A shocking new work from the director of “When Evil Lurks”
Argentina coach Demian Lunya knows how to scare the crowd. And it’s not just the jump scares, it’s the deep, bone-chilling tension that lingers long after the movie is over.He proved it with his feature film debut scared And he’s done it again with his latest feature. when evil lurks. His latest work is stripped of all the scary stuff. scared And turn it up to 11.
in the world of when evil lurks, possession is a virus, an epidemic that has infected the entire world. In a small village in the countryside, brothers Pedro and Jimmy think they are safe from the infected, but they discover one among their friends. However, in an attempt to eradicate the problem, they set off an increasingly violent and horrifying series of events that threaten their very existence.
Dread Central spoke with Ragna at Fantastic Fest about pushing the boundaries of fear, the challenges of working with goats, and more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Dread Central: Where did the idea come from? when evil lurks come from?
Demian Runya: Well, first I moved outside the city to the countryside.I decided to make a new movie that was completely different from the previous ones. scared. I mean, there’s a lot of places, a lot of locations, a lot of characters, and you’re not stuck in two houses. I was looking for the idea of making some kind of broader horror film. And there is a problem in my country where there are a lot of fields in plantations and there is a lot of pollution from plantations. The owners of the land are in power, but the workers who work in the fields are truly poor people. The cause of pollution is pesticides. It brings cancer to the population. There are many children with cancer in the interior of my country. No one knows because the media doesn’t report it.
So the idea was, “Okay, what if something bad happens to these poor people in the middle of nowhere?” So what if the devil exists and no one knows about it, or people realize it too late? We obviously want to make an exorcism movie, so we decided to combine ideas to bring some fresh ideas to it. [subgenre].
DC: Yes. I love it as a disease rather than a typical demonic possession. And I love the worlds you build. very impressive. I wanted to hear more about how you built that world, how you understood the seven rules and all that. What was the process to create such a fascinating world?
Doctor: I thought that whenever I watched an Exorcist movie, I would always see the rules. The rules are the Catholic Church.I thought, okay, I have to kill the church, I have to kill religion, I have to give something. when evil lurks new rules. Rules inform the world of this story. I remember a colleague saying to me in the process of working on the script: [rules] Whether it’s on the news, on TV, or in newspapers. ” But I decided to start the movie with the universe already spinning. That way, you’ll be able to convey more to the audience throughout the movie.I think I killed religion and brought in a new religion. [and] We’re trying to figure out what kind of thing this is.
DC: So you love killing children. when evil lurks. Killing children is taboo in any movie. And I love it when you say, “I don’t care, we’re really going to get on with it.” I wanted to know more about that decision, and I wanted to be really broke in terms of breaking taboos in this genre, and do something really sneaky, but I mean this as a compliment.
Doctor: Okay, you’re watching a horror movie. I’m about to give you a kick to the head. As an audience member, you’re trying to challenge me and say, “Okay, let’s see if the director is trying to scare me or make me look bad.” I think it’s a dialogue with the audience. I prefer to be honest. “OK, this is a horror movie.” Everything in my movie could happen. ” And trembling gives me a chance to be free. But this is the goal for this kind of film, supported by a company like Shudder and with an independent idea that can reach a large audience. But it’s not completely global. Because if they saw what happened to my children, I would be in jail in India or China.
DC: I love the two leads. They are so great and their chemistry as brothers is so devastating. So how did you find and cast them? One of them, Demián Salomon, was on Your Corner. devilish hispanic, too. And when the two of them come together, it’s truly amazing.
Doctor: he did it scared, too. He has been my lifelong friend. We went to the same school, so I studied with him since I was 6 years old. They’re both great actors. Like you said, the chemistry was incredible from the beginning.Demian was one of the people who recommended Ezequiel. [Rodríguez] Because they worked together before.and i was looking for the main character when evil lurks, and I couldn’t find him. That recommendation meant a lot to Ezequiel, and they are now close friends. I am now close friends with both of them. We wrote the script together a few months ago. In fact, they’re amazing. They are great and deserve to be in big movies.
DC: What was it like working with animals? There’s a lot of animal stuff in there. when evil lurks From goats and dogs, goats in particular have something special going on. What was it like working with animals? How challenging was it?
Doctor: First of all, questions like how many goats do we need, what kind of dog do we want, what kind of dog will work with us?because the dog [breed] We used dogs that were too difficult to train. The trainers all said, “No, no, this dog is no good. No.” This dog cannot be trained. ” But I wanted that dog! That’s his face! But he is always lazy. And you need a dog that wants to play all the time. There was a large casting of dogs.
Even the goats were terrible to work with them. We prepared the whole sequence, but he only had one day to shoot.All gold sequences for just one day
And it was terrible. We had 100, 150 goats, which is great. They came with their handler and we fired a few shots, but the goats just went in another direction. I said, “What happened?” Then the trainer said, “The goats are tired. They are suspicious of us. We need to wait a few hours.” A few hours! I only had one day to shoot this. I can’t imagine how they made that scene. It was one of the worst days of my shooting career. worst.
DC: But it was a really good scene. Looks great in the movie. The moment all the goats started moving, I thought it must have been a nightmare as he tried to coordinate them all and one of them came forward.
Doctor: It was a nightmare for me and the entire staff. Making this movie was difficult. The sky was cloudy during the shooting. We went to a field far from town to look for goats. I took pictures until noon, but the clouds had disappeared. And there was no lighting staff. It was very scary because the goats were far away from us and the sun suddenly shone like crazy. It was a mess. But everything went well!
DC: My last question has nothing to do with your film. What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?
Doctor: exorcist
DC: Has that influenced what you create? when evil lurks?
Doctor: Yeah, probably. I like the drama of that movie as much as I like the horror, and I like the realism of that kind of story. I don’t know if it affected me directly. The direct influence from movies is evil dead and road.But obviously it’s in my blood exorcist Since childhood.
when evil lurks is currently in select theaters and will be released on Shudder on October 27, 2023.
