Sébastien Vaniček's Evil Dead Burn aims to synthesize the horror franchise's dual nature of slapstick humor and visceral terror, but ultimately struggles to balance these elements. The film, which premiered in theaters on July 10, serves as a standalone installment with connections to the 2023 entry, Evil Dead Rise.
While Evil Dead Rise shifted the franchise's setting from remote cabins to an apartment building and embraced a tone of gore and dramatic emotional stakes, Evil Dead Burn attempts to blend these sensibilities. The story follows Alice (Souheila Yacoub), a woman grappling with the recent death of her husband. She retreats with his family to a remote, dilapidated home, where their shared grief exacerbates existing tensions. As is customary in the franchise, the curse of the Deadites eventually spreads among the family members.
Vaniček, known for his horror film Infested which touched on themes of xenophobia, makes his English-language debut with Evil Dead Burn. The film explores domestic and familial violence, though with mixed success. Alice, a French woman married into an American family, experiences a strained relationship with her in-laws, Tandi Wright and Erroll Shand, and uncovers a darker reality about her late husband that the family has chosen to ignore. The supporting cast includes Hunter Doohan as the younger son, Luciane Buchanan as his girlfriend, and Maude Davey as the family grandmother, with the family dog also falling victim to the carnage.
The narrative takes time to establish its central conflict. An early sequence featuring two fishermen and a Deadite serves as a framing device connecting to Evil Dead Rise. However, this introduction of the curse feels disconnected from the main characters, making its eventual spread to them seem contrived. The film's ambition to make the curse's origin a generational tie to the family, rather than a character's accidental invocation, feels underdeveloped and detracts from character investment, reducing them to potential victims.
Despite script shortcomings, Evil Dead Burn boasts technical merits. The cinematography features dynamic camera movements, often mimicking a predatory presence. Certain sequences offer fresh perspectives on classic final girl confrontations, including one shot from above and another long take following a character's desperate escape. The sound design effectively amplifies the gruesome and unsettling details, with some moments eliciting audible reactions from the audience. The film employs impressive gore effects and inventive kill sequences.
However, the film's overarching tone is inconsistent. It attempts to elicit both laughter and disgust, while also striving for pathos as Alice confronts her husband's hidden nature. This ambitious blend of camp, serious subject matter, and dramatic weight ultimately falls short, leaving the audience without a cohesive experience. The film's stylistic filmmaking and gruesome kills are present, but its attempt to unite every facet of the Evil Dead legacy proves to be its downfall.