'Evil Dead Burn' Review
- John Odette
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Release Date: 07/10/26 [Cinemas]
Genre: Fantasy. Horror. Mystery.
MPAA: Rated R.
Distributor: Warner Bros.
The Verdict: A Must-See
Sébastien Vanicek’s Evil Dead Burn, the sixth installment in a 40-plus-year franchise, is gross, violent, horrific, and quite often hilarious. It’s not a great film, but it has no need to be. Evil Dead Burn sets out to be what it was intended to be, crafted with selected, curated ingredients following a steady, familiar recipe. This distinction is its strength. There are many bloody, splatter, possession horror films out there, but only one type of film passes the Evil Dead test. Evil Dead Burn is this type of film. This is because The Evil Dead series lies in a separate space adjacent to the main genre of horror. There are scary movies, and then there’s the Evil Dead movies.
Evil Dead Burn carries the signature markers of sardonic demons, stomach-turning gags of blood and bile, stark visuals and bone-crunching sound, dizzy camera movements shipping unspeakable evil and the Naturom Demonto, often named the Necronomicon - everything that represents what Sam Raimi started 45 years ago with a camera and a dream.
The plot of this film honors what we’ve all come to see: people turning into “Deadites” one by one in harrowing, bloody fashion. There is fun connective tissue with certain returning characters (in glorious undead fashion) from Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise – another film I enjoyed more than I expected. However, Vanicek’s film is his own and doesn’t rely on plot spillover from previous entries to keep the engine running.
Alice (Souheila Yacoub) loses her abusive husband, Will (George Pullar), in a fiery car wreck. She doesn’t mourn in the emotive way Will’s family expects her to; maybe it’s because she is French? Or perhaps grieving over someone who was cruel can be complicated. Will’s brother Joseph (Wednesday’s Hunter Doohan) brings Alice, his parents, the ailing grandmother, and his girlfriend, Thya (Luciane Buchanan), to the family lake house post-memorial. But evil has already found them when the discovery of a Deadite-destroying dagger is unearthed. I particularly like that the setting is a lake house – it’s a cabin in the woods with another cabin on top.
The crux of the plot revolves around the possession-domino peril that befalls all characters in this franchise. I admire Vanicek’s thematic sprinkling of possessiveness (the domestic-disturbed version, not the fun, demonic kind), toxic family dynamics, and the weaponization of love. The hostility of the parents, beset with grief, channels conversation about xenophobia, resentment, prejudice, and denial. This movie was already rather menacing, even without the demonic involvement.
This inclusive commentary does eat into the runtime, though, and at nearly two hours, Evil Dead Burn drones on at times. An Evil Dead film works best when it comes and goes in a tight 80–90-minute pop-up stall.
Gore aside, this is a visually striking film. From the monochrome grittiness to the obvious fire motif that bookends the opening and final credits, Evil Dead Burn reinforces the franchise brand. The practical effects are masterful, and many sequences inspire claustrophobic reactions. A few key shots will likely be referenced later when this film is regarded, especially a white-knuckling scene of one character dragging another character from the ground, up a wall, and onto the ceiling as the camera follows in gripping, continuous 90-degree turns.
Evil Dead fans will undoubtedly revere this new addition, there won’t be many fresh converts. If you are new to this franchise, this is not the place to start. I praise the film’s audacity in elevating the themes it dares to tackle, while also being unrelenting in its gore. The few jump scares that occur are an ironic relief. This is unquestionably an Evil Dead film and delivers the goods as promised. Evil Dead Burn may not burn as bright as its predecessors, but it still casts a nasty, grisly, gory glow.