For over forty years now, the Evil Dead franchise has been going strong both in theaters and on television screens, pushing its brutal vision edged with sickening dark comedy. What once hatched as a crazy indie project amongst friends gradually evolved into a full blown series with complex mythology—and tons of decimated corpses. Leave it to Infested director Sébastien Vanicek and his co-writer Florent Bernard to weave a compelling throughline neatly tying together the entire franchise. All the ingredients of a great Evil Dead movie are here, from richly drawn characters, disgusting visuals, a final girl/boy, and Deadites galore. So far, every visionary filmmaker that has touched the series has left their own unique mark, and Vanicek opts for crushing suspense, zany camera angles, and impactful interplay for his version. If anything, this only cements Evil Dead as a signature film compendium, and one of the most consistent in all of horror. Like this year’s Scream 7 before it, it emerges as a love letter to a fan favorite. Evil Dead Burn is ultimately a twisted delight, packed to the brim with gory insanity and unforgettable flaming horrors.
Unlike other entries, Evil Dead Burn wastes no time awakening the horrors of the Necronomicon. A fluency in franchise history is not a necessity, but this movie does no hand-holding. The second the book has been retrieved by a researcher’s grandson, Joseph (Hunter Doohan), an evil awakens within a nearby lake that quickly wreaks havoc. A jarring car crash edited into a prostitute’s ass twerk serves as a reversal point leading up to this eventual collision. It’s a creatively edited segment for sure, and it’s only a glimmer of showcase for Vanicek’s style that eventually consumes the film at large.
At Joseph’s birthday party, we quickly meet some of our cast: Joseph’s abusive brother, Will (George Pullar), who owns the club where the party is being thrown; Alice (Souheila Yacoub), Will’s headstrong, very French wife; and Joseph’s longtime girlfriend, the cutesy Thya (Luciane Buchanan). After a drunken spat, Will gets behind the wheel despite protests from his caring brother, Joseph, and well… you know the rest. Will goes up in flames, but his family? They’re the real target.
Even before the action recedes back to their grandfather’s dilapidated countryside home, we meet the rest of the family during a janky crematorium memorial next to a noisy construction site. Wheelchair-ridden Grandma Polly (Maude Davey) doesn’t know her ass from her elbow; family matriarch Susan (Tandi Wright) seems to instantly despise Alice, and Will’s father, Edgar (Erroll Shand), may be even worse, judgmentally assessing Alice’s every reaction. By the time the Deadite shit really starts to hit the fan during the most nerve-wracking dinner scene since The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, all bets are off.
Vanicek and Bernard’s layered script takes its time twisting the knife. They scratch out a perfectly paced nightmare scenario, growing more bonkers by the minute as the encroaching dread builds and builds. Clearly this family has some skeletons in its closet, but the evil here actually has a purpose: locate and destroy an ancient dagger. With the family already fractured, Alice must team up with Joseph in a race against the clock before they’re all “dead by dawn.” Grandma Polly gets most of the signature dark humor, whilst Hunter Doohan and Souheila Yacoub are particularly great as their characters fight off the demons of their own pasts.
As with previous installments, the Deadites themselves are singular and horrific, with each performance a masterclass. To pinpoint anyone would dwell into spoiler territory, but suffice to say, there are some especially great, maniacal additions to the Deadite roster. Relentless violence, thankfully buoyed by top tier practical effects and makeup, certainly helps. Evil Dead Burn delivers major when it comes to visceral brutality and cringey can’t-look-away ouchies. The style presents a specific flavor of French horror, and it does make me curious how an American audience will react, considering there was at least one walkout in my theater. Several of the most intense moments may be permanently burned into my retinas.
Double Danger handle the score, infusing traditional orchestration with experimental sound design that only heightens the panic. Their music perfectly blends with the horrific visuals, and always adds to the imposing atmosphere. The bleakness may shock some, but that’s par for the course when it comes to French horror. The surprisingly tender manner in which the script approaches domestic violence plays out with pinpoint precision. So many horror films dwell in trauma as the primary force by which the action occurs; while there are dashes of that here, Evil Dead Burn is never less than the sum of its parts. It takes the emotionality, then essentially fucks it with a jackhammer.
Evil Dead Burn finds the franchise at a unique crossroads where anything feels possible. There was a time in between Army of Darkness and 2013’s blood-soaked Evil Dead where it felt like Sam Raimi’s baby might never be revived. But with Evil Dead Wrath on the way next year and 2023’s Evil Dead Rise being a mesmerizing return to form, there’s more life to Evil Dead than even the most brutalized, shambling Deadite. It may prove impossible to kill—and with creative swings and fresh talent always looking to leave their own stamp, I’m not sure anyone would want it to. Cheers to your perfect franchise!
Get enflamed by Evil Dead Burn, lighting up theater screens on Friday, July 17th.
