Evil Dead Burn (2026) Review

Evil Dead Burn is the latest instalment in the Evil Dead series, created and made into a cult classic by Sam Raimi with his original trilogy with follow up films in 2013 and 2023 and a 3 season TV series. It is a franchise that has become known for its dark humour, insane gore and extreme violence..

Following the massive success of Lee Cronin’s sensational and deeply disturbing Evil Dead Rise, French director Sébastien Vanicek takes up the bloody reins with his take on the story off demonic possession-powered by an ancient book of the dead.

The film centres round Alice (Souheila Yacoub from Dune: Part Two) the wife of rich, obnoxious and abusive Will (George Pullar) who is burnt alive in his car after what seems like an accidental crash. Not sure how to feel about her spouses untimely death, the bemused widow finds herself thrust into her in-laws world at the subsequent funeral.

Although friends with Will’s brother Joseph (Wednesday’s Hunter Doohan) and his girlfriend Tina (Luciane Buchanan from The Night Agent), the rest of the family – which includes Will’s parents and grandmother – are less that welcoming to Alice and although fully aware of the physical and psychological torture their son put her through they still see him as a saint.

But Will has most definitely not gone to the angels, and it was in fact it was a Deadite, one of the demonic Army of Darkness, that killed him and subsequently resurrected him to spread the possession infection to his family. All in an attempt to locate the Kandarian Dagger, an ancient weapon that has the power to destroy their kind forever.

What does this have to do with Alice? Well it turns out she married into a family with a deep history with the Naturom Demonto, also known as the Necronomicon. That is the flesh-bound tomb used to bring forth the Deadites and the favourite subject of her grandfather in-law, who belonged to a group of wise men dedicated to stopping the forces of Hell… which Joseph happens to be researching for his new book.

As those around them are transformed into hideous fouled-mouthed, flesh dangling puppets, Alice and Joseph must fight for survival whilst trying to figure out where the dagger is hidden. Oh, and work out how they can stop the undead horde that will do anything drag them to the dark side.

After Rise offered a very original and innovative take on the audiences preconceptions of the Evil Dead oeuvre, Vanicek tries to bring some of the lore back into his story, while still maintaining the importance of family and the high levels of body mutilating mayhem that fans have come to love.

Sadly he fails on every front. Evil Dead Burn is an vapid, dumb and decidedly boring movie that is desperate to shock and upset, while ignoring the main thing that made everyone love the franchise in the first place: the characters.

From Bruce Campbell’s iconic and anarchic turn as Ash Williams, to Lily Sullivan as the flawed but resilient Beth in Rise, it is our connection with the people being pursued and consumed by the Deadites that anchors the horror and makes it all the more upsetting.

Evil Dead Burn sets up a bunch of horrible, petty and downright unlikable folks whose deaths feel more like a reward, and whose demonic form is practically the same as the original. This totally misses out the anguish we felt in the original and Rise – when someone succumbed to the sinister soul eaters.

Added to this, the story is downright stupid. Having Joseph set up in the opening minutes as a Necronomicon expert and then completely forgetting everything for the rest of the film (even to the point of not putting 2 and demon together) and working out why the whole thing is happening until he is told outright. The Deadites are equally idiotic. Are they there for the dagger? To victim blame Alice for her abuse? To just have some fun? Who knows, and frankly it seems like they have no clue either.

The Evil Dead series has always been about pushing the boundaries of gore, from the upgrade in effects from The Evil Dead to Evil Dead II to Fede Alvarez’s 2013 take, which used modern effects to make the dismemberment all the more disturbing. Evil Dead Burn does take things up a notch, however, like several other horror movies coming out recently (Terrifier I am looking at you!) there is an unpleasant element that creeps into the large amounts of violence on display.

Repetitively bringing Alice’s abuse back to taunt her, there are also multiple scenes of extremely graphic male on female violence and the camera spends far more time lingering on these moments and the gory after effects than any involving the male cast. I am sure Vanicek and co-writer Florent Bernard would argue that this is a story of Alice’s retribution and revenge over her abuser, and those that kept silent. However, it doesn’t feel that way when you are watching it.

That said, audiences that like their horror covered in viscera and vomit will be happy enough. But even they will find the final monster effects lacking, looking like a chargrilled skeleton from an early 90’s bargain bin horror rather than 2026 Hollywood movie.

By far the worst of the Evil Dead franchise, Burn does nothing but damage the good work that Rise did to reignite Rami’s original vision. Ultimately Evil Dead Burn is a soulless horror movie that feels empty other than its inane attempts to shock and disgust. Let’s hope this failure of a film doesn’t put the fires out on Evil Dead forever.

Movie Rating:

Evil Dead Burn trailer