is the moment the film tells you it means it.

The second half is where it loosens. Once Pedro has gathered his sons and his ex-wife’s household into a car, the film becomes a series of arrivals at places where the rotten has got there first, and the rules that were so carefully laid out start to bend when the plot needs them to. A character who could not have known something knows it; a warning given twice is ignored a third time for no reason we could find. Emilio Vodanovich, as the autistic Jair, is given a role in the ending that the script has not prepared, and the climax is rushed through as if Rugna were worried we might stop believing if he slowed down. We did not stop believing. We did stop being able to say where everyone was.

Still, it is a long way ahead of the genre’s usual standard. Most possession films end with a priest and a prayer; this one has neither, and its tagline says as much. There are no churches in it, no holy water, no argument about faith. There is a bureaucracy that has given up, a few old women who remember how it used to be done, and a landscape that does not care. *Terrified* had the same director’s talent for the wrong thing in the frame; this is the film where he found something to say with it.

See it, with the lights on and a strong stomach, and preferably not alone. It runs 100 minutes and carries a 15 certificate, which strikes us as generous.

*Fi1m score 76, published 30 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like When Evil Lurks: nine of the twelve reviews are positive and none is negative. The praise clusters on Rugna’s mythology, a possession outbreak whose rules are revealed gradually rather than explained, and whose shocks grow out of the characters and the rural Argentine setting rather than arriving on cue. Several reviews also single out the craft, in particular the widescreen photography, the score and the practical effects, and most agree the violence is brutal, unflinching and staged with real skill.

The reservations gather in the second half. The Los Angeles Times finds the climax rushed, Paste finds some third-act choices too mystifying, and Collider thinks the setup is laboured. The spread is fairly wide. Polygon sits at the top, treating the film as a memorable revival of possession horror, while IndieWire is the only dissenter of note, finding it mediocre and saying it squanders a promising opening by losing momentum.

## Straight answers

**Is When Evil Lurks worth watching?**

*When Evil Lurks* is worth watching for anyone with a strong stomach who wants a possession film without priests or holy water, and we scored it 76. The first hour is as frightening as anything we have sat through in years; the second half loosens, bending its own rules and rushing the climax, though it never loses its nerve.

**How long is When Evil Lurks, and what is it rated?**

*When Evil Lurks* runs 1h 40m. It is a horror and thriller film.

**Where can I watch When Evil Lurks in Slovenia?**

*When Evil Lurks* is not on any streaming or rental service in Slovenia at the moment. It is available in 26 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is When Evil Lurks, and is it suitable for children?**

*When Evil Lurks* is not suitable for children and carries a UK 15 certificate, which strikes us as generous. It is unsparingly violent and frightening, with a swollen, rotting body on a mattress and an early scene involving a dog that we will not describe and that made us cover our mouths. The squeamish should stay well away.

**How does When Evil Lurks compare to Kill List?**

*When Evil Lurks* and [*Kill List*](https://film.one/film/kill-list) both send men into the countryside to meet something older than they understand, but the Argentine film is the more frightening and the more physically brutal of the two. Wheatley builds dread out of suburban tension and hitmen at work; Rugna treats the demonic as a rural outbreak, handled badly by farmers. Both lose some grip in their final stretch.

