Demonic possessions, cannibalism, evil children and seven rules that makes no sense? Welcome to the world of When Evil Lurks, the Argentinian horror flick that will keep you on the edge of your seat, even after the credits roll! So if you’re still confused about what was going on in this movie, do not fear, because we are about to crack the code of this movie, and it is getting darker.
1 ^ Where and when does the story of When Evil Lurks take place?
The story takes place somewhere in the argentinian Pampas, and appears to occur at some point in the very near future, after an apocalyptic event from which the world is barely recovering, apparently quite successfully, since the police, schools , and the economy seem to be working with some degree of normality. Thing is…
2 ^ What is a Rotten and what did they do in the world?
Rotten is the colloquial term given to the pathology that a human being suffers when he is possessed by a supernatural entity, literally a demon in flesh. Now, the pathology seems to indicate that once a human body is possessed by this supernatural entity, a physical version of the demon begins to manifest within, in the form of a child. Of course, the human body assumes the growth of a foreign entity inside it as an infection and fights it with all it has, for this reason we see how the Rotten swells and becomes almost literally a ball of pus. An Rotten, even from its earliest stages, ceases to exist in its previous human form, and is completely dominated by the demon invading it, until the demon itself is born, taking on a physical form independent of the human body from which it emerged.
Now, when the pandemic of the Rotten began, it started in the big cities, where ignorance about the corresponding treatment, or just fear, only caused more births of these demonic entities. Now the question is…
3 ^ Why didn’t the world end with the Rotten pandemic?
I mean if the birth of supernatural demonic beings is not a enough to end the world, then what is? Although the film certainly doesn’t give all the details, there are things that can be gleaned about this.
Demons, whether when they are growing inside a Rotten, or already in their full physical form, depend on other human beings for their survival: they are literally their food, both in their physical form and because of their violence and fears.
What happened in Buenos Aires, when the first Rotten appeared, was that the newborn demons quickly devoured everything that was around them, and all the people who were able to escape did so so quickly and so far, that the demons simply ran out of any food and died. Civilization continued, but with far fewer people in remote places.
4 ^ Why couldn’t the Rotten be killed?
The problem is not that the Rotten could not be killed, the problem really is that if a Rotten dies, the demonic creature inside simply stops having its main containment and is finally born into the world, which is why it must be killed with a very specific method that fixes the creature inside the invaded body and leaves its weakest point vulnerable. The people who dedicate themselves to this delicate procedure are called Cleaners, and Mirta used to be one of them.
5 ^ What are the rules to prevent the spread of Rotten?
If you have been near a Rotten infestation, these are the rules you should follow to prevent its spread:
First rule : Run away, without taking absolutely anything you had. Everything, even the clothes you were wearing, must be burned.
Second rule: Don’t be near animals. Animals are especially susceptible to receiving the essence of the Rotten.
Third rule: Do not use electric light, since the essence of the incarnate moves through artificial shadows, not natural ones.
Fourth rule: Do not hurt the Rotten person (physically or verbally), if by chance you happen to be close to one of them, you should not hit them, nor insult them. Violence of any kind feeds them.
Fifth rule : Do not call evil by its name. One way to attract evil nearby is to simply call it by name, which is why names for the devil such as Lucifer, Azrael, Satan, Beelzebub, should not be used.
Sixth rule: Do not use firearms. Violence feeds the evil that possesses the Rotten and the use of firearms near a possession simply makes it stronger. Tell Ruiz about it.
Seventh rule: Don’t be afraid to die. Now, once the essence that the incarnate expels is concentrated, he tries to manipulate everything around him, taking advantage of the fear of death of everyone nearby. And once they lose control, they are easy victims of possession.
Let’s explain again. When a Rotten demon appears, he needs to feed on fear and violence, and also wants to expand his essence to infect others. The more the demon feeds, whether with insults, physical damage, artificial shadows or firearms, the more easily it can contaminate the environment and generate more infected. The most susceptible victims of the infection are those who are not directly aware of the evil, such as animals, autistic people, children and highly stressed people. That is why the demon uses all the elements he has at hand, literally to drive those around him crazy and make them easy prey for infection.
