Demián Rugna chilled horror fans to the bone with the release of Terrified (Aterrados), a brutal and unrelenting exploration of the paranormal set in a small Buenos Aires village. Fans expected big things with whatever film followed in its footsteps, and they got exactly what they wished for with When Evil Lurks (Cuando Acecha La Maldad). When two brothers in a rural Argentinian town discover a demon is about to be born among them, they attempt to escape before the evil can grip them and threaten their loved ones, but they soon find it might be too late for them all.
Launching viewers into a disturbing world that pulls no punches right from the off, When Evil Lurks is a uniquely bleak and bloody addition to the possession subgenre that is getting a special features-packed release from Second Sight Films. Ahead of the limited edition Blu-ray and 4k release hitting shelves, FILMHOUNDS spoke to director Rugna about the film's inspirations, crafting that kill scene, and whether we can expect a sequel in the near future.
When Evil Lurks is getting a physical release from Second Sight Films. I was wondering where the concept of the film came from, and how you developed the project?
I was making the remake of Terrified, my previous film, and I thought that movie was going to have a big release and be a big success for me. So I wrote the script, it was really ambitious and really hard to make, because I said, “Okay, I will have a lot of money to make this movie, and a lot of studios are gonna love to work with me after Terrified“, but the problem was, it never happened. The starting point of the project and what inspired me was what has happened with the world and social media, with the hate we grow. In theory, it is contagious. The extreme right is convincing you all the time that you need to hate. That idea was mixed with another idea, which is the rotten body. Down here in Argentina, it is normal in some towns to find people growing up there with illness, with cancer. And I always thought, what's happening if, in the middle of nothing, people that nobody cares about, are growing instead of an illness, a demon inside? What happened if Regan from The Exorcist is not living in the big house with a lot of priests?
The rotten look incredible in the film. What inspired the design, and what was the process like bringing them to life?
I knew we needed to make a monster that, once the audience sees it, they are convinced something is wrong and want to know why he's in this state. I was thinking it could be bigger than normal, so when I described to my art director, Laura [Aguerrebehere], we used Se7en as a reference for the big guy. We had to find a way to support the molds, and it took two months to make the first monster. It was around three or four months working just on that puppet because it wasn't a real person. We changed some reactions in his head with CGI, but it's only in the mouth or in the eyes.
There are some scenes in When Evil Lurks that are incredibly shocking and had a lot of people talking when it was released. Where did your inspiration come from for the kills in this film?
The first kill in the movie I needed to make extremely hard as evidence that I'm threatening the audience all the time. The audience needs to know I'm prepared to do something terrible. As a director, I need to make something more than terrible. So I need an ax in the middle of the head, in short. Starting from the first idea of the axing in the head of the pregnant woman, it was so strong that after that, I couldn't go back. I need to go ahead fast.
Specifically, the dog scene shocked and upset a lot of audience members. How did you approach filming it?
It was filmed with two big dogs, and we stitched the bite with the girl on screen. It was really, really hard using animals on set, but I didn't want to make it with CGI. I was not sure that it would result in realism, so we choose, we chose a stupid idea to make it with true dogs [laughs]. But it was great.
Ezekiel Rodriguez's character, Pedro, is a very complex character in the film. How did you develop him, and what was the casting process like?
He is incredible. I'm developing the characters all the time. For When Evil Lurks, I took the concept that all of these characters are hiding something, because the demon is some kind of virus. This demon is something hiding in the people, the past of the people. But in the lives they live all the time, they're hiding something. Pedro is hiding a lot of things, as is Jimi (Demián Salomón) with his ex-wife. Without being too expository, he tried to kill his own child in the past, but he doesn't know if it really happened. We don't know if it really happened, and he's trying to run away from his own being. The casting was really special because Ezekiel wasn't the first option. He knows that, and honestly, I didn't know him in this kind of role. I had the recommendation from Demián Salomón, who had worked with Ezekiel in the past, and he said, “Give him an opportunity, give him a casting.” And I did the casting through video, and it was so good I said, “Okay, you're in the movie.” It was an easy decision.
Lastly, I was wondering what is next to you? I had read a When Evil Lurks 2 is in the works, as well as vampire horror, Felix. Can you tell me anything about those?
I'm involved in a lot of projects. A friend of mine who works in the media in Argentina asked me for the second part [of When Evil Lurks], and I said, “Yes, we are working on that,” but we don't know when. It doesn't depend on me, though; that's on the god of movies and the god of money. It won't be an easy movie. It is a big movie, I don't know if it's finally gonna happen, and I don't know if it's my next. I'm involved in five or six movies at this moment, and they are horror movies.
When Evil Lurks is released on Limited and Standard Edition 4K UHD & Blu-ray via Second Sight Films from 28 July
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