IN CONVERSATION WITH DEMIÁN RUGNA

After making an international impact with TERRIFIED in 2017, writer and director Demián Rugna returned to screens six years later with WHEN EVIL LURKS, a no holds barred tale of demonic possession running amok in the Argentinian countryside. Previously only available to stream on SHUDDER, the film has now been released by Second Sight Films in a special edition on Blu-ray and 4K, loaded with special features in a standard edition or limited edition presented in a rigid slipcase with a book and exclusive art cards. Gore In The Store had a chat with Demián to discuss the film, its influences and legacy as a symbol of protest in his home country, among other things.

Gore in the Store - On the new Blu-ray, in your interview, you mention that the fumigated town scandal in Argentina was an inspiration for this film. Are you more inspired by real-life situations like that or by other horror media?

DEMIÁN RUGNA - The pesticide scandal didn't inspire the movie. The pesticide problems down here in South America, or even in Argentina, inspired me to create the Rotten character. Only that, but I did think about people caught in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by pesticides and dying and being ill, and nobody caring.  I then thought, instead of an illness, what if there was a demon in the middle of nowhere, in a place of extreme poverty, and nobody cared. The character of the Rotten inspired me because of the problem of the pesticides over here, but only that. But you could probably say the pesticide was the demon. 

At the time you filmed this, we were coming to the end of the COVID-19 epidemic. Did that inspire you at all?

DR - No, because I wrote the script before, and even when the pandemic came, I had the script in my hands, trying to find producers and the poor people to make it. I said to my wife, I don't know if I want to make this movie, because now a lot of movies are going to be like this one. If you think of this demon as a pandemic, you have this contentious idea of complying with the rules or non-complying. When we were in a pandemic, we had a lot of rules which are similar to the rules of keeping away the demon in the film. There was the idea of “Okay, he has the illness, we need to get rid of him, because it is going to spread everywhere.” But it wasn't a pandemic movie. I didn't write it with that in mind, because I had written it almost two years before, but it was a problem for me when I was in the development stage of finding producers and making the financial deals because it was in the middle of the pandemic.

I do think there’s  gonna be a lot of movies like this in the future, but I hope not.

Every time I watch the film, I'm still surprised by how shocking and how hard it goes. Was there a moment or scene where you ever shocked or disturbed yourself when you were writing this?

DR -  My wife is my production designer, and I gave her the script to read, so she could plan how to make it. When she read our main character punching a little girl on the ground, she said, this is too much!" And I said, “Well, you’ve already seen that we kill a lot of children. We’ve seen a lot of things. And you are saying this is too much?” But no, I don't think there’s too much in my movies, or in my scripts. I always place the elements and place the shocking moment, thinking, this is what the movie needs. I never place such moments in a movie with the only intention just to be shocking. I always place such scenes in a script, because I'm really convinced we need to do this, so  if our main character punches a little girl on the ground, I know we need that. I have no regrets. (Laughs)

This is a film about possession, but it's not tied to any one religion. Was this a conscious decision on your part?

DR - It was conscious, yes. I wanted to make an exorcism possession movie, but there's already a  lot of  movies with exorcism, exorcists and possession. I wanted to make something different. And during my movies I refuse to go down the religious route. I'm not a religious guy. I refuse religion in my life. So I thought about making  an exorcism movie about killing the religion, killing the gods, and how we need a science to know how to control this demon as a pest, or as a virus.

After making TERRIFIED and this, which I think are two of the best horror films of this century, what is it that actually terrifies yourself?

DR - I'm not a guy who's afraid of the dark, who’s afraid of paranormal things. I'm more grounded. I am afraid of the doctor. I'm afraid of thieves. Yes, I'm more grounded, but I obviously think when I write, I try to think as an audience, not as a director. I try to make movies that I want to go to the theater to watch. 

Does the political situation in Argentina affect or inspire your work in any way just now?

DR -  When I wrote this, I never imagined this asshole we have for President now was going to be in power, but, yes, I'm a guy who’s interested in the political situation and the societal problems we have because I’m part of that society. I'm part of the working class down here in Argentina, my family is involved in ideas and political ideas, so I cannot avoid them. But everyone else has a lot of questions about the fascism, about the class struggle, about the health care problems that have taken place after this president was elected. A lot of people took this movie and took the posters of this movie, to protest and to go on strikes, to take as a symbolic piece of art against the fascism which is growing more in Argentina now.

With the news of the sequel being recently announced, was this always planned? And can you tell us how far ahead you are with it?

DR - I cannot say anything. I'm just a director who loves the idea of making that sequel, but we don't have anything yet, anything signed to say it’s going to be true, not for the moment. There's a version of the script in my hands, but we are too far away to confirm just now. Maybe next year. I hope so. I don't know. 

Can you tell us anything else about what you're working on at the moment?

DR - I would love to, but honestly I can only say I am working on five or six movies, which are all at different stages. One is a priority, one is late, but all are horror movies except one. So five of my next six movies are in the horror genre and I think the fans are gonna be really happy, really happy. 

Iain MacLeod

WHEN EVIL LURKS is released in the UK on Limited and Standard Edition 4K UHD & Blu-ray by Second Sight Films on 28th July