EVIL DEAD BURN: A Bloody Tale of Overcoming Grief.

Horror continues to have its moment in the sun as Evil Dead Burn is the latest to roll out, coming on the heels of Evil Dead Rise in 2023. The franchise is known for bringing out the most bloody, gory, and hateful moments with its characters both dead and alive, and Burn is no exception. Sebastien Vanicek takes us back into the woods as Alice’s husband passes away tragically, bringing her together with his family.

Spoilers Ahead For Evil Dead Burn

Let’s start with the good of this film. There are some truly visually pleasing moments and excellent moments of camera work, such as a one-shot as Alice is crawling to escape while Joseph (Hunter Doonan) is being throttled by a deadite. Another moment is the way the camera climbs up the wall and moves with our characters as Alice is being hung with a shower curtain as well. At points, the violence and hate almost make you look away as Joseph has his face smashed into his now-dead wife’s skull by his father (Errol Shand). The film does not forget its roots as there are plenty of moments featuring various weaponry and violent murders. It even leans into a bit of humor surrounding the family’s grandmother.

The film also deepens the lore a little bit, such as revealing that there is a certain weapon that can kill a Deadite, and the family’s grandfather was a member of a group that had spent their lives searching for methods to kill them. It brings a little bit more of a serious tone with it as well and connects the universe and previous films. When Joseph uncovers the magic dagger, it kickstarts our film by sending out a signal to the Deadites and thus brings our film to its beginning. One of the best sequences and deaths takes place inside of the vehicle, where after Joseph’s father kills their family dog him and his wife Thya (Luciane Buchanan) try rushing him to the hospital. What follows is excellent camera work and every way you could use what’s inside of a car as a weapon. The Headrest, seatbelt, a knife, the sunroof, everything. They do not shy away either when the headrest finds its way into Thya’s face.

What Doesn’t Work

While I did enjoy this film, not everything was great. The movie focuses on grief, and it turns out that Will (George Pullar) had abused Alice throughout their marriage. What’s worse is how his family had essentially enabled him, looked past it all, and cast Alice out. For a franchise built on reading from the book of the dead, surrounding itself with these themes didn’t quite fit the tone or lore. The ending sets up an awful CGI mess where Will, who was possessed by a Deadite and burned alive at the beginning of the film, chases Alice to the construction site. It felt entirely uneccesary and took the wind out of the sails in the film overall.

There are two post-credit scenes, and the second one seems not to have made a lot of sense either, as Alyssa Sunderland returns as Ellie and comes out of the mirror and snaps the neck of the little girl who sees her. I’m not entirely sure where they plan to go next, but what we do know is that it does seem that Wrath will converge the last two films together.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I enjoyed the film, and it has its strong points. But where it falls short, it really falls short; despite that, I do think it is a worthwhile film and one you can enjoy.

Let us know how you feel about Evil Dead Burn and check out more reviews by Matt!