Evil Dead Franchise stays hot with Burn
It’s rare for any long-running series to continue without having a bad entry. To consistently add to a franchise over an extended period of time without messing up once is nothing short of a miracle; one that runs the risk of slipping away with each new addition.
A few instances of this exist within the horror genre; the strongest example coming to my mind being Evil Dead.
Evil Dead has been on a winning streak ever since it started back in 1981 with The Evil Dead. The franchise has been making a big comeback as of late, starting with Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise (2023). Rise marked the beginning of a new era in which the series’ creators—Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Rob Tapert—have been giving new filmmakers the chance to tell their own Evil Dead stories. They show no signs of stopping anytime soon, with Evil Dead Wrath set to release in 2028.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Between Rise and Wrath came the freshly released Evil Dead Burn, courtesy of French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček. I unfortunately haven’t gotten the chance to check out his previous film, Infested (2023), yet. However, based on the great word of mouth I’d heard during its theatrical run, I knew we were in great hands when the news broke that Vaniček would be making the next Evil Dead. And after Lee Cronin surpassed my expectations with Evil Dead Rise, I was looking forward to seeing what another new filmmaker would bring to the table with their take on Evil Dead.
What Vaniček brought was a cold look at abusive family relationships, ones that refuse to acknowledge the burning rot simmering just beneath the surface of an affectatious family image upheld with sincere conviction. Evil Dead Burn offers a scathing critique on the idea that you owe your family everything simply because they are your family, even if that means turning a def-ear to their abuse in the name of preserving the peace. Because complaisancy only allows the rot to fester, making you no better than the ones who created the wound in the first place. Your family does not own the right to your identity, and to think so is to curse yourself.
Evil Dead Burn stars Souheila Yacoub as Alice, a woman who is invited to stay with her in-laws following the death of her abusive husband. What starts as a tense family gathering descends into a hellish fight for survival when their rundown summer home becomes the target of Deadites in pursuit of the only weapon that can stop them.
The rest of the family is played by George Pullar as the now-dead Will, Tandi Wright as his mother Susan, Erroll Shand as his father Edgar, Hunter Doohan as his younger brother Joseph, Luciane Buchanan as Joseph’s girlfriend Thya, and Maude Davey as his grandma Polly.
It’s hard to pick a standout from among the cast when everyone’s performances here are top-tier, both as their human selves and their Deadite counterparts. So, in the interest of not spoiling any of the fun surprises that Evil Dead Burn has in store, I’ll stick to highlighting Yacoub’s compelling performance as Alice. Her character is already going through it well before any Deadites show up, having to deal with the grief of her husband’s death, the trauma of his abuse, and pressure from her in-laws to do what they expect of her. The arrival of the Deadites forces her to evolve from an anxious wreck into a scrappy fighter, and it was awesome watching that gradual transformation as she finds the strength to stand up against her Deadite in-laws.
On the topic of Alice’s in-laws turning into Deadites, I love how Evil Dead Burn uses it as a metaphor to reveal what the family is hiding underneath the polite veneer that they put up. In prior Evil Dead movies, the main reasoning behind a Deadite’s behavior was to enact cruel psychological warfare on their victims. In Evil Dead Burn, that’s still the case. But whenever a family member gets turned, it feels less like something else is taking over and more like they’re dropping an act, saying and doing things that they were too polite to actualize before. As they spread their demonic affliction to more people, it reminds me of how abuse can spread from one person to the next as a result of the untreated trauma they inflict—especially familial trauma. While this metaphor doesn’t apply to all of the Deadites in Burn, it’s still an interesting layer that the series seldom possesses; the only other instance that comes to mind is the drug-addiction metaphor present in Evil Dead (2013).
Regardless of their symbolic meaning, the Deadites themselves are still just as entertainingly horrific as ever. Deadites are my favorite movie monster; they tick all of the boxes that I love to see in villains, especially as a horror fan. Sadistic glee, supernatural shenanigans, body horror, brutal violence, psychological torment, and tragic sympathy for the person they once were. They’re an important part of why the Evil Dead films are simultaneously a treat and hard to watch, with the best Deadites striking a perfect balance between being fun and making your stomach churn. Evil Dead Burn delivers on this front, with nerve-wracking tension, creative kills, and gnarly gore that all had me squirming in my seat throughout the movie’s runtime. There’s a shot during the title-card scene involving a Deadite that genuinely creeped me out both times I watched it. I also like how some of these Deadites spread their infection via unique means. It’s one of the neat ways that Evil Dead Burn subverts fans’ expectations of the series.
Another area where Evil Dead Burn succeeds is with its score. Some tracks had my blood pumping and my head bobbing back and forth. Others put me on edge with anticipation. There are even some emotional tracks that had me in awe. The score isn’t the only part of Evil Dead Burn that sounds great either. The sound-design packs a mean punch, exasperating the tension of every dreadful moment.
On top of excellent audio, Evil Dead Burn is one of the best looking films in the series. Aside from its gorgeous shots, sick visuals, and impressive camerawork - including a rollercoaster ride of a one-take sequence (side-note: the stunts and choreography in this movie are A+) - Burn makes great use of colors. Most of the movie is bathed in desaturated, winter-y grays, but there are moments where these cool colors are sharply contrasted with flashes of hot oranges and reds. This builds up to the moment when Burn’s cold tones finally give way to a fiery blaze of striking visuals during the film’s climax.
Speaking of tones, I think this is the best tone of any Evil Dead movie so far. Don’t get me wrong, I love the comedy of the Raimi trilogy, and I love the straight-faced approach that Evil Dead (2013) took even more. But the series is at its best when the two are combined.
Doing so is easier said than done though. While Evil Dead Rise came really close, I think it falters in that its comedy was either so subtle that I couldn’t tell if it was trying to be funny, or so silly that it felt out of place. Evil Dead Burn, however, hits that sweet spot in between. The moments of humor here are more clearly delineated from everything else going on, without being so silly as to undermine the oppressive atmosphere of Burn and its horrors.
Now, I’ve been singing this film’s praises for the last several paragraphs, and deservedly so. Yet I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t flawed, even if only a bit. The opening set-up, in which the Deadites are summoned to hunt down an ancient weapon that our characters unknowingly possess, is really intriguing and fresh for the series. However, it doesn’t take long before the film turns into the same demonic-possession + home-invasion story that we’re used to. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing; in fact, that’s actually what I was expecting going into the film. But I would have liked it if the premise established at the beginning was integrated a little bit more into the rest of the film.
My only other major complaint about Evil Dead Burn is that the finale doesn’t hit as hard as an Evil Dead film’s climax ought to. Although Burn’s ending is quieter by design, it feels somewhat lackluster in comparison to the rest of the series. Still, what we got is far from bad. After seeing Evil Dead Burn twice, I’m confident in calling it my second favorite Evil Dead film, right behind Evil Dead Rise.
And so, the Evil Dead franchise continues without a bad entry. I may have joined the party later than most, but I can’t think of a better time to be a fan of the series than right now. This new era of Evil Dead films has been right up my alley so far. Combine that with how Evil Dead Burn sets up the series’ future, and I’m very excited for whatever’s next in Evil Dead Wrath.
In the meantime, you can check out Evil Dead Burn in theaters now. Whether you’re a longtime Evil Dead fan or someone new to the series, I can’t recommend it enough.
