Evil Dead Burn Review: Sam Raimi's Brutal Horror Franchise Has Never Been So Nasty

The nastiest demonic creatures in horror are back, and in the most grotesque, visceral, brutal, dark, and creative Evil Dead yet. As a new filmmaker takes the wheel, Evil Dead Burn drives in a bold new direction while feeling like a twisted thematic union of every era in Sam Raimi's series.

Serving as the sixth movie in the Evil Dead franchise, which debuted in 1981 with the Raimi-directed and Bruce Campbell-led The Evil Dead, Sébastien Vaniček’s Evil Dead Burn takes the brutality and nastiness that has defined the property’s central evil for the past 45 years to its most extreme level. Though Evil Dead Burn’s narrative and character development struggle to match recent entries, its intense physical gore, psychological torture, and masterful set pieces will simultaneously spoil the audience and satisfy their twisted appetites.

Sébastien Vaniček’s Phenomenal Direction Elevates Evil Dead Burn’s Stomach-Churning Gore

If Evil Dead Rise’s cheese grater scene or the 2013 Evil Dead’s self-amputation were too nauseating to get through, Evil Dead Burn offers no reprieve. From the opening scene, Vaniček transports viewers into a terrifying state of familiarity and uses this cold open to set the tone for the chilling, unforgiving brutality and exhausting ruthlessness his Deadites will bring for the next two hours.

I’m not typically very squeamish when it comes to gory horror scenes, especially since they're often infused with humor, as Lee Cronin frequently did in Rise. That said, in terms of the sheer amount of wincing it evoked, Evil Dead Burn was one of the hardest films to watch that I’ve seen in a theater. One bloody sequence featuring Hunter Doohan’s Joseph made my stomach turn, not just with its disturbing physical qualities, but also the emotional nuances behind the brutality as Vaniček warps the central family’s dynamics.

Evil Dead Burn’s set pieces are so inspired and engrossing that the pacing impressively never wavers. The speed with which the film travels through the Deadite attacks easily could have become monotonous and draining in other hands, but not Vaniček’s. His direction is so energized that a nearly two-hour movie feels more like the franchise’s typical 90-minute fare.

Vaniček is incredibly purposeful with his use of color. Evil Dead Burn is most similar in tone and style to Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead, with both telling bleak, harsh stories of families that are already broken and openly resentful before the Kandarian Demon (via the Necronomicon) unleashes its ruthlessness upon their dynamics. A grim, gray atmosphere underscorea both films throughout their arcs, with the intentional additions of dark, blood reds in Evil Dead and firey reds and oranges in Evil Dead Burn emphasizing the stories’ most intense thematic and character-driven developments.

The terrors at the family’s old vacation home culminate in a highly suspenseful oner that may go down as one of the greatest sequences in Evil Dead history. The expert stunt-coordination, cinematography, and sheer terror in the cast’s performances unite to create an all-timer set piece, showcasing the elevated craft and unique, visually inspired talent Evil Dead continues to employ that allow such a tradition-heavy franchise to feel so refreshing.

Despite An Uneven Script, Evil Dead Burn Inventively Balances Franchise Traditions With Distinctive Style

Longtime fans will be satisfied with the classic Evil Dead franchise calling cards returning through a novel lens, but may find certain expansions of the series’ lore more divisive. The demons, relics, and Deadite possessions in Evil Dead Burn are handled very differently from past installments. Certain links to franchise history are only skimmed over despite the considerable weight they carry moving forward.

While Vaniček’s innovation and style pull the weight for Evil Dead Burn, the film falters in regard to its screenplay and character development. Audiences are thrust immediately into the tense dynamics of the central family, but the movie doesn’t go far enough beyond the surface to give us a layered understanding of who these characters are and why they’re so dysfunctional. The brief recountings of harsh backstories or context often feel abrupt and insufficient.

These writing stumbles are harder to forgive when the film tackles such a sensitive topic as domestic abuse. With a narrative entrenched in themes of isolation and bitterness amid defective family relationships and grief, Evil Dead Burn’s character introductions struggle to be as captivating as the heavy, poignant set-up of their demonic family inversion requires.

Souheila Yacoub’s Alice gets the most depth, with Hunter Doohan’s Joseph being a not-so-close second, but the script leaves the family without any fully fleshed out members before (and after) they gradually become Deadites. Their motivations and relationships tend to be vague or fairly two-dimensional. Still, an emotional core remains at the heart of Evil Dead Burn’s multi-generational reckoning with the secrets, shame, and resentments that tore them apart long before their twisted reunion.

Script issues aside, however, there are some incredible “hell yeah” moments in Evil Dead Burn that will satisfy franchise fans while making the wait for 2028's Evil Dead Wrath more excruciating. With Vaniček’s reinvigorating style and unflinching intensity, Evil Dead Burn is a testament to the strength of the franchise’s commitment to bringing in new voices to put their unique stamps on its iconic terrors.

Evil Dead Burn releases in theaters nationwide on Friday, July 10.

Release Date July 10, 2026

Runtime 120 Minutes

Director Sébastien Vanicek

Writers Florent Bernard, Sébastien Vanicek, Sam Raimi