''When Evil Lurks" is a 2023 Argentinian supernatural horror film written and directed by Demián Rugna.
In a remote farming village in Argentina, the Yazurlo brothers discover that one of their neighbours has been infected by a demon. After dumping him far away from their land, the eldest brother, Pedro, convinces the younger, Jaime, to collect their family and make a run for it.
The film When Evil Lurks shows examples of the following tropes:
- Adults Are Useless: The adults are so engrossed in their own argument that they don't even register Vicky's vicious mauling by Roger until Santino starts screaming, and even then they drag their feet about it.
- Ambiguous Situation: The reason Pedro is both viewed with suspicion by the police and has a restraining order against him is because, according to Sabrina, he tried to kill their son Jair supposedly for being autistic. That being said, we only have Sabrina’s word to go by it, and one of the times she says it is after she was possessed. Jaime also responds to Mirta’s comment on these claims by saying Sabrina made them up. But Jaime has just as much of a reason to lie as Sabrina does, given that he’s loyal to his brother, and it being implied that part of his loyalty stems from guilt over a possible affair between him and Sabrina.
- Car Fu: Sabrina is the victim of this on two separate occasions: a possessed Leo drives into her and pins her against their house, killing her. Then, when she comes back possessed herself, Jaime hits her with a car after seeing her eat Santino.
- Children Are Innocent: Played With, as Mirta explains that "Evil is drawn to children, and children are drawn to evil."
- Corrupt Politician: The reason for the the police being useless is chalked up to the Mayor wanting a way to drive Ruiz and the residents of his farmland away, so that he could sell it off to the highest bidder afterward. It's also hinted that he may have some involvement with the murder of the Cleaner sent to deal with Uriel in furtherance of this goal.
- Creepy Child: Oh, so many. Little Vicky gleefully tells her mother that her father is about to drive into them, and dances in the street after he does. Uriel is sheltered in a rural school, populated by several possessed children. And then, of course, there's the demon child.
- Death of a Child: All of the children we see either die or are possessed.
- Definitely Just a Cold: Mirta, an expert in possession, tries to warn Jaime that Jair is possessed. Jaime dismisses it as symptoms of Jair's autism - until he realizes that Jair's wrists are bent painfully out of shape.
- Demonic Possession: This flavour of it acts like an infection, and is dubbed "The Rotten". The setting hints at this being a rare but well-established phenomena, as towns have strict protocols on what to do in the event of a Rotten appearing.
- Devil, but No God: Demons appear to be free to rampage with no fear of divine intervention. It's indicated the church's influence has collapsed as a result of its impotence in the face of the demonic threat.
- Disability Immunity: For some reason the demons have great trouble with autistic individuals. Jair spends hours possessed before the demon works out how to control his body, and when it does, it can't act like him at all and gives the game away instantly. Unfortunately, the only person who sees him acting strangely is his elderly grandmother. By the time Pedro and Jaime return, the demon has perfected its Jair impression.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The contaminated brothers leaving their land against advice and bringing their family members into contact with the demonic infection might bring to mind the people who broke lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Downer Ending: Both the brothers survive, but Jair is possessed and pretty much everyone else is dead. What's more, a demon child has been born thanks to Pedro's rash actions, and who knows what chaos and terror he will bring. It's little wonder that the final shot is Pedro kneeling in front of his house and screaming in anguish.
- Failure Hero: While neither of the brothers are successful Pedro stands out for getting his family killed and/or possessed by bringing the infection straight to them, losing his temper and abandoning Mirta to be killed so he can grab a useless weapon, then finally killing Uriel by smashing his head in (rather than a clean stab through the nape of the neck), letting the demon child be born.
- Foreshadowing: The possessed Jair drapes a lambskin rug over himself before cannibalizing his grandmother, indicating that he is a "wolf in sheep's clothing".
- Gruesome Goat: One of Ruiz' goats becomes infected, and taunts him into shooting it.
- Guns Are Worthless: Guns might kill a possessed individual, but they also spread the possession further.
- Hellhound: Sabrina's family dog, Roger, becomes this after sniffing around Pedro's contaminated clothes.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Being possessed seems to cause a hankering for human flesh, among other symptoms.
