SPOOPYWEEN DAY 26 WHEN EVIL LURKS!!!

Day 26

When Evil Lurks

I could not wait for this one. I tried. I tried really hard.

For five seconds, then I said nah fuck it. We need another final try at a good possession film.

So here we have it. A film that I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about for a long while now. Something that’s been making the rounds and finally has arrived on streaming as of today.

I always raise an eye when people say click bait things, which this has had a few of.

Most disturbing

Most intense

Hard to watch

Will STAY with you for days

I need clean underwear

So hearing these things, and people having to add “No really, it is!!” had me curious. So as we enter our final few films of October I thought. Why not. Ex….I’m not gonna mention it again. I promise. But yeah. The LAST film to deal with evil and possible possession was not that wonderful an experience. So here’s hoping right?

Films rarely live up to the hype created by others when we have our own spectrum for what these hyped headlines should be. I heard the same about Terrifier 2, and that movie was just an absolute joy to watch. So we shall see. Here’s hoping for at the very least a fun 100 minutes.

The Film

Bit of forewarning I suppose. For those who did not know before diving into this one. As if the insane number of production companies listed in the films beginning didn’t tell you? This is a Spanish horror film, so, you’ll need to pay attention to this one. It’s not a set it and forget it film. Pause it when you take breaks.

This is…a very beautifully shot film. Seriously this is rather shocking how beautiful the cinematography is. Even the night shots are just. A sight to behold. But we aren’t here for that. I KNOW. We are here for the EEEEVVILLL!

Well don’t worry it’s coming. This film isn’t going to waste our time.

We begin as interesting films should. With wild gunfire in the middle of the night in the woods.

Which you get every fucking night where I live, in the woods. I’m not joking. People fire off shotguns and rifles at all hours here.

But yes. Two brothers have their evening disturbed by random revolver fire out in the nearby woods. But these are smart men, they won’t go running off into the dark with rifles ready to fire. They decide to wait till morning and explore.

A wise victory for those wanting to stay alive and not end up in someones range of wild gunfire.

However what they find the next morning is, less than ideal.

They head out with their trusted hunting puppers and discover not too far off in the field. What remains of a mans body. Cut in half. A man with odd equipment in the middle of a field near the forest. Cut clean in half with something very sharp, left for food to feed a puma.

This isn’t their first Hardy Boys mystery. They search the area and discover the mans notebook, containing correspondence letters and, of all things. A photocopied ID of a neighbor not far from them. So the two take off to question this woman, as well as to let her know. If she’s expecting this guy for dinner, better call Arby’s.

What they find. Is definitely a first, disgusting, and giving me the best of hopes for this film and the journey we’re taking. The find the woman, alive, a long with her youngest boy. They aren’t hiding from these men that they were waiting on someone to arrive. In fact they’ve been waiting a long as time now.

The man that was meant to meet them, and was found cleaved in half like someone having a machete fight for fun. Was coming there by the womans request. To kill her oldest son.

Well that’s. Certainly brow raising news to hear.

As she takes the men inside to show them her son. We are told the man is possessed. That she felt praying over him, would heal him. But instead he has rotted. Wasting away into human filth. The thing in the bed. Is actually gross enough you can smell the room from the screen. Even if it’s the last smell you want in your mind. It’s there.

The man on the bed is bloated, in his underwear. A sickly grey, with large lumps and growths on the left side of his face. With yellow puss running from his mouth and open sores. Barely able to breath, but keeping his one open eye on the two brothers. These men can’t believe what the hell they’re seeing. Let alone the idea this man was left there. Suffering like this. Because this woman believed praying would remove the evil within him.

But here’s the thing. What makes this movie interesting to me now. They’re doing some world building and I, am digging this concept.

They don’t seem shocked at all that this woman is claiming her eldest son is possessed. In fact the first thing they ask her, is if she reported it, and when. Which she says she did, over a year ago. But no one has come to deal with him.

This place, and time. Is dealing with an end of the world setup. That evil lurks across the land freely. Possessions happen, and when they do. This is the good part. They must be handled properly.

By that they mean you need to report it to the police. Who then contact the mayor. The mayor contacts a ‘cleaner’ from the church. The church sends out an ordained member to visit the possessed. Cleanse them of the evil, and dispatch of them properly.

IF

You fail to do so. If someone just randomly walks up and kills the possessed? You evil will come for that person. Tormenting them, raising hell and either killing them, or possessing them. If you decide to let the possessed go untreated, let them die naturally? The evil spreads across the land freely. Looking for its next host. Destroying everything in its wake. Creating ghost towns.

I’m digging it. Seriously this is cool. I like the idea, and the fact this has become so common place in the film. That the reason these two brothers are angry. Isn’t because the woman wants her son killed. It isn’t because he’s possessed. It’s because if the man isn’t properly disposed of. They have to flee. Losing their land, their livelihoods. These people are treating possession and evil, like tainted fields and sick cattle.

