When Evil Lurks (2023)

Finally got to see this movie after it had major buzz around Halloween online. I put it in the really good/solid category but it did have potential to be great/elite.

The basic premise is a demonic possession story set in rural Argentina (and yes, the movie is in Spanish). It was described to me as a rural village dealing with a person possessed with the antichrist and how they dealt with it, but it's more accurate to describe it as 2 brothers in that village reacting to a relatively standard demon possession. I thought it was going to be a lot more slow burn/psychological with a lot of folk horror elements, but it was much closer to a kinetic zombie movie.

The primary issues involve the evil (demons?). The rules aren't 100% clear and there is clearly an incredibly interesting backstory that is just referenced and not explained. This movie does not exist in our universe, but I don't know what else is different about their universe. It kind of annoyed me, especially since they try to insert this to make it more of a folk and cosmic horror movie, which means the movie itself can't do this on its own and requires forced exposition and mystery (Like the series Lost).

Ruling: The movie is worth the buzz and I do highly recommend it, but I will give a few warnings (Semi-spoilers but not really).

1. As stated earlier, this is in Spanish.
2. This isn't anywhere close to gore porn, but has some extreme gory moments (including harm to children and animals).
3. There is a backstory that isn't fully explained and may require knowledge of the cultural zeitgeist of Argentina to understand.

Streaming: AMC+/Shudder or rental on Prime/Vudu/Google Play