75
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 89PolygonTasha RobinsonPolygonTasha RobinsonWith this project, Rugna breaks plenty of horror rules and literally writes his own, turning his film into 2023’s most unnerving horror release — and a welcome revival for a subgenre that seemed like it was on its last spindly, clawed, wall-climbing legs.
- 80SlashfilmRafael MotamayorSlashfilmRafael MotamayorThis is a movie that is both familiar and fresh. Scary, yes, but mostly disturbing, gory, smart, quite expansive, and all around created in the bowels of hell itself.
- 80The Daily BeastNick SchagerThe Daily BeastNick SchagerDelivering scares at a pace that rarely allows one to catch their breath, and with enough gruesome surprises to consistently startle.
- 80Los Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonLos Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonThis is a film that delights in unspoken terrors and audience misdirection.
- 78Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAustin ChronicleRichard WhittakerDemián Rugna's debut feature, Terrified contains one of the most eerily disturbing scenes in recent cinema history, a moment involving an unwanted guest at a dinner table. His follow-up, When Evil Lurks, confirms that the Argentinian filmmaker knows exactly how to get under your skin.
- 75ColliderChase HutchinsonColliderChase HutchinsonEven when you then think it may have all settled down, the film twists the knife even further.
- This is a dark and timely parable about what happens when trust — among community members, within families, between a government and its people — disintegrates.
- 63RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoRogerEbert.comBrian TallericoIt’s an admirably vicious piece of work when it wants to be—although arguably could have gone even further and more frequently.
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreWhen Evil Lurks is still one of the most original horror films of recent memory and a pretty convincing argument to turn out the lights when you’re not using them, no matter how scary the dark is, especially out in the sticks.
- A fun premise can get a horror film far, and “When Evil Lurks” has one that could be taken to interesting, terrifying places. But rather than lean into what makes its world of demonic diseases intriguing, the film squanders its own potential by leaning into its worst qualities and instincts.