So this of course means. The corrupt are flourishing. Much like they said happened during the witch trials and other pandemics. If someone wants your land, As their own or to sell. They just have to let loose a possessed and unless it’s disposed of properly well. Your only choice is to get the hell out of town and leave everything behind. Which lets them snatch up your land and the rich get richer. It’s great, and it feels like this womans poor eldest son is going to absolutely bring the pain.

When the two brothers tell their boss about this, and what the mayor told them. What the police said. They all feel this was a setup by the mayor. None of the police claim anyone told them anything about a possessed, the mayor says he was told a year ago about it but never updated or confirmed if the son was actually possessed. So they took their time getting someone out there to take a look and ‘clean’ him.

The land owner is even MORE upset. Because he let that woman and her family live on his land and build a small homestead. And now he stands the possibility of losing his land, because her son had to go and get himself possessed. Its fucked up priorities but its making for a fun story. I’m digging it.

Well the land owner, Ruiz. Decides he’s pissed off enough about all of this. That he needs to head down to that womans home, with his unblessed shotgun. To go kill her son. Which would be the worst idea. Especially considering he has a pregnant wife at home. You know evil will go after that.

Which.

The possessed, rotting, bloated son gurgles out to him just that. Pleading with Ruiz to kill him, so he can go free, and possess the baby in his wife. And kill her from the inside, and the child.

Thankfully Ruiz proves to be a logical man. So he puts away the gun, gets back in his car and doesn’t take matters into his own hands.

It’s actually kind of fucked up, but a good plot point to make the rules so that, you can’t just kill a possessed person. Unless YOU want to be possessed and tortured. It puts a hell of a lot more pressure on the church to take care of what looks like a global religious pandemic of evil. And hearing how churches are dead and dying. Because they can’t train enough priest, and the evil is killing them off, much like the cleaner our two brothers found. Well. The world is looking like it’ll get fucked a lot faster by evil versus global warming.

Just saying.

So kudos on Ruiz not killing the bloated rotting possessed man. But he has other ideas. Far worse ones. Which again, looking at this from the view of cattle versus people. This kind of desperation makes sad sense.

Since he can’t kill the man without risking freeing the evil within him and having it come for him and his family, and those within the town. He still wont wait for a priest. So Ruiz decides he and his two workers, our lead brothers. Must load the man up into his truck, and drive as far the fuck out of town as they can get.

Which turns out to be well over 70 miles.

So does that mean they succeeded in loading this human bag of jello? Kind of?
It depends on your idea of success really.

Did the manage to lift a rotting obese 450lb man soaking in his own filth and puss? Technically yes.

I mean they moved him off the bed, and he fell to the floor. They dragged him out the house until his rotting blanket tore and he fell to the ground.

And they DID manage to load him up into the back of their truck. After a lot of bodily fluids were lost. I mean lots. Like. Okay. I can get what people meant about the gross factor.

The rotting effect and bloat on this guy is a bit too good, and the stuff just oozing out of him. It’s good. Definitely…sells the image of ‘do not move this man for the love of all things good and clean’. Like this man is the living scratch and sniff for the Bog of Eternal Stench.

Well. Evil may be tough to move. But its not Ford tough.

The trio drive off nearly 80 miles from their farm and town. Ready to go even further out. Until they happen to nearly hit a kid on his way to school in the middle of the road.

I would say this kid was asking for it. But well. I mean he is. If you are standing in the middle of the damn road, staring at a car coming at you? You either have a death wish. Or you need to pay more attention in school because your ass sure as shit isn’t learning a damn thing.

Don’t worry, the kid lives. They barely bumped him. They just. Ruined his day is all, and hopefully he shit himself in the process.

However once the men make it to their designated dead body storage spot. They find in their tarp covered truck bed. That there is no body.

Apparently. And comically. The body flew out of the truck when they swerved to avoid hitting the dumb kid in the road.

Which means they dumped that rotting possessed corpse a good 20 minutes back the opposite direction. The idea alone and image. Of this body flying out of the truck is hilarious. But even more funny than that? Is Ruiz reaction when the men ask him what do they do? Do they drive back and get him? Make sure he didn’t die and dispose of him like they planned? Do they even TRY to find him? Or the kid?

Ruiz tells them “Its not our problem, lets gooooooo”

I love Ruiz. The man nearly kills a kid. Loses a rotting possessed man, and decides to call it a win and get back to his ranch. You gotta love a man of principle.

It’s close enough to the goal line. Lets crack open some beers and in the morning, it’s back to work.

Which would be nice. But that ain’t gonna happen. This movie is not going to give us that.

It’s going to deliver its promise of shocking us all however. And bless their evil hearts for that.

The following morning. Ruiz pregnant wife screams for her husband to come outside. There seems to be a problem among their heard of goats. No there is no bloated rotting body, or possessed kid. It’s something even better. A cameo!

Yes. We get a special guest appearance in this mans goat herd. From none other than the unspoken star of The WITCH, Black Phillip!!

