The Deadites are back and as vicious as ever in the latest entry in the Evil Dead franchise, Evil Dead Burn.
Directed by Sébastien Vaniček, Evil Dead Burn stars Souheila Yacoub as Alice, whose husband Will (George Pullar) has been killed in a car crash. After attending the funeral, she joins her in-laws at their rundown lake house, where the evil force that unleashes the Deadites begins to possess the family one by one as it searches for an artifact it believes is hidden somewhere in the house. It’s a perfectly solid setup for an Evil Dead movie, and it’s fun that some of the other bits of lore from the original trilogy, especially the original The Evil Dead, are back in this one. There isn’t anything particularly new or innovative for the franchise, but if you’re a fan, you’ll get pretty much everything you’d expect.
While I don’t think anyone reaches the level of Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie in the previous movie, Evil Dead Rise, Burn features plenty of strong performances, especially from the cast members who become Deadites. Lucianne Buchanan is definitely the standout as Thya, who suffers some horrific injuries before becoming a Deadite and then gleefully inflicts them afterward. Erroll Shand is also fantastic as the family patriarch, Edgar, who is among the first members to become possessed. One thing that Burn can lean into is the emotional damage as well as the physical. The family is already strained before demons start possessing them, and the long-standing grudges and emotions are weaponized as the family members get possessed. There’s an attempt to tieAlice’se suffering from domestic abuse by Will into everything going on but it doesn’t seem like it really comes together and there’s a build-up to Will returning in some form that feels like it comes a bit too late in the movie and makes the ending feel tacked on and disjointed from the main plot.
If you’re a gorehound, you’ll get your fill in Evil Dead Burn, which features some of the most vicious and gory kills in the franchise. All kinds of objects are used as weapons, from a washing machine door to a car headrest, and you see most of it in full, bloody detail. The movie also leans into the “Burn” part of its title with plenty of heat- and fire-related violence. There are some extended sequences of absolute chaos, including one shot that seems to be done in a single take, which definitely helps this entry stand out from the other entries in the franchise. The movie does a great job of establishing the house as the main setting and then using every room and almost every object in it for characters to get smashed into or to try to kill each other with.
Evil Dead Burn is a solid entry in the franchise, full of vicious, bloody gore and action. It’s not quite up to the level of Evil Dead Rise, which was elevated by the incredible performance of Alyssa Sutherland, but Burn does more than enough to satisfy fans of the Evil Dead.
