Sébastien Vaniček’s “Evil Dead Burn” is hard to like, easy to admire.
Numbing and mean as a snake, it’s a step up from “Evil Dead Rise” (2023), but we’re too far removed from the quality of the Sam Raimi-directed entries, which managed to be brilliant slapstick (or splat-stick) comedies on top of gory extravaganzas.
Of course, let’s get overly reverential, as the first two (The 1981 “The Evil Dead” and the 1987 “Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn,” both directed by Raimi) have sequences where a victim is raped by a tree, exactly the kind of attention-getting, juvenile nonsense a young filmmaker puts in their introductory work.
However, the third entry, “Army of Darkness” (1993), turned down the plasma hose, upped the comedy even more than the second entry and is one of the strongest and most consistently funny fantasy sleepers of the 1990s.
I miss Raimi’s sense of humor, which has been absent from the franchise since he stopped directing them and remains solely as producer.
“Evil Dead Burn” depicts a cluster of friends who bond during the funeral of a friend. An unwanted family reunion in an isolated location not only brings back the Book of the Dead and the verbal means of unleashing bad spirits, even tying the film directly to the earlier entries.
I’m being vague with my plot synopsis on purpose, in order not to ruin the surprises early on and in the post-credits sequences.
Vaniček has made a stronger film than Lee Cronin’s “Evil Dead Rises” (and the awful “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” from earlier in the year). This is still a lesser film than the original trilogy but a major step down from Fede Alvarez’s brilliant, ruthless and fantastic remake/sequel “Evil Dead” (2013).
The biggest problem here is also the Achilles Heel to so many other horror flicks: the characters aren’t likable and this is basically a zombie-driven slasher fest.
Shot in New Zealand with a muted palette, some scenes are stunners, while others feel like obvious set pieces. How to tell the difference? Raimi’s use of a traveling camera to depict the perspective of an unseen evil force as it speeds towards its victims always felt like the clever, low-grade innovation it looked like.
Here, digital effects make it so much easier to pull off. It’s in the third act that “Evil Dead Burn” fully unloads its arsenal of devious innovation, on top of a loaded metaphor that also connects.
The scariest scene, involving a visitor in a windowsill, is right out of Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” and the director, who is clearly nostalgic for the days of French Extremism and early 2000’s “Torture Porn”, borrows the most grotesque moments from “Irreversible” (2003) and “High Tension” (2005).
Thankfully, the third act is loaded with showstopping moments I’d be happy to revisit.
EVIL DEAD BURN is coming to HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS at Universal Orlando & Universal Hollywood!
Try not to get possessed by soul-sucking Deadites hell-bent on bloodshed.pic.twitter.com/SPOnJ4Cgc2
— Bloody Disgusting (@BDisgusting) July 21, 2026
Far better than the impact of the body horror freakishness is how it suggests a unite-or-die family union and how that compares to a state of possession. Clearly, the antagonist’s credo is something akin to Unite or Die.
Early on, there’s a great funeral scene that makes inventive use of background sound, done in a way I’ve never seen before. Likewise, the film’s funniest scene is of a mortuary worker who visibly enjoys his job a little too much. This sequence gets a huge laugh, but most of the jokes are delivered with too heavy a hand to provide any relief, comic or otherwise.
It’s odd but true- this “Evil Dead” entry is the most effective as a family drama, using the horror genre to convey the agony of suffering through the unwanted involvement of in-laws.
Despite how far “Evil Dead Burn” pushes the gore, its most worthwhile component is how it pulls us into the human conflict before the rotten family members reveal what literal monsters they are. In terms of gore, this series peaked with Alvarez’s film.
However, this horror ride channels real-life frustrations and family angst, potentially giving thrill seekers an outlet for genuine struggles. Imagine “Sentimental Value” (2025) but with bloodthirsty demons, and you have this movie.
Anyone struggling with their families and/or stuck in an unhappy marriage could find this downright cathartic. “Evil Dead Burn” uses the genre and the expectations of the franchise to portray the ways we manage to endure the worst, either with a dysfunctional family or with a bad life partner.
Comparing Vaniček’s film to an intimate family drama from Ingmar Bergman is probably cinematic sacrilege, but, well, if the blood-soaked shoe fits…
Two and a half stars (out of four)
The post ‘Evil Dead Burn’ Is Better Than ‘Rise,’ Not Raimi-Level Mayhem appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
from Movies - Hollywood in Toto https://ift.tt/kVFe2Sg
0 Comments