Yes. There is a black horned goat amongst his flock, It is the beast. The sign of evils arrival. So naturally as is his way. The man grabs his trusty shotgun and threatens the goat to leave his land. To go possess someone else and leave him be. The goat just walks right up to the man and puts his goat head against the barrel of his shotgun. Begging the man to shoot him.

Thankfully Ruiz has his wife at his side. Who tells him to consider his options, and the fact that, you know. As we already established. Killing the evil only brings evil. You gotta let the church dispose of it. She makes a strong case for this by reminding him that because of his weak pullout game, she’s pregnant. And they’re going to be a family. So you know. Don’t fuck that up.

He tells his woman to be silent and go make a quilt!

I shouldn’t laugh but I did. The goat just stares at him, and he starts crying. Unsure what to do. Then the goat just goes “Baaah” and BLAM. Dude pulls the trigger. Blasting the goats head everywhere.

Now. Before you get upset over a great effects shot of an exploded goats head.

Before we can let that settle in.

The movie is popping the cork on another bottle. Because this film is a fiesta!

The freaking moment. That the goats body hits the ground? Ruiz’s catches an axe to the fucking face.

From his wife!

Ruiz drops dead, His pregnant wife, crying. Sinks to the ground, prays, and slams the axe into her own forehead.

Several

Fucking

Times.

Until she finally breaks through her skull, and kills herself.

That was…fucking awesome.

This movie has some balls, I like it. Good for them.

So yeah. She killed her husband and herself, to save them from the horror of possession and tortures of the evil on them and their unborn child.

Which now that I think about it. Man I really hope her death killed her baby. It’s an odd thing to say but come on. If it didn’t then that baby is now possessed. If this film shows that baby clawing out of her stomach?

I will be impressed.

But they won’t.

Now. We got a movie.

With the death of Ruiz and his wife. The two men are left on their own. Only made aware of the mans death, once they get a knock on their door in the middle of the night.

No its not the possessed baby asking how’s it hanging. Unfortunately. But it is the youngest of the woman with the formerly possessed bloated rotting man.

He said his mother left the house and never came back. So he went to Ruiz. Only to find him and his wife dead. Soooo now its super late, its cold as hell. And the kid doesn’t want to walk all the way back home. He’s asking if these guys will be cool and let him stay.

Well should’ve thought about that before making the trek kid.

But instead of sending him off to die, or return home to a possibly super possessed mother. They let him sleep in the horse stall for the night.

We can safely assume the kid is just fine. We don’t actually know because Pedro has taken the truck into town to get his ex wife and his kids. She is living with her new man, in their old home and has a restraining order against him. This can only go well.

His other Jaime is headed to get their mother

So Pedro makes it to his former home and pushes past her new man. Demanding he wake everyone up, bring him clothes for him and his brother, and begins undressing in the kitchen.

The man is getting balls naked in this mans presence and no fucks were given by Pedro. Even when his former wife enters the room carrying their groggy still waking daughter. They all see his sagging balls. We all do. Every detail of them.

Even the family DOG see’s Pedro’s balls as he’s investigating the mans stinky ass rotting bloated possessed corpse tainted clothes.

And he STILL hasn’t explained himself to anyone.

Which would really help.

I mean damn dude. You barge into your old house without an explanation. Strip dick out naked and demand new clothes, then tell your ex wife, while holding your dick “We need to get the kids and leave”

These are not the actions of a man trying to save his family.

These are the actions of a man after 2 bottles of silver Patron, visiting his ex wife and trying to win her back, only to end up pissing on the kitchen floor and being escorted out by the cops.

Needless to say, it does not go so well.

His kids however are super happy. Like his youngest son is happy he gets to go on a road trip with dad. But then Pedro tells him his lil sister is going to, so now he’s less excited. But she’s happy.

Even more happy when Pedro says they can take their doggo. They just need to calm the screaming ex wife down, wake up his eldest son. Pack two pairs of clothes each and get the hell out of dodge.

So he FINALLY tells them there is a possessed person, they died. The evil is freely roaming the town so they need to get out of town. His wife is still fixed on the fact her peaceful morning was disturbed by her husbands incredibly smooth balls flopping around in her kitchen.

Well things cant stay peaceful for long. And this movie.

Fuck man. This movie actually does have balls. Not just Pedro’s actual balls either.

What happens next. Is scarily real, so fast, and I can understand people again getting shocked.

As the adults are arguing and the little brother is trying to listen in while his lil sis stands beside her bestie doggo. The dog suddenly snaps his head around and grabs her face. Throwing her to the ground and begins eating her fucking face. Slinging her around like a rope toy. Worst of all? You can still hear her whimpering. And then finally go silent once the dog snaps his head so fast and violently it snaps her neck.

The movie did mention very subtly. In the beginning. That the evil starts with animals. It makes them go crazy. And this is the kind of crazy they meant.

Even worse. Yes worse than the little girl getting her face mauled off. Is the fact the dog never once lets go of her fucking face. Her brother is watching the entire thing happen. And no adult hears or cares whats going on in the other room. Until the little boy screams that the dog ‘bit’ his sister.

