Evil Dead Burn

2026
Directors: Sébastien Vanicek
Starring: Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, and more.

After the loss of her husband, a woman seeks solace with her in-laws. As one by one they transform into deadites, she comes to discover that the vows she took in life – survive even in death.

The Evil Dead series has always been a gorfest, but its best entries balanced buckets of blood with frantic energy, inventive filmmaking, and, eventually, a wicked sense of humor. Evil Dead Burn strips away that delicate balance in favor of a relentless parade of suffering that quickly becomes exhausting rather than exhilarating. And after a few moments, it was even a little funny in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 sort of way.

It does keep the trend that no one is safe and nothing will be spared. Bodies are mutilated in increasingly elaborate ways, flesh tears and burns, and every encounter seems to say “hold my beer” to the last in graphic brutality. Fans looking for extreme practical effects will certainly enjoy this one. The problem is that the violence rarely feels like it’s serving the bigger picture and the emotion for the characters just isn’t there. Instead, it just gives cruelty for cruelty’s sake.

First, we meet Joseph, who uncovers disturbing recordings and artifacts left behind by his grandfather. The warnings are tied to — you guessed it — the infamous Necronomicon and a weapon capable of sending Deadites back where they belong. Naturally, those warnings are ignored, unleashing the familiar supernatural nightmare.

Before long, however, the focus shifts to Alice who was trapped in a deeply abusive marriage to Joseph’s older brother, Will. Domestic violence becomes one of the film’s central themes, but it’s clumsily used as just another source of torment rather than as something meaningfully explored. Alice endures abuse from both the living and the possessed, yet the screenplay gives her surprisingly little depth outside of her victimization. Rather than developing her into a heroine we care about and can root for, the film repeatedly places her in situations designed primarily to escalate the misery.

Again, the lack of emotion becomes the movie’s biggest weakness. Horror often thrives when terrifying events reveal something about its characters or reflect genuine emotional struggles. Here, the constant suffering rarely evolves into insight or catharsis. Instead, each new scene seems intent on proving it can be more unpleasant than the last.

Visually, Evil Dead Burn leans heavily into dark, desaturated imagery. While the bleak atmosphere fits the tone, several sequences are so dimly lit that the action becomes difficult to follow (like The Long Night episode of  Games of Thrones in season eight). The restless camera movement sometimes boosts the overall intensity. It distracts in some places, drawing attention to the filmmaking instead of the horror unfolding onscreen.

The film tries its hand at dark comedy—one thing fans of the franchise expect—but it was too little too late to offset the overwhelming grimness. Even familiar Evil Dead concepts, including the inevitable return of certain characters as Deadites, lack the manic fun longtime fans really want.

If the goal here was to create one of the most brutal entries in the franchise, it succeeded. The makeup effects are impressively grotesque, the kills are inventive, and the relentless pace ensures there’s rarely a quiet moment.

Whether that’s enough depends on what viewers want from horror. Those seeking extreme gore and nonstop carnage will likely enjoy this. Those hoping for memorable characters, emotional weight, or a thoughtful examination of its heavier themes may leave feeling that all the blood in the world can’t make up for a story that never gives its brutality real meaning.

Isy