I’m certainly late to the party with this one as I’ve only just seen Evil Dead Burn in the cinema a couple of weeks after its release and I was throughly impressed.
More than four decades after the initial Sam Raimi movie the franchise shows no signs of slowing down as it’s forever reinventing itself over and over without losing its core identity.
The Sébastien Vaniček directed 2026 hit is certainly proof of that as it’s as intriguing as it is brutal kicking things off with a Kandarian demon who wreaks supernatural havoc on two lads who just wanted to go on a fishing trip together for some piece and quiet.
From cabins in the woods to apartment blocks the setting for each movie is unique and whilst Evil Dead Burn gets us into a dilapidated home eventually it’s just different enough to feel fresh and unique.
The story revivals around a widow who seeks refuge with her husband’s family in an isolated home but introduces grief, trauma and even domestic abuse into the otherwise bloody storyline.
I throughly enjoyed it and especially loved the comedic relief in the shape of the family’s grandma Polly (played by Maude Davey) who I thought was brilliant and certainly eased the tension when the sh*t hits the fan.
Evil Dead never really dives too deep into the mythology or the lore of the franchise and why certain demons have supernatural abilities yet normal deadites don’t but fans of the franchise don’t really care, do they?
They come for gore and a good time watching a good horror movie and in that regard it ticks every box but it doesn’t always quite connect and Evil Dead Burn has done something that no other movie within the franchise has done before, it’s gone off-script.
Arguably the most controversial moment within the history of the franchise as the mid-credits sequence reveals a fan-favourite Deadite has somehow returned defying the logic and rewriting the rulebook that has been in place since the 80s.
Deadites can be destroyed by head dismemberment and Ellie was left looking like a slushie at the end of Evil Dead Rise so this one is a head-scratcher.
Now don’t get me wrong, seeing Alyssa Sutherland return in this role is great and the way she is introduced is actually jaw-dropping for fans of the franchise but leaving the door open for her character to return feels unusual, after all Ellie is dismembered at the end of movie. Ellie was possessed however by a Kandarian demon so will they use this little loophole to pave her return in future movies? We shall see.
Can these entities truly be destroyed?
Will this return expand the mythology but at the same time risk stepping away from the simplicity of what makes the franchise great?
There’s certainly more questions than answers on this one and there’s no sign of the franchise slowing down anytime soon.
