The chainsaw revs, the Necronomicon creaks open, and the Deadites come clawing back up from the cellar. On July 10, “Evil Dead Burn” tore into theaters, the sixth entry in one of horror’s most beloved and blood-drenched franchises. While a certain Disney remake was busy charming families across the multiplex the same weekend, the Deadites offered the exact opposite experience — a brutal, gory, R-rated descent into demonic possession for the crowd that wanted their summer with a whole lot more viscera.
The “Evil Dead” saga is a genuine horror institution, and its journey is one of the great scrappy success stories in the genre. It all began with Sam Raimi’s ferociously inventive 1981 original, a no-budget cabin-in-the-woods nightmare that became a cult sensation and launched Bruce Campbell’s Ash Williams into horror legend. From there it sprawled into the slapstick-horror classic “Evil Dead II,” the medieval mayhem of “Army of Darkness,” a well-received 2013 remake, and the “Ash vs Evil Dead” series. It’s a franchise that has reinvented itself again and again while never losing its gleefully nasty soul. Warning: beyond this point there are spoilers for “Evil Dead Burn” and the fate of the family at its center.
The chainsaw revs, the Necronomicon creaks open, and the Deadites come clawing back up from the cellar.”
The modern era, kicked off by 2023’s excellent “Evil Dead Rise,” found a smart new formula: anthology-style entries, each with a fresh cast and a fresh setting, all bound together by the cursed Book of the Dead and the demonic evil it unleashes. “Rise” moved the horror from the woods to a cramped Los Angeles apartment building and was a critical and commercial hit, proving the franchise could thrive without Ash or the cabin. “Evil Dead Burn” continues that approach, dropping the terror into an entirely new nightmare with new victims to torment.
This time, the setup is domestic dread turned apocalyptic. Souheila Yacoub stars as a young woman reeling from the death of her husband, who retreats to the secluded home of her in-laws seeking comfort and a place to grieve. What begins as an already-tense family gathering curdles into a full-blown reunion from hell as, one by one, the family members are possessed and twisted into Deadites. It’s a perfect “Evil Dead” premise — take an intimate, emotionally raw human situation and then unleash unimaginable demonic horror on it, forcing love and grief to collide with pure evil. The confined, familial setting promises exactly the kind of claustrophobic terror the franchise does best.
The pedigree behind the camera is why fans should be excited rather than nervous. “Evil Dead Burn” is directed and co-written by Sébastien Vaniček, the French filmmaker who earned serious genre credibility with his acclaimed creature-horror breakout — a director with a real gift for grimy, visceral, relentlessly intense scares. Crucially, the franchise’s guardians remain firmly in place: Sam Raimi and his longtime producing partner Rob Tapert are producing, ensuring the demonic DNA that has defined “Evil Dead” for over four decades stays intact. Handing the keys to a hungry, talented new voice while the founders keep watch is the ideal way to keep a legacy franchise vital.
What makes this rollout smart is the counter-programming instinct baked into it. Releasing hardcore horror on the same weekend as a family-friendly Disney tentpole is a classic play — give the audience that doesn’t want singing and heartwarming voyages somewhere to go, and you carve out your own dedicated crowd. Horror has proven, over and over, to be one of the most reliable draws at the box office, a genre that overperforms on modest budgets and rewards studios that trust it. “Evil Dead Burn” arriving as the bloody alternative to wholesome summer fare is a franchise playing to its exact strengths.
For the faithful, the appeal is elemental and unchanging. “Evil Dead” delivers a specific cocktail nobody else quite matches — over-the-top gore, demonic possession, gallons of blood, and that manic, almost gleeful energy that makes even the most horrifying moments feel like a twisted rollercoaster rather than a grim slog. The anthology format keeps the concept fresh by refusing to overstay its welcome with any one set of characters, letting each film be a self-contained plunge into hell. New faces, new location, same relentless Book of the Dead. That’s a formula built to run forever.
So the evil is loose again, and it’s found a grieving family to devour in a house with no easy exit. “Evil Dead Burn” carries the torch for one of horror’s most enduring and inventive franchises, handing it to a promising new director while its legendary creators keep the demons on brand. Whether it stands with the best of the series or simply delivers another satisfying bloodbath, one thing is certain: the Deadites never stay buried for long, and this summer they came back hungry. Try not to read anything out loud.
What Do You Think? Does the anthology approach — new cast and setting each film — keep “Evil Dead” fresher than sticking with Ash and the cabin ever could? Is a grief-stricken family in a secluded house the perfect emotional setup for Deadite carnage? And after “Evil Dead Rise” raised the bar, can Sébastien Vaniček’s “Evil Dead Burn” push the franchise even further into hell?
See you on the next binge!