### Reviews we read (12)

- **Slant Magazine**, Steven Scaife (3/4): Scaife finds the film disturbing and truthful in its depiction of a world overtaken by human failures. He praises Rugna’s inventive, gradually revealed mythology and the way its shocking images emerge from character and context. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/when-evil-lurks-review-demian-rugna/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Amy Nicholson (70/100, inferred): Nicholson finds the film an enjoyable, unpredictable horror thriller, though its rushed climax weakens the emotional payoff. She praises Rugna’s sustained dread and skillfully staged, brutal violence. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-10-06/when-evil-lurks-review-demian-rugna-horror-shudder)
- **Variety**, Dennis Harvey (70/100, inferred): Harvey finds the film uneven but engrossing, ultimately calling it a bracing and unpredictable ride. He praises its atmospheric craft, especially the widescreen cinematography and unsettling score. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/when-evil-lurks-review-1235741525/)
- **RogerEbert.com** (64/100, inferred): The page is blocked, so the critic’s verdict cannot be determined. The review’s specific praise or complaint is also unavailable. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/when-evil-lurks-movie-review-2023)
- **Screen Daily**, Nikki Baughan (64/100, inferred): The accessible text confirms this is a review, but does not reveal the critic’s verdict. The standfirst describes rural Argentine horror centered on an ancient evil. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/when-evil-lurks-review/5186477.article)
- **IndieWire**, Wilson Chapman (C): Chapman finds the film feverishly mediocre, saying it squanders an intriguing premise and loses momentum in its second half. He praises the opening’s restrained world-building, which lets the audience piece together the rules of demonic possession. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/when-evil-lurks-review-tiff-1234904697/)
- **Polygon**, Tasha Robinson (95/100, inferred): Robinson calls the film a terrifying, memorable revival of possession horror. She particularly praises its carefully built world and family drama, alongside its strong performances and shocking practical effects. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/23905198/when-evil-lurks-review-scariest-horror-movie-of-2023/)
- **Paste**, Aurora Amidon (8.1/10): The review finds the film an original, nightmarish horror story that is also exceptionally fun. It praises the restrained cinematography and score, while noting that some third-act actions are too mystifying. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/demian-rugna/when-evil-lurks-review)
- **/Film**, Rafael Motamayor (8/10): The review praises the film as a disturbing, gory, and smart take on possession horror. It singles out Rugna’s expansive world-building and the way the story conveys a terrifyingly ordinary demonic infestation. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1402393/when-evil-lurks-review/)
- **Collider**, Chase Hutchinson (B): Hutchinson finds the film a brutally effective, dread-filled horror ride, despite some narrative weaknesses and a belabored setup. He praises its relentless, chaotic violence and willingness to deliver gruesome scares without pulling punches. [Read](https://collider.com/when-evil-lurks-review/)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (75/100, inferred): Kermode finds the film deeply unsettling and compelling, praising how its possession-plague premise explores the human response to catastrophe. She singles out its haunting atmosphere and moral challenge, while noting its devastating tragedy and disturbing violence against children. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/when-evil-lurks-2023-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
- **The Playlist** (75/100, inferred): The headline presents Rugna’s possession film as disturbing yet wonderful. It singles out the film’s horrifying approach to possession. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/when-evil-lurks-review-demian-rugnas-horrifying-new-take-on-possession-is-disturbing-wonderful-20231024/)

## Details

- **Director:** Demián Rugna
- **Director:** Demián Rugna
- **Writer:** Demián Rugna
- **Cinematography:** Mariano Suárez
- **Editor:** Lionel Cornistein
- **Music:** Fuu Pablo
- **Production design:** Laura Aguerrebehere
- **Costume design:** Pheonia Veloz
- **Producer:** Roxana Ramos, Fernando Díaz
- **Cast:** Ezequiel Rodríguez as Pedro; Demián Salomón as Jimi; Silvina Sabater as Mirtha; Luis Ziembrowski as Ruíz; Marcelo Michinaux as Santino; Emilio Vodanovich as Jair; Virginia Garófalo as Sabrina; Paula Rubinsztein as Sara
- **Runtime:** 1h 40m
- **First release (Canada):** 13 September 2023
- **Genres:** Horror, Thriller
- **Box office:** $2 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrTnV6gNzno

## Where to watch in Slovenia

Not streaming, renting or buying in Slovenia at the last check.

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, IN, IT, JP, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Sitges Film Festival Best Feature-Length Film award 2023: Sitges Film Festival Best Feature-Length Film award (won)

## If you liked this

- *Terrified* (2017): Rugna’s previous film: the same knack for putting the wrong thing in the frame
- *The Wailing* (2016): Korean village possession where the rules keep changing and nobody is in charge
- *Kill List* (2011), Fi1m 82: British hitmen drive into the countryside and find something older waiting for them — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/kill-list.md)
- *Possession* (1981): Żuławski’s Berlin marriage collapses into something wet and unspeakable; not for everyone
- *Noroi: The Curse* (2005): Japanese found-footage that builds its mythology in fragments and pays every one of them off

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/when-evil-lurks