When Evil Lurks (2023) Limited Edition 4K/UHD Review
Demián Rugna’s devastatingly terrifying Argentinian horror had everyone talking on its World premiere and has garnered awards galore including Best Film at Sitges Film Festival, Best International Film at Fangoria Chainsaw Awards and a double win at Gérardmer Film Festival – the Audience Award and Critics Award.
WHEN EVIL LURKS certainly lurked in the minds of critics and audiences alike too, with Dumdums stating it’s ‘One of the most disturbing movies you’ll EVER see’ and The Geek Show declared it ‘A powerhouse of a possession film, cementing Demián Rugna further as an absolute master of horror in the making’ and praise continued from The Cosmic Circus who said it ‘Defiantly crosses several lines even the most twisted of films in the genre wouldn’t dare step over… has the makings of a new high-mark for horror, for those who can stomach it at least’.
The wicked WHEN EVIL LURKS Limited Edition is now set for release on 28 July 2025 and is presented in a stunning rigid slipcase with brand new artwork and is presented in dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs and a slew of special features including brand-new interviews, a new commentary and a new video essay and more please see full listing on attached. Separate Standard Edition 4K/UHD and Blu-ray versions will also be available on the same date.
The dark and chilling gorefest follows a devastating trail of terror, wreaked by a malevolent force on course to destroy a whole town. Two brothers – played in jaw-dropping performances by Ezequiel Rodríguez and Demián Salomón – accidently become embroiled with a possessed local man and are sucked headlong into a fearsome fight against evil that knows no bounds. They are prepared to risk everything to try and stop this evil, beyond their wildest fears, from destroying those they love and humanity itself.
WHEN EVIL LURKS is grim viewing. The first time I saw it I gave up watching and that’s rare for me. I found the movie contrived, conceived simply as an excuse to be as shocking as possible simply for the sake of being shocking. Demián Rugna’s latest lacks the emotional wallop of his 2017 film TERRIFIED which is, for my money, still the finest and scariest movie released in the 21st Century to date.
Presented with the opportunity to sit down and watch WHEN EVIL LURKS again, I found myself more accepting of the violence and other upsetting imagery onscreen. I also found myself bemused by how the central twosome – two brothers – move from one disturbing moment to another without them ever seeming outwardly affected. No sooner have the twosome moved Uriel – a possessed bloated obese rotting adult male – out of his homestead and away from their village than ‘the rotten’ starts to spread amongst all those that have had direct contact with it.
In effect this is like Richard Donner’s THE OMEN where anyone that meets demonic evil is met with an almost immediate and grisly end. Unlike THE OMEN the latter stages of WHEN EVIL LURKS take on a slightly comical edge as the brothers keep failing in their attempt to prevent the evil from spreading. Do please bear in mind that the comedic aspect is only slight as this is otherwise a brutal flick crammed full of violence – such as that excruciatingly brutal dog attack and the violence dished out and received that involves children – making for a disturbing, disquieting tale that does not quite match the same director’s TERRIFED but still packs more of a punch than any number of vacuous Hollywood horror movies that pour out into multiplexes watered down for mass consumption.
EVERYTHING BELOW THE LIST OF SPECIAL FEATURES IS TO BE INCORPORATED
Special Features
Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs
UHD presented in HDR with Dolby Vision produced by Second Sight Films and approved by Director Demián Rugna
New audio commentary by Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodriguez
It Was Always There: a new interview with Demián Rugna
Tragedy is Inevitable: a new interview with Actor Ezequiel Rodríguez
We Made a Movie: a new interview with Actor Demián Salomón
Stripped to the Bone: a new interview with Actor Virginia Garófalo
Terror and the Unknown in When Evil Lurks: a video essay by Mike Muncer
Limited Edition Contents
Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Chris Berning
120-page book with new essays by Anton Bitel, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Meagan Navarro, Dan Schindel, Rocco Thompson, and Heather Wixson
Six collectors’ art cards