Evil Dead Burn (dir. Sébastien Vaniček)

by Jack Martin | Jul 10, 2026

Certificate: 18

Running Time: 109 mins

UK Distributor: Studiocanal

UK Release Date: 9 July 2026

WHO’S IN EVIL DEAD BURN?

Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Erroll Shand, Maude Davey, George Pullar, Greta Van Den Brink

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Sébastien Vaniček (director, writer), Florent Bernard (writer), Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert (producers), Philip Lozano (cinematographer), Maxime Caro (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A grieving family finds itself infested with demonic Deadites…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON EVIL DEAD BURN?

Long before Obsession, Paranormal Activity and even The Blair Witch Project became huge horror hits off the back of their under-$1 million budgets, director Sam Raimi spent a mere $375k bringing The Evil Dead to life, the results of which speak for themselves. Of course, that miniscule budget would dwarf compared to how much some of the later sequels and standalone follow-ups would cost, but there’s an argument to be made that the original film in the franchise, a truly independent film made entirely free of studio control and full of nothing but the filmmaker’s passion, carries a genuine homemade charm that the other movies, no matter how enjoyable they may be, couldn’t quite replicate.

Of the various follow-ups, Evil Dead Burn – this time from director and co-writer Sébastien Vaniček, with Raimi producing – is perhaps the closest we’ve yet gotten to a similar DIY style of horror filmmaking. Although it still operates on a far bigger budget than the original, the French filmmaker cleverly stretches each and every penny for an inventively gory ride that feels authentically handmade, from a number of the grisly practical effects to the limited locations and tight cast of characters. It isn’t perfect, and in terms of entertainment value it doesn’t rank quite as high as other entries – among them its immediate predecessor, director Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise – but once he finds his groove Vaniček proves that he knows how to deliver on the darkly comedic nastiness that Raimi once defined.

The film begins with Alice (Souheila Yacoub) mourning the death of her husband William (George Pullar), but proving to be an even more intense experience is reconnecting with her in-laws, including William’s grieving parents Susan (Tandi Wright) and Edgar (Erroll Shand), his cowardly brother Joseph (Hunter Doohan) and his girlfriend Thya (Luciane Buchanan), and his dementia-ridden one-legged grandmother Polly (Maude Davey). After a less than desirable funeral – overshadowed by inconsiderate construction work, and Alice’s surprising reluctance to deliver a eulogy for her late husband – the family gathers at their remote family home where, among its many rundown features, remnants from a certain Book of the Dead lie dormant. And in typical Evil Dead fashion, a mere reading out loud of its powerful incantations summons a few demonic Deadites that quickly begin possessing various members of the family, only these ones are a little less interested in the usual twisted fun and games, and more in locating a certain artefact that they will do pretty much anything – least of all kill anyone standing in their way – in order to get their hands on it.

For a short while, specifically throughout much of the first act, Evil Dead Burn looks as though it could be in a bit of trouble. Vaniček’s directorial style differs greatly from previous filmmakers in this series, many of which carried their own distinct visual styles that matched the grotesque nature of their respective plots, whereas Vaniček frames much of the film with a drabber and more overtly European lens, not too unlike other French genre filmmakers like Luc Besson and Alexandre Aja. Unfortunately, this also means there’s a lot of fast-paced editing, hand-held camerawork, and awkward tonal shifts – there’s one smash cut early on that defies explanation – which can sometimes be more off-putting than the actual on-screen violence, or at the very least make the whole aesthetic feel very un-Evil Dead.

Meanwhile, his and Florent Bernard’s script tends to rush certain character interactions that leave the viewer with little background information about them before the Deadites show up, which can lead to certain players not getting as much time as others to establish who they are and why they make certain decisions later on. Luckily, there’s just about enough we get to know about them, including and especially particular members of this rather toxic and heavily dysfunctional family, but the way things initially progress it seems like there isn’t much to these characters other than being the kind of people you wouldn’t be caught dead at your own funeral with. Again, it is cool to see Vaniček apply that same kind of handmade horror that Raimi once did, but there’s a point where you’re worried that his hands might not have been the right fit for this particular franchise.

But after a certain point, Evil Dead Burn finally finds its balance and manages to go relentlessly hard in revelling among its mean-spirited nature. The filmmaking becomes a lot more stabilised and even confident, offering cinematography that is much closer to Raimi’s original vision while asserting its own style with some ambitious one-shots that are among some of the series’ most technically impressive sequences, whilst the fundamental structures of particular characters create a more uncertain environment where you’re not entirely sure if it’s the Deadites we should be scared of. There are also some fine performances, particularly from Souheila Yacoub who revels in a heavily physical role that could rival her similarly active role in Gaspar Noé’s Climax, and of course some stomach-churning violence that practically leaves no limbs left attached or dishwasher doors soaked in more than just soapy water.

It takes a bit of time to get going, but once it does Evil Dead Burn is a largely solid reminder of why this series has endured, even as the budget has gone up and up. It’s every bit as gnarly, unpleasant and occasionally goofy as the others, albeit with a slightly more sinister and po-faced edge that puts it more in line with Fede Álvarez’s serviceable 2013 reboot than the Raimi classics or even Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise. Still, being in that kind of company in the first place is something that no budget big or small could ever account for.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Evil Dead Burn initially stumbles with a tonally and aesthetically jarring directorial style by Sébastien Vaniček that doesn’t quite match a lot of what came before, but once it finds its groove it relentlessly revels in the kind of over-the-top violence and darkly humorous horror that has long defined this franchise.