or shall we say Cuando acecha la maldad ?A few weeks ago, I was lying on my bed and started to get a bit bored. Yes, I mean it. Then I decided to check my letterboxd (in case you might feel like following me). The name of the list, The Best Horror Movies of 2023, Ranked, according to Variety got my attention. Long story short, I came across this one, and yes, I didn't regret watching it one bit. I recommend this to the horror folks, but since I am an extremely good person, I will have to warn you about some gross details in advance. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE DO NOT WATCH IT WHILE EATING!!! Why is this pretty lady trying to axe her lovely face :/ ?When Evil Lurks, written and directed by Demián Rugna, was first released on 27 October 2023. An evil demon is about to come into life and turn the lives of the village's residents into a nightmare. Not only is this demonic existence terrifying, but it is also gross as hell. Because it has a "superpower" of infecting a human body to give birth to itself. Such as (I would love to say viewer discretion is advised, but it is what it is. Sorry about that :) ) By contrast with typical demonic possession horror movies, this one seems to take part in the elevated horror movies that make you question "what would be the real message of the movie?" because our possessed ones here are called "rottens" and they get possessed by being appeared as infected. This might make you question whether the director might have had COVID-19 or another contagious disease in mind to give a "you know what? We have been there a few years back" kind of message. So, in this movie, you do not come across typical possessed people who do not usually have horrid appearances but rather a terrifying one. For example; Coming back to the question I raised in the title, a demonic existence infects a body it possesses by turning the host into a slimy and gross-shaped entity and waiting for itself to be born and spread its evil power eventually. However, killing that infected one is not a solution because it only worsens it by causing the evil to spread over and strengthening its power. Also, in this movie, we do not have fathers or churches that immediately come to our help by throwing holy water at our faces in case an evil power might have haunted us. The reason why is that the concept of religion and the power of the church are wiped away in this world, which makes you realize that the movie takes place in a dystopic world in which everyone has to take care of their own sh*t. However, we have "cleaners" this time who know (!) how to handle those disgusting creatures. For example: Rule number 1: Do not use any firearm; do not even attempt to kill it. Rule number 2: Keep that hideous creature as far as possible. Rule number 3: Keep the lights off. Do not rely on electricity at all. Based on the rules I just mentioned above, one of the smartest characters does the exact opposite, of course. Otherwise, where would the fun be in that? Anyway, Ruiz realizes something is wrong with one of the herd's goats and decides to shut and kill it. Because the evil is on its way, and it can come and get them. According to How Not to Handle an infected-slimy-possessed Creature 101 course, Ruiz's wife kills Ruiz first with an axe, and then she kills herself with the same axe by hitting her own lovely head. Poor Ruiz. At least we have learned that we should not count on men's decisions, especially in the case of an emergency. Where are our useless heroes?We have two failures who are also the protagonists. I prefer to call them failures because although they do their best to save their family from the evil power by using all their effort, they somehow end up being in a worse situation than they had been before, which the movie's ending could tell by itself. Still, again, I don't have any intention to give spoilers. So, please worry not. Without further ado, let me introduce these two handsome guys. We have two siblings, Pedro and Jimi. These two brothers learn that one of the members of a family in their village got infected tragically, and they decide to go to their house to see that person's condition with their bare eyes. Yes, you got that right. I could hear you guessing his name correctly. Yes! he is our poor Uriel, unfortunately. Having realized something unusual is happening in the village, they decide to leave and save their family from the curse of evil. Still, of course, things do not turn out as they want them to be since they seem to be programmed to screw everything up rather than fixing them up. Especially the scene where they (three smart asses, Pedro, jimi, and Ruiz, of course) decide to get rid of the infected-slimy-gross body of Uriel by dumping him in the middle of nowhere tells everything about how their brains function. What would be the reason for that??? Maybe follow the guidelines above, composed of three rules, and listen to what the cleaner lady says about what to do and what NOT to do. Otherwise, your lovely daughter and her cute pet friend might develop a dangerous and unreliable relationship if that evil power decides to possess one of the innocent souls. And your family's faith turns into some "one by one" story. But anyway, who am I to judge? I've stopped looking for logic in horror movies for a long time. Did evil manage to lurk well ?I think it did, and it did pretty well. Although the movie gives a weird sense of what the hell is going on here at first by contrast to other possessed-haunted type of horror movies, it managed to get me caught up with the story quickly, especially after I successfully watched the scenes where Uriel in it, without fast forwarding any second of it. I should note that this requires some courage, getting used to, and the habit of horror movie marathon nights. Yet, other than getting scared and disgusted, the movie also helps feel curious and sorry about the unfortunate incidents happening to the protagonist, Pedro, and his family, which is more relatable, especially when considering the world's COVID-19 history and its permanent impact on our loved ones. And this, I think, makes it easy for the audience to feel for them easily. The movie's last scene greatly impacted me by giving me the impression of a ritual performed by a group of children disguising the presence of evil. The connection between children and evil is interesting, and I think it is open to interpretation. It might be that evil wants to be born and spread its power, so the concept of a child is an important metaphor to emphasize the freshness of evil. Or, in another review by John Thomason explains: "It seduces them, and us, through the illusions of familiarity and of innocence, which is why kids make the ideal carriers. 'Evil likes children, and children like evil'.". In the end, the dumb and dumber or Dean and Sam Winchester brothers' counterparts, a.k.a. Pedro and Jimi, did not manage to be the movie's heroes by failing to overpower the evil. Still, there are many questions that the movie has left unanswered and open to interpretation, and this is what makes the film exciting and distinguishing. So, I recommend everyone see it. See you in another review! Last but not least...
