Director David Hebrero brings the melodrama to this year’s Arrow Video FrightFest with his film Everyone Will Burn (Y Todos Arderán). Hebrero also co-wrote the piece alongside Javier Kiran; their story investigates a small town’s paranoia, brought on by the arrival of a strange child.
Maria José (Macarena Gómez) is her town’s outcast. Following the traumatic death of her son years before, and the dissolution of her marriage, she lives a lonely existence. Her outlook on life has become so bleak that she attempts to take her own life. Before she can act out her plan however, a young girl, Lucia (Sofía García), appears. Wanting to help the lost child, Maria quickly changes course. Lucia isn’t like other children though, and with her help, Maria will find answers to her desire for vengeance on all who have wronged her.
Right from its early moments Everyone Will Burn is laced with humour. It’s not one of the laugh-out-loud variety, but is enough to amuse. This approach infuses the plot with a heightened tinge of melodrama, making the film something of a horror telenovela. Both Gómez and García play their parts perfectly. As Maria, Gómez is gloriously emotional. Her performance draws from Maria’s anguish and translates it as a woman on the brink of hysteria. Very soon after their meeting, Lucia demonstrates her abilities for Maria and in doing so places the woman on the verge of insanity. Initially their dynamic is born of fear, in a similar way to the relationship between The Stand’s Nadine and Flagg. As time passes though, Maria grows less fearful and as trust and reliance sets in, a bond is forged, one that has spectacularly dire consequences for everyone else. García matches all the great creepy kids in horror and makes Lucia a truly terrifying tween. There’s an omnipresent malevolence to the child; even when she’s in ‘good girl mode’, the threat still lingers. Comparisons will no doubt be drawn to The Omen’s Damien and that would be a very sound way to think of her.
Outside of exploring the bonds of motherhood, Everyone Will Burn also casts religion into the spotlight. The small town where Maria resides is ruled by the church thanks to a rumoured curse upon the residents. Lucia’s arrival causes many to believe the prophecy is coming true and so battlelines are drawn. All the paranoia bubbles over in a great sequence in which Hebereo modernises the pitchforks and flames attack. Like Maria herself, Everyone Will Burn descends into madness for its finale and there’s a camp vampness to it that makes it deliciously thrilling.
Everyone Will Burn brings a sense of fun to FrightFest with its special brand of soapy plots, occult influences, and horror sequences.
Everyone Will Burn
Summary
In many ways Everyone Will Burn operates as a horror spin on a telenovela, making it simultaneously creepy and camp, and is always entertaining.
Everyone Will Burn was reviewed at Arrow Video FrightFest 2022.