- Mister Seahorse: The possessed Uriel is spoken of as being pregnant with a demon child. When Pedro eventually kills Uriel, a demonic child rises from his corpse and walks off into the sunrise.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Happens so many times it might as well be a theme.
- In the beginning, Ruiz becomes so determined to ensure that the Rotten doesn’t take over his land that he has a possessed Uriel transported to a different place. This is despite protests from the people around him, including his own wife, Jimena. Not only does the plan go awry when Uriel falls off the back of the truck and disappears on the road, but the possession even returns to his land through one of his goats that had been previously killed. Even while Jimena pleads with him not to shoot the possessed goat because of the rules, he does so anyway and it results in both him and Jimena getting an ax to the face.
- The Yazurlo brothers drop by the house of Pedro’s ex-wife, Sabrina, to pick up Pedro’s sons in an effort to get their family away from the spreading rotten. But Pedro not paying attention to his infected clothes as he’s stripping them off results in the family dog, Roger, getting possesed and mauling Sabrina’s daughter. And as Adults Are Useless shows, neither he, his ex-wife, nor his ex-wife’s current husband notice the brutal mauling that’s happening beside them. It’s also likely that had they stayed put and not try to collect their relatives, the whole thing wouldn’t have spread as fast as it did.
- Jaime ignores Mirta’s warning on his nephew Jair being possessed, thinking that the warnings are just because he’s autistic. Though to be fair, Mirta doesn’t elaborate on the warnings until the second time, which is just as they’re looking for an abducted Santino. Still, he doesn’t inform Pedro of this and they leave the possessed Jair alone with their mother, resulting in her being eaten by her possessed grandson towards the end.
- Pedro follows a possessed girl’s instructions on where to get an ax, so that he could more easily, bring Uriel out from within the stage. This is despite Mirta desperately shouting at him not to listen to the possessed girl, the impending birth of a demon child, and having every reason to both heed Mirta’s warnings and doubt the possessed girl. What this ultimately results in is Mirta’s death and the demon child rising from Uriel’s corpse, which may as well bring about The End of the World as We Know It.
- Offing the Offspring: The possessed Sabrina kidnaps her youngest son, Santino, and is later seen wandering on the side of the road eating his brains.
- Earlier in the film, there are mentions of Pedro having attempted to kill his older autistic son, Jair. It explains why he has a restraining order against him ad the police’s distrust of him. Jaime, however, claims that Pedro’s ex-wife made up the story to gain custody.
- Our Demons Are Different: For one, they’re referred to as “The Rotten” and operate much like a virus. They aren’t given any physical form, save for the demon child at the end, unless you count the bodies of the various people and animals that they possess. The possession process can also spread from one individual to another, if the rules are broken, such as if someone were to shoot a Rotten with a gun. It also appears that they make use of psychological torment, as they repeatedy taunt the uninfected people around them into killing the current host through ineffective means (such as with guns) in order to make the possessions spread.
- Papa Wolf: Pedro's first priority once it is clear the demons have been let loose is to save his children. It is also a deconstruction, as Pedro's efforts to save them ultimately result in the deaths of most of his family.
- Police Are Useless: The Yazurlo brothers appeal to the local police for help, but they dismiss it as "not their problem." They don't even seem to care about an unexplained dismembered body on the possessed man's land, nor the unexplained gunshots heard the night before. As mentioned above, it's likely the mayor is paying them off to ignore the problem until the locals are driven out.
- When Pedro later flags down the police lieutenant and tells him that Vicky has been attacked by a dog, the officer's response is "you called us about a dog?"
- Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: The demons repeatedly goad people into killing them, as this only kills one host but lets them spread more easily. Despite knowing this and being warned against it by Mirta, an enraged Pedro kills Uriel, letting the demon child be born.
- Trauma Conga Line: Pedro has to deal with losing his ex-wife, both his sons, and his mother. Made worse by the fact that they probably would have been safe if he'd stayed put in the first place.
- Would Hurt a Child: The demons have no qualms about possessing or harming children.