That’s the biggest understatement of the year. That fucking dog chomped her goddamn face off and is using her eye sockets to hold his jaws around her skull.

The new dad looks under the table just in time to see the family dog growl and run off. Still holding her by the head, as he takes off out the door and down the street.

Mom crumples down to the floor screaming seeing her little girls lifeless body bloody and being dragged off by their dog. Both Pedro and new dad are taking off running after the dog to get the girl back. And little brother is crying out, genuinely traumatized. But all is cool. Daddy Pedro comes back. Tells his son it’s gonna be chill, and goes upstairs to finish his task of waking up his eldest son, who has some mental issues. Which. Is hugely unfortunate for him right now.

Lets all take a moment though. Realize that Pedro. Has left this girl with the devil dog. And the new dad is going out there, with a gun. To find the devil dog, and his daughter.

WHICH IS ALSO BAD!!!

But damn so, so good.

Does new dad find his daughter? No.

But he does find the pupper. And he does kill it.

Which is unfortunate. But also yes he killed the evil dog so. He’s gone now. Or will be.

Oh but just wait. There’s more.

Pedro is hunting for a way out. His truck was taken by new dad to hunt down the dog he killed. Which Pedro saw him do. So now he has to return home. Tell his ex wife to back up, and maybe they can patch things up. It’s always possible.

When pedro returns his former castle. There’s a surprise waiting for him.

Baby sister has arrived home. Safe. Free of any harm what so ever. In fact she was never attacked.

Mommy Sabrina is happy, crying happy tears. Hugging her perfectly safe, perfectly alive. Totally not at all possessed daughter.

Pedro sees this, grabs his sons and says ‘Time to gooooooo’

So they take Sabrinas car because well. She wont need it.

No the little girl doesn’t kill her mom. Instead she smiles happily and tells mom “Daddy is planning on coming home and killing you. He’s going to smash you with his car” Which makes the girl super happy. It confuses mom, Especially when she sees her former husband take off in her car. IS PEDRO GOING TO RUN HER AND THE DAUGHTER OVER?!

No. You don’t harm evil. Remember!

Instead the little girl meant her REAL father. The new dad. Who does in fact come barreling at full speed straight into Sabrina. Instantly crushing and killing her. Leaving him alive long enough for us to know. No he was not possessed. He just killed her to save her from the evil. And kill himself. Thinking their daughter was dead. Only to see in his final moments. His little girl dancing and clapping her hands recreating the crash that killed her mom.

So now the boys are on a road trip!

But the question now is. How did things go with Jaime and mom?

They went completely fine. Mom is fine. Not possessed. Not evil. Not mauled by a dog.

A victory for Jaime, A traumatic but happy end to a messy divorce for Pedro.

The film is giving us a bit of a rest. Which is nice. Because now we need to figure out where they go from here. But Mom is also going to lay down for us, the always important rules of horror. Every horror film has a set of rules. Not the shit SCREAM talked about. But actual rules which the evil must abide by. It’s what you set up so you know when the people are safe, and when they are in danger.

Like how Freddy only comes for you in your dreams. So you stay awake. If you die in your dreams, you die in the real world. The nursery rhyme goes over all of this.

Every villain has them, and the possessed are proving no different.

So what are the rules?

Stay away from animals

Don’t use electricity, especially lights. They call the darkness

Don’t name the evil. Calling it out will give them power and, well you don’t want that.

You don’t harm the evil

You don’t use gun powder

Don’t be afraid of dying

Do not take anything close to them

Basically if you see a possessed person, or ‘rotting’ person. Just lock the doors, hope for the best. Or drop the bomb.

This is the world they live in, unfortunately.

And it’s only getting worse.

The group manage to make it to Jaimes former crush growing up. Mirta. Who also happens to be, of all things. A former cleaner.

The group are allowed to stay at her place and sleep for the night. But she is not entirely okay with this. She believes Pedro’s eldest autistic son is possessed. Or soon will be.

There are stages to the possession. It seems at least. The first being the ‘Rotten’, where the darkness finds its way into your body. Usually through your mind. Where it then tricks you into doing things it wants. After it has taken control of your body? Then you become possessed.

I’M TAKING SHOTS IN THE DARK HERE MAN!

I mean this is kinda fucked for humanity and I dig it. It’s like being told to play DOOM ETERNAL, but you can’t use guns. You might as well just turn the game off. Which apparently a lot of people did.

But enough of that. We got more movie to cover.

Because break time? Is over. Time out was called. The group got some rest. But its game on again, and oh dear lord if you thought earlier was bad. It only gets better.

During the night. Pedro sleeps beside his autistic son in the car. Because Mirta believes he is rotten if not possessed, she doesn’t want him in the house. Grandma, Jaime and Pedro’s youngest however, are all allowed inside.

While outside though. We learn that of all things you’d want not to happen. Mommy Sabrina has found her babies. She covers her car in her blood as Pedro and his son sleep. Or at least Pedro sleeps. And Sabrina has discovered that Pedro’s mom likes to sleep with the window open. Which is unfortunate. Mama is okay. Sabrina did not come to kill her. She only came for her little boy. Whom she has found. Thankfully mom is awake enough to realize that the woman holding the boy, has half her face hanging off and bleeding just about everywhere. So Jaime gets Pedro to come deal with his undead ex wife.

