Evil DeadBurn

Every Evil Dead film needs one good idea to hang the blood on. In 2013 it was addiction. In Rise it was a mother turning on her own children. In Burn it is a marriage. A woman loses her husband, goes to stay with his family, and slowly watches every one of them become something else. The vows she made are still holding her in place. That is a genuinely good hook, and for about forty minutes the film does something interesting with it.

Sébastien Vaniček is the new name here. Sam Raimi picked him after seeing Infested, his 2023 debut about a spider infestation in a French tower block, and you can see why. Vaniček shoots small spaces better than almost anyone working in horror right now. He knows how to make a corridor feel like a trap.

Souheila Yacoub carries the film as Alice, and she is excellent. She plays grief first and terror second, which is the right order, and it gives the early scenes a weight this series does not usually bother with.

The gore is the point, and it delivers

Let us be honest about why people buy a ticket for this. The blood. And Burn is generous. This is the most brutal film in the franchise, and Vaniček shoots it with real craft rather than just volume. Practical effects wherever possible, long takes, no cutting away.

There are two or three sequences here that horror fans will still be talking about at the end of the year. The film earns its rating in the first thirty minutes and then keeps going. If gore is what you want, this is the best mainstream version of it in 2026 and nothing else is close.

The Deadites lost their sense of humour

Here is my problem. The Deadites used to be funny. Not funny in a comedy way, funny in a cruel way. They taunted you. They laughed at you while wearing your sister's face. That nastiness is what made the original films feel dangerous instead of just wet.

The Deadites in Burn are frightening but generic. They have a job to do in this film, they are chasing something specific, and having a goal makes them ordinary. A demon with a plan is just a monster. A demon that wants to humiliate you before it kills you is Evil Dead.

The script is also thin. The film sets up a real theme about family, obligation and the things people put up with in a marriage, then drops it the second the blood starts and never picks it up again. Vaniček clearly had something to say. The film does not give him room to say it.

Should you watch it

Yes, if you like this series. It is the most technically skilled entry since the 2013 remake and it proves the franchise does not need Ash to work. Vaniček is a real filmmaker and I want to see what he does next.

But it stops short of greatness for a simple reason. It has a great idea and a great lead performance, and it treats both of them as the excuse rather than the point. Stay through the credits.