For the Halloween 2022 week, Netflix has dropped a horror documentary series, My Encounter With Evil, aka Mi Encuentro con el mal. Created by Andrés Borda, Adrián García Bogliano, and Carlos Melendez directed the series. The screenplay is penned by Ramiro García Bogliano. There are 4 episodes of 40-45 minutes each. The series is in Spanish language and is dubbed in English with subtitles.
The synopsis reads, “Real people who believe their lives were touched by demonic possession recount their experiences through reenactments and testimonies. Watch all you want.”
My Encounter With Evil Review Contains Mild Spoilers
In Netflix’s My Encounter With Evil (2022), we meet 3 women, Sully Urbina, Florencia Macías and Andrea Viridiana Rostro Olvera, who share the stories where they saw their loved ones getting possessed. Their family members also join them in sharing their experiences. The show also includes various exorcists, experts and psychiatrists. In the 4 episodes, we see how the series of unfortunate events started and how they ended it.
For the last two years, Netflix has been on a spree to release documentary movies and shows on real-life incidents/people. From serial killers, scammers, horror and science, they want to treat people with everything possible. My Encounter With Evil is another docuseries, but is it up to the mark? My answer is no.
The series chose a non-linear style of storytelling. Instead of dedicating each episode to every story, they narrated each person/people’s encounter with evil stories, little by little in every episode. It gives you no time to build interest or curiosity in whatever the person is saying. You have to wait till the next episode to know more. But by that time, there’s another story going on in your mind. For example, when Sully talks about playing a prayer for her daughter, instead of telling more, the makers immediately throw Andrea and her mother’s story in my face!
Another major problem with My Encounter With Evil on Netflix is the overdramatisation of the events. The creators have used actors to recreate a lot of scenes. It started well when they were building up the horror element, but whenever the character/s got possessed, or exorcism happened, the performances were so bad that I cringed.
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The makers tried to build tension using eerie background music. They constantly kept showing a picture of a demon or the devil to instil fear. Sadly, it does nothing because the narrative style gives you hardly any chance to process whatever the people say.
I understand the makers included exorcists or healers to talk about demonic possessions, evil and the enemy. But in the end, we are left with more questions than answers. We are never told the core reasons why such things happen to particular people. In the show, these women either had an unhappy marriage or abusive childhood. That’s highlighted often and made me wonder if these women dealt with trauma and needed medical help.
The last episode was so ridiculous I couldn’t help but facepalm many times. While the two stories end like a horror movie where things are now fine, a mother and daughter put an end to their problems by making a pact with a demon. I still can’t get over this woman’s smile in the end. I can’t help but ask the makers – Are we supposed to believe all this?
My Encounter With Evil Review: Final Thoughts
Overall, the Mexican horror docuseries isn’t worth your time. There are better movies and shows to satisfy your Halloween 2022 horror quest. The real-life demonic possession and exorcism stories suffer because of the poor execution, complicated style of narration and overacting. The real footages of exorcism on people also fail to give you the chills.
The horror docuseries is now streaming on Netflix.
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