Does it go well?

Well I don’t know. You tell me how many custody battles YOU know ended well.

SO yes it doesn’t. Sabrina leaps off the second story of the house, carrying her son as a prize. And Pedro tries taking off after her. But she’s got demon speed. So it’s time to use the car. Only. That’s not such a good idea.

Pedro is taking off in search of Sabrina and his boy, and ask his brother to look after his eldest son.

Which he swears to do.

At least until Mirta informs Jaime of the horrible truth that the eldest boy is infact a rotten. She points to his hands and feet. Noting the contortions and bruising. Telling him how it happens when the possessed enter autistic people, and elders with dementia and the such. They end up trapped in a mind prison where they can’t control the bodies, but eventually. Slowly. They work their way through and find control. So now, unfortunately the eldest is going to have to be cleaned. Eventually.

Pedro is not told this out right, I believe. He is just told by his brother that the eldest should stay behind with mom. While he goes out toward town to look for Sabrina and the boy. While Pedro and Mirta go looking down the other end of the road.

Its during this time. The film graces us with a bit more world building. We learn from Mirta, that she and others, faked saving people. During the early beginnings of the possessions. They would sell themselves as cleaners, cleansing the sick and dying. Until a possessed enter their church and began killing them.

From their on other churches began to fall. Evil attacked all of them, nearly wiping them out. What members of faith remained. Began doing actual cleanings. Learning to kill these things and take them down properly. But naturally. Evil didn’t like this. So they’d set up ambushes to kill them. As what happened to her husband who was also a cleaner. He went out to do a job, and never came back. So she left everything behind and found a new home, where she hid. Cleaners began turning into Jedi essentially. Hiding themselves Both from demons, and people wanting someone to blame and choosing them.

It's honestly really interesting and heart breaking.

But I love it. Not because I’m a sick bastard. But the legitimate feeling you get through out this movie. The town. The whole possession as a norm. The cleaners. All of it. It has the same dread, and hopelessness you get when reading Salem’s Lot. In the book, the world is over run by vampires. They couldn’t stop it. They spread and the few survivors now go town to town killing. Fewer and fewer people remain. It’s just a losing war. This has that same feeling to it.

As soon as possessed show up. Your fucked. Either ending up killed by neighbors, or possessed yourself.

It’s just depressing, but so so good for a film. They really nail that atmosphere perfectly and they absolutely deserve credit for that. It’s not an easy thing to setup. At least successfully. Which is probably good because, not everyone needs more films like The Road. Even if some of us would love more fucked up movies like The Mist and this.

Speaking of fucked up.

We got 20 minutes left. Dios mio!

So. Do they find Sabrina the ex bitch, and Pedro’s son?

Jaime does.

Surprisingly. On his lonesome he does. Driving around in the dead of night with no head lights on. Because again, electricity draws evil.

He finds Sabrina. In what has to be an applaud worthy image of true horror.

Sabrina is lurching around like a zombie. No longer lithe and fine like she was when she picked up her son and half her face was hanging on. She’s falling apart. She is holding her son in her arm pressed to her chest. While her free hand digs into the empty skull of her son.

Its actually pretty fucked up. She’s just casually like. Dipping her hand down his head, taring organs out through his throat. Like putting her hand down a can of pringles. Once you pop the top, you can’t stop.

HAH

Well. This is what we call, traumatic. In fact its so traumatic. That Jaime just stops the car, and lets Sabrina stumble past him, watching her just munching away at her sons insides. He begins to snap. Which is one of the most believable things in this film, and goddamn I love them for this. It is not easy pulling off. Especially with a small cast like this. Something that emotional and believable. But you see this mans face. You see he absolutely has had his sanity broken. I mean hell the guy just saw the mother of her own child scrapping his guts out through the top of his head, lazily eating the guts. The man can’t take it. He doesn’t even think. He just floors it. Hitting Sabrina. Whom we see laying across the hood, until Jaime crashes the car into a nearby tree. Crushing her, killing her. But also condemning himself. If he lives.

SO, what about Pedro? Surely he’s fairing better.

Well Mirta has a new and better idea. A possible way to end this evil. Find the one they tried disposing of in the beginning. IF they kill him. Properly clean him. This could end the evil.

Well that would’ve been tremendously helpful EARLIER!!!

So that is their mission. This town should be where the body of the bloated rotting man was when it went surfing out the back of the truck.

She is using all of her know how as a cleaner to figure out where he could be. IF he is still alive. But where to look?

Well, Pedro recalls that kid they almost his on his way to school. If the kid found the body. It’s possible he told the school. So. To the school!

Welcome to Salem’s Lot meets Children of the Damned!

This school is Silent Hill territory and its just proof that when evil shit happens. We need to not trust kids. Ever. The lil bastards are evil, and in groups? They are murderous. Always.