6 ^ What happened between Pedro and Sabrina that made her hate him so much?
According to everything we saw in the runtime of the film, the marriage between Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Sabrina (Virginia Garófalo) became hell on earth after the birth of Jair (Emilio Vodanovich) due to his autistic condition, whose autonomy was severely limited and required constant attention. The situation between the two became so critical that Sabrina began to cheat on Pedro, even with her own brother Jaime (Demián Salomón). Although Pedro clearly does not know this, there is even a good chance that Santino is Jimmy’s son, not Pedro’s.
When Pedro found out about Sabrina’s cheating, in an act of desperation he attempted a suicide-homicide with his children, covering the outlet of the heating stove, so that all the carbon dioxide would end up suffocating them. However, he was surprised before the act was consummated. Sabrina got divorced and Pedro, perhaps fleeing from the judicial problem, and he was nowhere to be found for several years, until he ended up back in the town with his brother, on their land near Ruiz’s (Luis Ziembrowski).
7 ^ What happened to Uriel? What happened to the cleaner?
Uriel, María Elena’s eldest son, suffered possession for unknown reasons. Although it is likely that the rejection he and his family suffered for coming from somewhere else was the cause. But anyway, a year before the events of the film, María Elena went to the authorities to request a cleaner, since Uriel was beginning to show signs of possession. The managers made the request, but apparently cleaners are very scarce and this one in particular seems to have been brought from Europe to do the job.
Now, after a year of emitting his essence in his house, Uriel’s brother was already infected with another demon. Uriel’s brother murdered the Cleaner and fed on him.
8 ^ Why didn’t the demon kill Pedro in the end?
The entire movie, Pedro did exactly what the demon needed to expand his essence and be born. If Uriel had stayed in his house, and his family had left from the beginning, the demon would have died of starvation as he had no violence or fear to feed on. However, they stayed there, causing a second possession in his brother, who murdered the Cleaner. And this is when Pedro enters.
Pedro not only insists on finding out what happened to the dead man, but once he discovers the Rotten, he seeks help from the police, and from Ruiz to get rid of him. What the police did was the right thing: do nothing. But Pedro, perhaps in a desperate attempt to not be the useless and unsuccessful train wreck that everyone believes, tries to put things into action, ignoring María Elena’s warnings and convinces Ruiz to move Uriel out, which ultimately created the perfect excuse for the demon to finally ensure his birth.
But not only that, instead of going as far away as possible, Pedro brought the infection to his family, and despite Sabrina’s strong demands, he took his children. In the end, his eldest son was possessed, his youngest son died at the hands of his mother, and ignoring all of Mirta’s advice, he allowed the demon to be born. In his desire to do something good, he ended up creating something monstrous, and the demon himself recognized him by letting him live and leaving his mark on his forehead.
9 ^ What does the end of When The Evil Lurks mean? What is the message of the film?
In the end Pedro recognizes that everything that happened was precisely due to his insistence on «doing something» when everyone told him precisely that everything he did was dangerous, he lost his entire family, his children, his mother, and he was only left with his brother, just like at the beginning.
The main message of the film is to listen to the recommendations and advice of those who have more experience than us. Pedro did not listen to Jimmy, he did not listen to María Elena, he did not listen to the Police, he did not listen to Ruiz, he did not listen to his mother, he did not listen to Sabrina, he did not listen to Mirta, and in the end he triggered the apocalypse that he was trying to avoid in the first place.
Perhaps in our desire to stand out or be useful, or simply out of good intentions, we believe that doing, or writing, or supporting certain trends so as not to remain «doing nothing» is the right thing to do. But on many occasions you have to let people who really know what they are doing take control of situations and simply follow the recommendations. If we want to be good at something, be listened to and be leaders, we must train ourselves, like Mirta did, and strive until we achieve those goals. Otherwise, we will only be making everything worse.
See you in the next Code Cracking of SabaneroX, remember that if you have more doubts or questions, the comments section is open below. See you next!
El Sabanero X 