IGN by Matt Donato

When Evil Lurks is a capital “H” horror film that risks it all and hits the jackpot, pummeling its audience into submissions and still leaving us asking for more.

Polygon by Tasha Robinson

With 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.

The Playlist by Charles Barfield

Perhaps it’s the fact that the first 45 minutes of “When Evil Lurks” is so great, but the dopamine rush does fade quite a bit in the second half of the film.

Slashfilm by Rafael Motamayor

This 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. 

The Daily Beast by Nick Schager

Delivering scares at a pace that rarely allows one to catch their breath, and with enough gruesome surprises to consistently startle.

Los Angeles Times by Amy Nicholson

This is a film that delights in unspoken terrors and audience misdirection.

Austin Chronicle by Richard Whittaker

Demián 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.

Collider by Chase Hutchinson

Even when you then think it may have all settled down, the film twists the knife even further.

Slant Magazine by Steven Scaife

Demián Rugna’s harrowing film spares no one from the cruelty of its world.

The New York Times by Erik Piepenburg

This is a dark and timely parable about what happens when trust — among community members, within families, between a government and its people — disintegrates.