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Initial Thoughts

Souheila Yacoub as Alice in New Line Cinema’s ‘Evil Dead Burn’, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2026 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

This isn’t your father’s ‘Evil Dead’ movie. Some 45 years after Sam Raimi unleashed his gonzo independent gorefest ‘The Evil Dead’ upon the world – turning him into a genre upstart overnight – the sixth entry in what has now become one of the genre’s most durable franchises amps up the gore and body horror more than ever, while excising most of the cartoonish charm that was a trademark of the first three films.

On one hand, we have to admire a movie that is so relentlessly brutal and imaginative in finding creative ways to turn its cast into piles of body fluids, charred flesh, and sliced-up innards. Director Sébastien Vaniček (‘Infested,’ aka ‘Vermines’) brings a truly unhinged mindset to the proceedings. On the other hand, it does get numbing and exhausting after a while – but it can’t be accused of being boring.

Story and Direction

(L to R) Erroll Shand as Edgar and Director Sébastien Vaniček on the set of New Line Cinema’s ‘Evil Dead Burn’, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo by Matt Klitscher. Copyright: © 2026 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

Following a prologue that forms the connective tissue between this movie and the previous ‘Evil Dead Rise,’ we meet club owner Will (George Pullar), his wife Alice (Souheila Yacoub, ‘Dune: Part Two’), his brother Joseph (Hunter Doohan, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’), and the latter’s girlfriend, Thya (Luciane Buchanan), during a contentious night at Will’s club that ends in a heated fight between him and Alice. Will storms off in his car, hits the Deadite-possessed Jessica (Greta van den Brink) from ‘Rise,’ crashes, and burns alive – but not before he’s possessed himself.

How the Deadites get from point A to point B in the story – and specifically from person to person – is played fast and loose, but no matter. At Will’s funeral, it becomes clear that the rest of his family aside from Joseph don’t care much for Alice and may even blame her for Will’s death. With tensions already high, Will’s father Edgar (Erroll Shand) goes down to the basement to say one last goodbye before his son is cremated – only for Will’s burned body to emerge from its coffin and infect Edgar next.

The clan retreats to the family home – which inexplicably looks like it’s been sitting unused and decaying for decades – for a post-funeral dinner, but the only things on the menu are blood and guts as one by one, everyone is either ripped to shreds or succumbs to the Deadite curse. It also turns out that the family is related to one of the heard-but-never-seen professors from an earlier ‘Evil Dead’ entry, and there are of course audio recordings and books for some handy exposition that ties the whole series together just as the carnage takes over for more than half the running time.

(L to R) Souheila Yacoub as Alice and Director Sébastien Vaniček on the set of New Line Cinema’s ‘Evil Dead Burn’, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo by Matt Klitscher. Copyright: © 2026 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

And what carnage it is. ‘Evil Dead Burn’ lacks the cartoonish humor and eye-popping color schemes of the Raimi originals, with most of the movie swathed in particularly dank grays and browns (and muted reds, of course). But it does capture the delirious, deranged glee that all the films take in finding new ways to cut the human body to ribbons (be warned: the movie does not spare a pet dog from the assault either). From impalement to splitting heads to various gashes, gaping wounds, and burns, it’s all here, all splashed across the screen in grisly detail as Vaniček and director of photography Philip Lozano whip-pan around or zoom in and out in extended, handheld takes that do pay homage to some of the rollercoaster camera moves of the original film.

There’s not much room for character development, and the revelation that Will was physically and mentally abusive to Alice may be a nod toward horror cinema’s current fixation on personal trauma but is handled cursorily enough to almost seem exploitative. And after a while, as crazily entertaining as Vaniček’s gorefest does get, it also starts to feel long – 110 minutes is stretching it for an ‘Evil Dead’ movie – and the final effect is one of enervation, even if Vaniček pulls off a few genuinely creepy moments, some superb kills, and a mostly consistent tone of bleak anarchy.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Maude Davey as Polly and Tandi Wright as Susan in New Line Cinema’s ‘Evil Dead Burn’, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2026 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

‘Evil Dead Burn’ is an ensemble piece for the most part, although Souheila Yacoub is clearly the lead and anchors the film with her performance. Since the attempts at filling in her backstory with regards to her husband are kind of surface-level, she’s really just required to believably react to the events and physical torments happening around and to her, and she handles everything Vaniček throws at her quite well. She manages to make Alice stand out as a sympathetic character, and you end up rooting for her to survive.

The rest of the cast are all up for the physical challenges as well, while Maude Davey (Polly, aka Grandma) distinguishes herself by providing most of the film’s scant comic relief. Tandi Wright also offers up glimpses of some complexity and inner torment in the character of Susan, Will and Joseph’s mother. Yet no one in the more recent ‘Evil Dead’ films has stepped up to become as iconic as Bruce Campbell, although we’ll see if anyone vies for his crown when ‘Evil Dead Wrath’ comes out in 2028.

Final Thoughts

Luciane Buchanan as Thya in New Line Cinema’s ‘Evil Dead Burn’, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2026 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

By the time ‘Evil Dead Burn’ reached its typically nihilistic conclusion (and please stay seated because there is both a mid-credits and a post-credits scene), part of me was ready for it to be over. Even as a horror fan, there is only so much evisceration, mutilation, and disembowelment I can watch without having more to (pardon the pun) chew on in terms of characterization and narrative.

Yet at the same time, the film is so focused on what it sets out to accomplish and the tone it creates that one can’t help but be entertained by its sheer audacity, derangement, and thirst for blood. Those are the trademarks of this franchise that ‘Evil Dead Burn’ proudly puts on steroids – and in that sense, it’s a screaming, grinning, flesh-tearing success.

‘Evil Dead Burn’ receives a score of 75 out of 100.

Erroll Shand in New Line Cinema’s ‘Evil Dead Burn’, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2026 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

What is the plot of ‘Evil Dead Burn’?

After the loss of her husband, a woman seeks solace with her in-laws in their secluded family home. As one by one they are transformed into Deadites — turning the gathering into a family reunion from hell — she comes to discover that the vows she took in life live on even in death.

Who is in the cast of ‘Evil Dead Burn’?

• Souheila Yacoub as Alice
• Tandi Wright as Susan
• Hunter Doohan as Joseph
• Luciane Buchanan as Thya
• Erroll Shand as Edgar
• Maude Davey as Polly
• George Pullar as Will
• Greta van den Brink as Jessica
• Keanu Karim as Jared
• Tapiwa Soropa as Mike

Logo for ‘Evil Dead Burn.’ Photo: New Line.

Movies and TV Shows in ‘The Evil Dead’ Franchise:

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