Warning: Some of the stills accompanying this review may be unsettling for some readers. They’re nowhere near the film’s most graphic moments, but Evil Dead Burn is still one of the goriest horror films you’ll see this year. If blood and body horror aren’t your thing, you’ve been warned.
“Walaoweh… how many Evil Dead we must go through?”
Sometimes the best part of watching a movie isn’t even the movie itself.
Just after Evil Dead Burn ended its credits, I overheard an elderly Chinese uncle a few rows behind me quietly mutter, “Walaoweh… how many Evil Dead we must go through?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
It wasn’t him mocking the film. If anything, it sounded like someone who’s been through enough Deadites over the years to wonder just how much more punishment this franchise could throw at audiences.
By the end of the screening, plenty of fans around me were still reacting to every outrageous kill, whispering whenever the film dropped a lore reference and applauding after the second post-credit scene.
After six films, Evil Dead somehow still has enough gas left in the tank to entertain.
Not exactly an Evil Dead fan… until now
I’ll admit something first.
I’ve never been a hardcore Evil Dead fan.
Sure, I’ve watched the films over the years, but never properly followed them. I wasn’t someone who kept up with every bit of lore, memorised the different versions of the Necronomicon or spent hours connecting the timeline between each movie.
I mostly watched them because they were bloody fun.
Ironically, Burn is the film that finally made me want to dive deeper into all of that.
The story follows Alice, who visits her late husband’s family after his tragic death, only for a memorial gathering to spiral into absolute carnage as Deadites begin possessing the family one by one.
What I liked most wasn’t necessarily the story itself, but how it gently expands the mythology. Instead of following the familiar “someone reads the book and everything goes wrong” formula, evil is already lurking before the Necronomicon properly enters the picture. The supernatural connection to fire also gives Burn its own identity without completely abandoning what came before.
It’s not groundbreaking.
But it was enough to make me want to revisit Evil Dead (2013) and Evil Dead Rise.
In fact, I’d recommend doing exactly that before watching Burn. The connections become much more satisfying and, more importantly, the second post-credit scene carries much more weight if you’re familiar with where the franchise has been heading. The mid-credit scene is fun, but it’s really just an extension of one of the film’s jokes.
Funny enough, I already met this Evil earlier this year
Back in April, I reviewed Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.
Some fans have claimed Cronin initially pitched ideas for another Evil Dead film before Sébastien Vaniček was brought in to direct Burn. Whether that’s entirely true or not, it’s hard not to notice how much of Evil Dead Rise‘s DNA carried over into The Mummy.
I remember walking out of that film thinking I respected it more than I actually enjoyed it.
It had fascinating mythology rooted in ancient Egypt, flashes of Cronin’s signature chaos and some genuinely disgusting body horror, but it was weighed down by an overlong runtime, uneven pacing and family drama that never fully clicked.
Burn almost feels like the opposite.
It doesn’t try too hard to be emotionally profound. It knows exactly what audiences came for and gets on with it.
If you’d like to read my full thoughts on The Mummy, you can find my review below.
Let’s address the grass brush cutter in the room
This is the goriest Evil Dead ever made.
I don’t think there’s much argument about that.
Every possession somehow becomes nastier than the last. Bones snap, flesh tears, limbs fly and enough blood is spilled to repaint the entire family home several times over.
If you’re hoping for restrained horror…
You’re definitely watching the wrong movie.
Director Sébastien Vaniček completely embraces the franchise’s reputation for outrageous violence, delivering some genuinely stomach-turning practical effects that had people in my cinema squirming one minute and laughing the next.
Critics have largely agreed on that front.
Evil Dead Burn currently sits at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes with a Metacritic score of 58. GamesRadar called it “a relentless endurance test of blood-and-bile soaked nightmare fuel”, while The Wrap perhaps summed it up best by saying it isn’t the smartest, funniest or even best Evil Dead, but it might just be the evilest.
I’d say that’s a pretty fair description.
There’s real beauty beneath all the blood
One thing I wasn’t expecting was just how good this film looks.
For a movie where almost every room eventually gets drenched in blood, Burn is surprisingly beautiful.
Vaniček makes excellent use of sweeping drone shots to emphasise the family’s isolation, while several long shots slowly build tension without relying on quick edits or cheap jump scares.
Then there’s the one-take sequence teased in the trailers.
It absolutely lives up to the hype.
The camera glides through the chaos instead of constantly cutting away, making every attack feel more immediate and every moment of panic more intense. It isn’t just there to look flashy either. It genuinely adds to the tension and showcases how confident the direction is.
There are also several beautifully composed frames throughout the film where fire isn’t just part of the horror, but part of the storytelling itself.
It’s easily one of the best-looking entries in the franchise.
Where it started losing me
As much fun as I had, this is also where my biggest criticism comes in.
The story is… okay.
I wouldn’t call it cliche because it does introduce a few interesting ideas into the mythology, but it’s still fairly basic. Most of the major turns are easy to see coming and the emotional beats never hit as hard as the filmmakers probably intended.
Then came the third act.
Up until then, I was having a genuinely great time.
But the finale suddenly shifted into something that reminded me more of a Resident Evil boss fight than an Evil Dead ending. The heavier reliance on CGI stood out against a film that had previously leaned so heavily on practical effects.
I remember sitting there thinking…
“Why?”
The last 10 or 20 minutes also felt longer than they needed to be. The pacing didn’t ruin the movie, but it definitely took me out of the experience after everything had been firing on all cylinders.
What I realised afterwards is that my issue isn’t really with Burn itself.
Ever since Evil Dead Rise, I’ve found myself appreciating these newer films more as really good horror movies than as classic Evil Dead films.
They’re polished.
They’re brutal.
They’re entertaining.
But they’re missing that wonderfully weird personality Sam Raimi brought to the originals. That splatstick humour. That absurd energy where you’d laugh one second and cringe the next.
I miss that.
Maybe it’s nostalgia talking, but I’d love to see future entries embrace that side of the franchise again instead of leaning almost entirely into relentless brutality.
A franchise that still refuses to stay dead
Even with those criticisms, it’s hard not to admire how consistent Evil Dead has remained.
Very few horror franchises make it to six films without completely running out of ideas. This one keeps surviving because every director is allowed to bring something different while respecting what came before.
Some attempts naturally work better than others.
I don’t think Burn is among the franchise’s best.
But I also don’t think it’s anywhere close to its worst.
It’s another solid entry that expands the lore just enough, delivers some genuinely unforgettable gore and leaves fans with plenty to speculate about before Evil Dead Wrath arrives.
So maybe that uncle’s question still stands.
“Walaoweh… how many Evil Dead we must go through?”
Judging by the reaction from the fans in my screening…
At least one more. And hey, Evil Dead Wrath is coming on 2028.
Verdict: Bloody fun with room to grow
7/10
Evil Dead Burn may not tell the franchise’s strongest story and its final act overstays its welcome, but it’s still a thoroughly entertaining horror film.
The practical gore is outstanding, the cinematography is genuinely beautiful, the mythology grows in interesting ways and, perhaps most surprisingly, it made someone who’d never properly invested in Evil Dead lore want to go back and revisit the entire series.
That’s not something I expected walking into the cinema.
And honestly, that might be the film’s biggest achievement.
Just don’t leave after the credits start rolling. The second post-credit scene is the one you’ll definitely want to stick around for.
