FANTASTIC FEST 2022: ‘Everyone Will Burn’ is Dripping with Beauty

Everyone Will Burn (Y todos arderán) is a vibrant horror from Spain by Spanish director David Hebrero and written by Hebrero and Javier Kiran. The film stars Sofía García, Macarena Gómez, Rodolfo Sancho, Rubén Ochandiano, Germán Torres, and Ella Kweku. In it, a dark prophecy told to children as a nursery song becomes a shocking reality.

In the film, María José (Macarena Gómez) struggles to heal from the loss of her son. In her grief, her life has fallen apart, and the small town in which she lives offers no escape. With each person knowing exactly what happened and talking around it, she holds a grudge. Festering, the grudge builds and builds until she can’t take it anymore, leading her to attempt to take her life while the townspeople she sees as responsible for her son’s death live their perfect lives. But with her feet on the railing of a bridge, a beautiful green dress set against a beautiful sky, Lucía appears.

Lucía’s dirty and nearly traumatized state prompts María José to take her in. Only, in letting in the girl, she winds up triggering strange events and a series of horrific deaths in her town. Quick to anger, the villagers immediately blame Lucía, who is busy putting her supernatural powers to what seems like protective good. Meanwhile, María José finds new joy in motherhood and decides to protect her adopted daughter. But this motherly devotion also comes with its own promise—she may have a chance to take revenge on her son’s murderers.

A take on grief, Everyone Will Burn confronts guilt and loneliness in no uncertain terms. Using religion, morality, and the deep sense of eerie closeness perpetrated by small towns, Hebrero builds an atmospheric confrontation in nearly every scene. Zealotry and superstition converge with the vulnerability and strength of motherhood here.

While the film’s entire cast has the weight to pull forward an intense and heavily stylized story, it’s Sofía García as Lucía who is paramount to Everyone Will Burn’s success. Her dynamic ability to unsettle both with her voice and facial features in supernatural moments made me shoot out of my seat. She’s a glorious actress and the lynchpin in the film both narratively and from her performance.

Everyone Will Burn is a film that is a beautiful film. The heavily saturated color palette and decadent framing leave nothing to be desired. Every moment of screen time is stunningly artistic. Hebrero’s ability to horrify his audience with moments dripping with style makes Everyone Will Burn such a stellar watch.

While some elements are a bit too repetitive, and the pacing lulls at points where it feels like it should speed up, Everyone Will Burn is still a tremendous and unsettling achievement. The film finds itself in a folkloric horror valley while also executing genuinely terrifying moments of the supernatural.

Everyone Will Burn had its North American premiere as a part of the Fantastic Fest 2022.