Name one horror movie with kids where they didn’t go insane and kill the parents.

Aside one movie where the parents comically went insane and killed their kids. That was fun. Also with Nic Cage.

So they find the school. It is loaded with children. Or sitting quietly in their classroom. Which is not suspicious at all.

Thankfully Mirta knows this little bastards are not trustworthy. They’re all evil. But not possessed.

Apparently evil uses children for something else entirely. Since evil knows we as humans should find it very incredibly hard to kill a child, that this makes them the perfect tool. So evil uses them as guardians. Deceivers to protect what is important to them. Which, we also learn why the bloated rotting man was so important. Any time a person becomes rotten, like that man they tried tossing out was. The become a vessel of sorts. For evil to become born through. So basically they carry an ultra evil entity. Which if born. Will bring death and destruction on a scale that seems like a regular Tuesday for these people. Infecting anyone in its path. So this is like a final boss type transformation you don’t want to have happen, and why cleaners were so important as to find and stop the rotting from birthing this evil entity. It's also what wiped out most the population and larger cities so. Yeah. Kinda have to find the guy. And since evil uses children as its loyal guardians. The fact they are all here in this school? Pretty good indicator that the bloated rotting man is there, hidden.

So they begin looking. Which leads to a creepy game with the children playing “one of us is lying, the other is telling the truth.”, They all begin telling the two adults where the body is, and where it isn’t. Warning them to stay away, to leave. To run, to stay.

But thankfully Mirta is a badass and tells them to fuck off and watch blues clues. Because they found the body!

Hidden under a stage they found the bloated mans body AND HE IS STILL ALIVE!

Now we are in our likely final act. Mirta instructs Pedro to get her possession cleaning kit from the truck. BUT. Not to run, or hurry. He has to be super duper calm. Why? Don’t know. Apparently showing panic around the evil will alert them or a greater evil presence and will activate the kids like tiny Winter Soldiers.

So Pedro calms his shit down and gets the gear. Mirta gets the difficult task of assembling her complicated demon possession cleaning kit, which let’s be honest, and I am. Looks like a goddamn telescope. If this is her showing us she was crazy as fuck from the beginning, I’ll laugh. But also wow. A telescope kills demons. Alright lets fucking go Hans Lippershey on this evil.

…Hans Lippershey was a dutch-german spectacle maker who made the first telescope…nevermind.

So as she has the difficult job of constructing her telescope. Pedro gets the simple task of lifting a near 500lb man out of a four foot hole on his own. Good luck with that Pedro.

Well The rotting man still wants to die, and is going full evil speak mode on Pedro. Praying and begging him to kill him, which is what the evil wants. And the kids begin telling him to totally do this as well. Promising if he does this, he can still save his son. He can still have a life!

That’s all Pedro needs to decide ‘Maybe these kids ain’t so evil after all. So when one of them tells him there’s a super cool axe of slashing in the next room, he runs off for it. Leaving Mirta to scream at him not to leave her alone with these fucking kids and to stop acting like a damn dildo.

Pedro takes off for that room, only to find there is no axe of slashing. And he is locked in the room. Trapped by the kids, leaving him to cuss “Darn those evil kids! They were evil all this time!”

So the kids recreate the funniest scene from one of my favorite American Dad episodes ever. Where the family is trapped in a house during a hurricane and everything Stan does to help them makes it worse. He ends up getting Roger electrocuted and Roger floats past Stan. Glaring at him the whole time as he slowly floats past him.

Mirta does the same to Pedro.

As the kids drag her bloody body across the floor. Her eyes stay on Pedro. Even as one little brat bashes her head in with a hammer repeatedly. Not quickly either. Slowly.  Just. Whack….whack…whack.

With that. Pedro bashes the locked door trapping him open. And he confronts the body of Mirta. Only to see the bloated rotting mans body sitting up from the hole in the stage, chuckling at him. Pedro loses it, and he picks up the cleaners telescope. The rotting man chuckles and Pedro bashes his rubber head in. It’s not the best practical effect. But it’s still good. With that. The bloated rotting man is dead. And the children are silent but smiling. As we see emerging from the hole in the floor, a blood covered nude boy. The evil. Freshly birthed and now free to roam the world. He smiles at Pedro and spares the man. Leaving the school, walking out into daylight with his guardians. To spread chaos and destruction.

Pedro meanwhile. Returns home. To his eldest. Mom, his brother, and surprisingly, the boy they let sleep in the horse stall.

Whom Jaime goes out and finds in the stall. The boy is laying there, scared out of his mind, groaning. Telling Jaime. How he heard a voice in his head. Tell him to do terrible things. It told him to kill the cleaner sent to kill his older brother. And not only that. But to cut the body up and feed it to the pigs. And to eat the body as well. Which he did.

Jaime ask a good follow up question. Did you kill your mother? What happened to her? The boy quietly tells him, as creepily as he can in a fear filled voice, “The same thing that happened to yours.”

