In Theaters and Digital

Director Sébastien Vaniček reportedly set out to make an exceptionally brutal Evil Dead film, and mission accomplished, you bloodthirsty French maniac. The movie tears through flesh, household appliances, vehicles, and family bonds with equal enthusiasm. A dishwasher becomes a mechanical chamber of horrors. A car door becomes an instrument of demonic aggression. Heads, hands, and assorted chunks of human architecture are treated as temporary arrangements.

The practical effects have weight. Bones don’t simply snap; they buckle, twist, and announce their failure with noises that make your own skeleton file a complaint. Blood doesn’t decorate the frame. It colonizes Evil Dead Burn.

You wanted something . . . funnier? Whoops.

Here's the thing: Evil Dead Burn doesn't make the mistake of trying to out-Raimi Sam Raimi, and thank fuck for that. Nobody is topping Bruce Campbell with a chainsaw where his right hand used to be, and Vaniček knows it. Instead, the madman behind Infested grabs the keys to the Delta, cranks the accelerator through the floorboards, and barrels straight into a different corner of Hell. Souheila Yacoub stars as Alice, a grieving widow who heads to her late husband's isolated family estate hoping to survive an awkward family gathering. Instead, somebody opens the wrong goddamn book, the Deadites punch in for work, and the family reunion goes tits-up in spectacular fashion.

What I love most is that Burn actually respects the mythology instead of pretending it invented it. Remember those three Necronomicons Ash found in Army of Darkness? Back then, it was another classic Raimi gag at Ash's expense. Decades later, it turns out that scene was the blueprint for the entire modern franchise. One Book damned Ash. Another found Mia. Another ripped through a Los Angeles apartment building in Evil Dead Rise. Burn simply follows the next blood trail. That's not lazy nostalgia—that's smart world-building, and it proves Raimi planted seeds the franchise is still harvesting... usually with a chainsaw.

Where Vaniček earns his keep is by dragging Evil Dead through the blood-soaked asylum of French horror. You can practically smell Inside, Martyrs, and Frontier(s) lurking behind every slammed door. Raimi made you laugh before splashing you with blood. Vaniček just stares into your soul, mutters "bon appétit," and starts breaking bones. The practical effects are filthy, mean, and gloriously old-school. Flesh tears. Bones explode. Blood doesn't just spray—it redecorates the fucking house.

The secret weapon is Yacoub, who refuses to let Alice become another screaming victim waiting for the next mutilation. She carries real grief into the nightmare, giving every Deadite attack an emotional sucker punch beneath the arterial geysers. Sure, Burn occasionally mistakes "more gore" for "more story," but when it's firing on all cylinders, it's like watching Raimi's demon spawn spend a semester abroad in France and come home with a taste for wine, existential despair, and industrial-strength violence.

Ash kicked open the first door. Mia proved the evil never left. Beth discovered it could thrive in the middle of a city. Alice reminds us the Necronomicon doesn't give a shit where you live—it just wants another family to destroy.

Groovy? Maybe not. Brutal as all holy fuck? Absolutely.

MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 110 mins
Director: Sébastien Vaniček
Writer: Sébastien Vaniček
Cast: Souheila Yacoub; Tandi Wright; Hunter Doohan
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Every Family Has its Demons
Memorable Movie Quote: "You haven't kissed me like that in years."
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Official Site:
Release Date: July 10, 2026
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: 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.