Evil Dead Burn First Reviews: The Nastiest Entry in the Franchise Yet
Critics say director Sébastien Vaniček delivers another brutal winner, with relentless intensity and some of the franchise's darkest themes.
Sam Raimi keeps his Evil Dead brand alive with the standalone sequel Evil Dead Burn, which arrives in theaters this weekend. The film, which Raimi produced, has received mostly positive first reviews, claiming it’s a worthy addition to the franchise, albeit not as comical as some might hope. Fans of the Evil Dead movies are sure to enjoy the intense, gory mayhem despite any minimal complaints from nitpickers.
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Here’s what critics are saying about Evil Dead Burn.
Does it live up to the Evil Dead name?
Evil Dead Burn is another rock-solid entry in a series that has yet to produce a poor outing. – Joshua Mbonu, Geek Vibes Nation
It’s another nasty, simple, brutally effective piece of genre filmmaking that proudly carries on the Evil Dead’s demented baton. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Evil Dead Burn continues the very successful track record of…finding promising rising filmmakers and turning them loose in their gruelingly horrific world. – Michael Gingold, Fangoria
How does it compare to previous installments?
It might be the meanest of the bunch. But beneath all the arterial spray lies one of its richest thematic explorations. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Evil Dead Burn would make even Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead remake blush…[it’s] the nastiest, most black-hearted Evil Dead by a nose, and detrimentally so in terms of being too distracted by intentions of cinematic malevolence. – Matt Donato, Daily Dead
Evil Dead Burn doesn’t bring that much new to the world of this franchise (or horror in general), but it’s so great at bringing its own full-throttle ferocity to the constant evolutions to these films that it cements itself as yet another sturdy entry. – Joshua Mbonu, Geek Vibes Nation
You could call this the John Wick of Evil Dead movies. – Michael Gingold, Fangoria
Is there enough gore to satisfy fans?
Evil Dead Burn somehow manages to keep up the already ridiculous standard of imaginative cruelty previously established…delivering some of the series’ grossest moments. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Vaniček has said one particular gory bit had to be trimmed to avoid an NC-17, but I can’t imagine anything more extreme than what they got away with in the R-rated release version. – Michael Gingold, Fangoria
As for the violence that gore hounds and genre sickos everywhere crave from Evil Dead films, Burn more than delivers on every front…the stylish nature of Sébastien Vaniček’s direction pushes Evil Dead Burn to a true brink of depravity. – Joshua Mbonu, Geek Vibes Nation
A few of Vaniček’s choices read as sicko for sicko’s sake and are a mixed bag, ranging from jaw-droppingly despicable to a dealbreaker for certain horror fans. – Matt Donato, Daily Dead
How are the visual effects?
Evil Dead Burn should win the approval of those who favor practical effects, even if in this case that means watching someone’s face forced down into the contents of a gooey head cavity. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
The tendency toward practical effects over CG is satisfying, highlighting makeup designer Jane O’Kane’s gnarly work. – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
O’Kane’s grotesquely standout [makeup] work is complemented by visual effects supervised by Thierry Onillon, which are largely so good and so visceral that they mesh seamlessly with the prosthetics and deliver both genuine jolts and serious gross-outs. – Michael Gingold, Fangoria
The supernatural forces start to become a bit too CGI-centric compared to what you’d want out of an Evil Dead picture. – Joshua Mbonu, Geek Vibes Nation
Will fans of Sébastien Vaniček’s previous horror movie like this one?
All the energy, experimentation, and ruthlessness of Infested translate into a speedier, “dangerous but I like it” Evil Dead title. – Matt Donato, Daily Dead
Vaniček makes this very much its own flick, even within the long-running franchise. – Michael Gingold, Fangoria
Is it all just nonstop violence?
It’s the Energizer Bunny of haunted-house interpretations…guaranteed to make you sweat from start to finish—there’s no quit in this one once it leaves the station. – Matt Donato, Daily Dead
Just like Sam Raimi’s original, Evil Dead Burn represents an enthusiastic up-and-coming filmmaker throwing everything he has at the screen. – Michael Gingold, Fangoria
The violence, while nonstop, remains aggressively “thematic,” as the bottled-up family tensions and angers come out in the form of gnashing, bashing, gouging, severing, impaling, dismembering. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
How is the script?
The screenplay once again proves that straightforward horror can nevertheless support rich thematic ideas without drowning in superfluous lore. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
The fact that the script by Vanicek and fellow Frenchman Florent Bernard offers almost nothing unfamiliar in narrative terms is probably immaterial, though the new standalone entry could have used a more firmly established chief agent of malice. – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Does this one have something new to say?
Evil Dead Burn centers around the idea of domestic abuse…and ultimately how silence begets complicity that allows abuse to fester, take root, and become integral to the home itself. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Along with the half-baked theme of women who have toughened up to survive abusive men, xenophobic distrust of strangers plays a part in the chilly vibe of Will’s parents toward Alice from the start. – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Is it also light enough when needed?
In a movie this relentlessly nasty, the script’s small moments of levity are totally essential. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Burn [has] mostly leaned into the ruthless gore of it all, but [has] also intertwined a certain pitch-black humor with their intensity, which [it] balances on quite the tightrope in its second act. – Joshua Mbonu, Geek Vibes Nation
There are moments of dark humor, but only one gag involving Grandma’s motorized stairlift that could be called laugh-out-loud funny. – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Where Sam Raimi brings a more Three Stooges yuck-it-up-ness, Vaniček wants you to beg for mercy. – Matt Donato, Daily Dead
Does anyone in the cast stand out?
Erroll Shand is a standout in undead form, whose leathery, gruff-and-tumble patriarch is the earliest to turn, and he brings out the highest form of Deadite bastard. – Matt Donato, Daily Dead
There’s Maude Davey, whose delightfully senile grandmother repeatedly steals scenes with perfectly timed bits of dark comedy. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot
Are there any major complaints about the sequel?
There’s something about the film’s mean streak that is a tad out of calibration. – Matt Donato, Daily Dead
I do wish that Sam Raimi, the inventor of the series (and still its producer), found a way to make it all mischievous again. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
I missed the antic spirit, the wicked sense of mischief and the straight-up goofy comedy that defined Raimi’s originals. – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Evil Dead Burn is in theaters on July 10, 2026. Buy tickets on Fandango.