Inside the house. We see Pedro, in his last act as a human being. Give his autistic boy some much needed gelato, Which he thankfully eats. But then has to stop as he begins choking. His dad comes over to help him, and soon the boy is puking up blood. And hair.

And a lot of hair. As well as grandmas necklace. When Pedro recognizes his mothers jewelry. Now floating in the half melted gelato. He looks at his son. He now no longer looks as disabled as he does, as he gives him a side long ‘Oh crap’ look before turning away.

He ate Pedro’s mom. The boy in the stall ate his mom.

With that. Pedro walks out of the house. His brother walks past him and pedro drops to his knees. Screaming as his mind is broken.

Oh hey by the way his brother is alive and totally fine. So at least Pedro has that.

Yes I know I casually mentioned how Jaime was alive and didn’t bring it up. THAT WAS THE JOKE!

We need one damnit! Because with that. This movie is over.

With the best fucking metal it can provide us

The End

Holy hell that was a ride.

I loved it. The movie was brutal. Up front. Pulled no punches, and delivered exactly what it promised.

There wasn’t a lot of story. But that’s fine . What we got was exactly what the story needed and it never once stalled.

This entire film was a journey into absolute living hell. It’s like an updated Dante’s Inferno almost.

I mean everything that is going on in this films world. Is just people accepting they are all on borrowed time. This is hell on earth. Demons exist. When demons are born, they walk like Anti-Christ figures, with unthinkable powers. Destroying cities. Corrupting people and further tormenting the living. The rotting are all possessed people doing the bidding of demons, but without the same abilities. They exist to torture the living with unbelievable horrors. And these people. Fuck me running. These people just go through life, excepting death is the only way out. There is no hope. There is no god here, and as soon as evil farts their way. It’s time to end it, or pretend its all a dream and wait to be taken.

It's an absolute dark world where hope has died, and the film is just a ride on a boat down this river from one level of hell to the next. Only getting worse and worse.

Of course I loved it.

Absolutely. It didn’t help that the movie was so damn beautifully shot either. I mean holy shit they really had some beautiful shot composition in this. The lighting was biblical, the effects though at times a little clunky, still got the desired effect. And the acting was great. I mean seeing these people succumb to absolute mind breaking terror. Like I said that is a hard thing to do as an actor. Not everyone can nail that.

The audio drama I recorded a long while back, The first chapter in my anthology The Bells? The man I had voice the captain in that story. I asked him to send me a voice file of him crying, and laughing. Like 40 takes of each damn near. I kept going through them until I found just the right balance I was looking for, and spliced together the moment I needed in the story where he saw something his mind could not process. That the idea it existed in this world. Was a real thing. Broke his mind. So he began weeping, which eventually turned into a crazy broken laugh in the crying.

The guy did awesome. But man it took a lot. Same with the actors in this. I honestly would’ve preferred if that was the last we saw of Jaime. Seeing him pop up at the end to talk to the boy in the stall was okay. But it kind of ruined the surprise of the moms demise. And at the same time I just loved the image the film gave us, of him snapping. Reaching that final moment where he could not take anything any more. This world showed him too much and he couldn’t take it.

It was so beautifully done. Same with Pedro after realizing his son was now possessed and the first thing he did was devoured his mom.

Pedro fucked the world over again, with the birth of a new demon. He lost it, So for that demon to spare him. Grinning at him, knowing what waited for him once he got home. That’s why he was spared. It wanted him to know what happened. That everything he loved, everyone. Was dead and gone. Some through his direct actions. Others because. This is their world.

It’s a hard hitting world and the film delivered exactly that. It’s more than I could’ve hoped for in this film and I absolutely am championing for this film.

The fact it only gave out morsels of the story, and focused entirely on this failed attempt to rid the land of a problem. Only to end up driving the towns into madness and giving rise to a worse threat. It’s just so good. But also frustrating in the best way.

This is the kind of film where you want to learn more. You want answers. More world building. But they did the best thing possible and denied us that. Bless them for doing so. Same as It Lives Inside. The film focused exactly on what mattered, while giving subtle story and side stories that never took away from the main focus. This was entirely focused on the road trip into madness, and any time it let up. There were no stories of hope. There was no safety. It was just bleak. Dire, and the breaking of the world. Had the movie gone more into it? It would have ruined it. Leaving you wishing and wanting more, is the best you could hope for, at least from a film that you enjoyed. When a terrible film leaves you wishing and wanting more. That’s because it failed miserably.

And I really appreciate how they tackled Possession in this film. Admittedly I was expecting something vastly different.

I was expecting this to be like. The brothers heard the shooting, head out, and find an injured possessed person. And when they take that person into town. All hell breaks loose and everyone is one horrific event after the other.

What I got in the end. Was a completely unique take on possession, one that was fleshed out and made into an actual world ending plague, and still yes was an absolute horrific event. One after the other.

Things like this do not come along that often, and I am thankful for it.

This now marks two films that I absolutely fell in love with, that turned their genre completely around and did something truly unique with it. The found footage film Savageland, and now When Evil Lurks.