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The Evil Dead Franchise movieHi there! This week, my very first sub-blog post about the horror movies I watch is hosting Evil Dead Rise. Before diving into my comments about the film, I will give a general overview of the Evil Dead sequel. For those who don't know anything about this movie or who don't care about horror movies at all but somehow like them (I mean, "I don't like watching horror movies because I get too scared kind of thing, don't care, I'm talking about), let me explain: This is a franchise movie of which is the fifth one. The first three were directed by the director Sam Raimi: The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness (horror-comedy, FYI). The same director directed these three, so I grouped them separately. The general theme of the classical Evil Dead sequel is best known for being a "cabin in the wood" type of horror movie. You know, a group of friends wants to spend their entire weekend somewhere isolated, in the midst of nowhere, so to speak. Then, they get killed one by one, until one survivor is left, either by an evil spirit, ghost, or whatever you call it, or just by a random freak guy desperate to kill innocent but stupid teenagers. The first movie is all about that actually. A group of friends, let's remember the main guy Bruce Campbell; A.K.A Ash Williams, decide to spend the weekend in the cabin in the woods. Then, they find an old book that should not be opened because it keeps an evil force/spirit within. Not surprisingly, these smart asses release the evil spirit by opening the book and playing the tape recorder. Whereas the first movie contains typical but extreme horror elements and incidents; such as scenes with lots of blood thanks to a famous lifesaver and the symbol of the movie: the saw, disgusting faces and bodies of the possessed people; the second movie and the third one have rather a humorous style. (I should do justice; possessed people in the 1981-1987 Evil Dead series are way scarier and more disgusting than today's haunted weirdos). The fourth movie of the sequel is the remake of the first one. A group of friends plan to spend the weekend in the cabin in the woods. However, this time, they go there for the rehabilitation of one of their friends who is in trouble with her drug addiction. The rest is no surprise... An ancient book that should not be opened; otherwise, you will release this damn pain in the neck evil spirit again, and you will have to cut the body it possesses into millions of pieces with the famous red saw. Just saying, but no one cares; no one listens as always. Let's move on to Evil Dead RiseThe last movie of the Evil Dead sequel also revolves around the same theme: an ancient book that should never be opened and a tape recorder that should never be played. However, this time, the story takes place in an apartment in downtown Los Angeles. Yet, for the sake of not distorting the main story of the sequel and being loyal to the famous cabin in the wood scenario, the movie starts with a different story (yet somehow related, as you will understand if you like to watch it) and different characters that the terrible incidents happen to them in the cabin of the woods in which they choose to spend their weekend at. I did some research (maybe a quick one :) ) and realized that the director of the movie Lee Cronin had another movie called The Hole in the Ground that also concentrates on mommy issues as the story of the sequel's last movie revolves around some creepy mommy issues; what is worse is a possessed mommy! This is the book called Naturom Demonto. a.k.a The Book of the Dead keeping a deadly evil spirit locked inside. You may ask: If the story takes place in downtown Los Angeles, in an ordinary apartment, how could they find this damn book compared to other stories where they find the same old book in the cabin? Oh, the answer is so simple, actually. How could you not guess in the first place? Almost a deadly earthquake hits the city, and the apartment's ground is cracked open. Hence a big hole; then one of the siblings, Danny, decides to go into that hole, finds the book, and the rest are not unpredictable. So, that part of how they start to dive into their dark journey looks a bit arbitrary and not seem to be thought of in much detail. One of the things that I really liked about the last movie is how they used specific and significant connections by tieing them back to the very first movie but in a pretty different setting. For example, the women in the previous films run inside the wood right before they get haunted by the evil spirit. Next, they are captured and raped by the branches of a massive tree, which I think does the honors for the roots of the evil spirit, by trapping, strangling, and choking their necks and other parts. This is also how they get possessed. In this movie, the same event occurs in the elevator, where she gets possessed by that evil spirit through many ropes rather than the branches of a tree. I really appreciate such nuance with a little twist which I believe is what makes that particular scene interesting, especially if you watch all the previous movies of the sequel. Another striking detail, at least for me, is a reference to my all-time favorite movie, The Shining where the whole elevator becomes filled with gallons of blood, then spreads everywhere once the elevator's door is opened. You can find the scene in the video I share below. I need to mention the symbol of the movie before I can finish my very first review of the last movie in the sequel. Namely, the famous saw and the hero using it. So, just like the previous Evil Dead movie (2013), the heroic character here is a woman too. Her name is Beth, the sister of the possessed and unfortunate Ellie and also the sole symbol of being a literal savior as a female counterpart of Ash Williams. One thing that also grabbed my attention is the scene where the girl who got possessed in the movie's prologue by ascending from the lake to the sky. It reminded me of the Lake Lady (Viola Lloyd) in The Haunting of Bly Manor. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. I think Alyssa Sutherland stands out remarkably for her role "Ellie" as a possessed bitchy mommy who cares for her little puppies no matter what. Because as it says in the movie's poster, "Mommy loves you to death." I think they should have released the movie on Mother's day. That would be wonderful. One last thing: I fell in love with Ellie's nail polish, but it is nowhere to be found online. This is why I couldn't share its photo here. If you decide to watch the movie (I hope you do, fingers crossed), you will understand what I am talking about :)
Whoever is reading or stalking my blog page, I hope to see you soon in another blog post. Until next time, I wish you sweet dreams full of boogymen enjoying some space under your bed and inside your cupboard. Fear not, and believe me, they are way more friendly and honest than any other human you have ever known. |
AboutThis is where I blog about the horror-thriller movies I watch. Just so you know, my reviews won't be so detailed, nor will they be super duper professional. I just love commenting and talking about things I watch rather than sending all of them away to outer space. Enjoy! ArchivesCategories |