In what I feel is one of the strangest, darkest, and funniest genre films I’ve seen in quite some time, Everyone Will Burn is a Spanish horror film that plays with tone and toys with stupefyingly comedic elements of the devil and righteous retribution. Director David Hebrero (with co-writer Javier Kirán) has created a colorful world where a cautionary tale becomes reality within a small town plagued by a curse that has darkened doorsteps for generations.

Everyone Will Burn busts out of the gate with an ultraviolent and somewhat puzzling opening, seeing María José (Macarena Gómez) atop a high bridge, determined to take her life, before a voice calls out “mamá” and we are introduced to Lucía (Sofía García), a strange girl covered in a dark substance, as if having just emerged from wet earth. Lucía summons María José from her death perch and propels her forward into a vengeful acceptance of fate, with the bodies of the townspeople María José has long been ostracized from stacking up quickly.

There is a refreshingly ambiguous sense to the story, with answers slowly being revealed before questions are even asked, filling the viewer with unease that builds inexorably, while spontaneous moments of brutal hilarity cut tension only so much as to put us on our heels for the next wild scene. Everyone Will Burn is vaguely reminiscent of When Evil Lurks, the 2023 breakout supernatural horror from Demián Rugna, as it’s another demonic possession/small town lore film, but one that rests quite comfortably in the pitch-black tone that Rugna first introduced with Terrified (2017). But what Hebrero does with his film is decidedly more appealing to my need for something so outside the box it surprises me, he presents the idea that the holy guy isn’t always the good guy, that sometimes an apocalyptic scenario isn’t the worst possible thing to happen to a town, and that a mother who has lost her own child to nefarious piousness may just be the perfect protector for a girl with growing powers.

Hebrero, along with his incredible cast and crew, has crafted a beautiful film, filled with as many touching moments as shocking ones – a particular laugh out loud moment involved María José exclaiming “fuck your son” at a boy’s funeral before being headbutted by the mourning mother…my enjoyment may say more about me than the film, though. This is a countdown to a reckoning, a bloodletting, with gorgeous cinematography and a sweeping score that combines classical compositions and modern eeriness.

Everyone Will Burn is dripping with folklore and the paranoid delusions (true as they may be) of a small town coming to terms with its own evil past, resulting in a brilliant showdown of telekinetic anguish and the utter destruction of religious shame. The film provides dogma levels of carnage as Lucía is finally strong enough to brandish her full power against the zealots. In the end, if you’re anything like me, the film will have you rooting for the devil, and feeling just fine about it.

The film is released in the U.S. by Raven Banner Entertainment and Drafthouse Films and is available now on Blu-Ray & VOD.

💀 💀 💀 💀 .5/5