Savageland took the idea of zombies, and ghouls. And did something unique with it. They made a documentary about a town that over night became the sight of a huge massacre of bodies, and they pinned it all on one man who took pictures documenting the entire night. It was an amazing and brutal film. More so the brutality came from the realism as depicted in the portrayal of people and their treatment of immigrants. Turning a blind eye to the real horror, and instead looking at unreal terror and pinning it on racism. It was a unique approach with a great idea and the film was an absolute experience. This is no different.

Yes it is shocking, and absolute set out to do just that. It wanted to break you. It showed you this worlds version of hell, and did not apologize once for it. Grats on them for that.

It really does make the film stand out, and again. It absolutely is deserving of its praise and notoriety its been amassing online. From its theatrical run and now to its digital streaming.

All props to the writer and director of this film. Demián Rugna. He absolutely nailed this one and I pray the man gets more films to play around with in horror. I’m curious to check out more of his work and it absolutely looks great. I can’t wait. Again the cast in this, they all did great. Again I find myself same as with The Boogeyman giving shout outs as well to the kids in this film.

Its hard enough getting children to act in some films and not come off as annoying. Its even harder to get them to act convincingly in scifi and horror. So seriously major props to all of them with this one.

There were so many good moments in this movie and I can’t just name one as the best or stand out of them all. I mean shit I’m still remembering the dog attack. I mean it was so quick and brutal. You knew it was coming. The way the director played with the scene was great too. You knew it was coming, you knew it was! But he faked us out a few times and you even get that “They won’t do it will they? No way” and WHAM, it happens and holy shit did it ever happen. But same with the pregnant wife taking the axe several times to the head. That’s just. It’s good. Again you don’t get that in traditional horror, let alone today. The most you usually get is one or two good scares if your lucky. So having a movie that nails their delivery of hell on earth. Good job. Seriously, good job.

I don’t think I’m likely to find another film the rest of this month that’ll top that for me.

And again not because of shock value. It’s important I get that across. It really is.

Its also my fear for the film.

Take something like, an extreme example but. A Serbian Film.

That movie, if we can call it that. That was made for shock value. Yes there was a story. But the entire point of the film, story included. Was to shock the hell out of you, and just go insane at the end. Which it absolutely did. Even before the ending.

Same with The Human Centipede 2. The first one was a shocker yes. But the sequel was absolutely born of the internet and delivered something no one thought let alone actually wanted to see someone do. But they did. All three of those films, even as shitty as the third one was. Were all made for shock value. They were sold on this. Everyone talked about what happened in it and why you had to see it. But those films wore off their value. I own the full Centipede series and I’ve yet to open the damn thing. I watched each film when it came out and I’ve not had the need to revisit it. Or the mood. Same with Serbian Film. I watched that, people talked about how fucked up and shocking it was. The end was bonkers insane but again. It was a film made to do this, and it delivered what the human centipede was. A one time ride. Once its over. You don’t exactly rewatch it to see what you missed. You got it all the first time.

It's like bad exploitation films. So modern exploitation. Its all the blood without the story.

This was different. This drops you into a mad world, and presents a morbid reality were things we’d see as phantasmagorical or simply unreal. Are a normal part of life. The shocks are there but they serve a purpose.

If there was an exploitation film, another shock film I could positively compare this with? That also delivered a unique experience and story? I’ll get shit for this I know. But it’d be Irreversible.

A film told entirely in reverse order. With still one of the best single take kills, telling a very dark and brutal story. All in reverse order, showing us the chaos and ending with normalcy.

It did what it set out. It shocked and for some entertained. But you can’t deny it had a story. People may not have liked the story but. It was there.

This is no different.

It’s just a damn good, genuine horror film, that absolutely will not cure your depression, if you’ve ever had a dog bite you, you won’t make it through this. The film found ways to take base fears. Things that we either think about as the worst thing that could happen. Or something that makes is recoil at the thought of having happen. And it showed them as part of its story. Not just to shock us. This makes it entirely unique and something that I hope horror fans will celebrate. Even if the subtitles aren’t the best ever. It’s still damn enjoyable, depressing as hell. But enjoyable.

Again, things like this don’t come along that often. So when they do. You owe it to yourself to see it, and see what it does to you.

I don’t think id’ go so far as to say it’ll be something you’ll find yourself thinking about for hours. But I can see it as being a film you can talk about with someone for hours, and absolutely you should own it.

Check it out, if you can stomach it. I know I said that for Terrifier 2, and I mean it. If you think you can handle it. Cool beans. It’s a fun ride. Should you lower your expectations? I was ready to but the movie subverted a lot of mine and it was a great surprise so. Absolutely it’ll be a fun watch, and I plan to rewatch without having to write as I do.

Seriously this was a great find and its going on my shelf now. Love, love, loved it.

Until tomorrow, if you find a bloated rotting man on your property and someone tells you to lift them and ditch them? Get your paycheck, say smell ya later and find yourself a nice secluded place in the woods. Or run an evil Diner. Like a Dennys. Goodnight!