It’s not often you can say a horror series has a pretty flawless record. For every Halloween, there’s Halloween: Resurrections. For every The Exorcist, there’s The Exorcist 2: The Heretic. For every Children of the Corn, there’s…well, there might not actually be a good Children of the Corn movie. But one franchise I can confidently say doesn’t have a bad film in it is The Evil Dead franchise. Whether you like your deadite slaughtering romps with silly slapstick or depressing brutality, the series has got a little something for everyone. The most recent offerings in the series have leaned a little more towards the latter, so you may be disappointed to hear that Evil Dead Burn is carrying on that trend.

While the series hasn’t been nearly as goofy and cheesy as they’ve once been, there has been no shortage of films that continue to push the envelope for just how much blood and guts can be shown without completely bumming you out. Burn definitely tows that line, mixing in themes of abuse, emotional manipulation and generational trauma to mostly satisfying effect. French director Sebastien Vanicek impressed me with his 2023 film Infested, and he’s fully succeeded at translating that New French Extremity style to a pretty familiar territory. Perhaps too familiar, as even this diehard fan of the series can admit that it feels like the ideas and concepts of the series are starting to feel a tad stagnated. That may be true, but if you’re just looking for a bloody, brutal good time, then the Evil Dead franchise still remains one of the most reliable on the market.

Something I caught onto that I thought worked pretty well here is how much the deadite taunting fit into the themes of the movie. The plot revolves around a French woman, Alice, who must contend with her in-laws after her abusive husband dies in a car wreck. Tensions are already high, but throw in a few Kandarian demons, and you’ve got yourself a real family gathering you wanna take the weed wacker to. Alice is, of course, distrusted by her dead husband’s parents, but things aren’t exactly peachy with their still living son Joseph either. And as more and more of the family begins to become possessed, the more of those unspoken resentments start to come out. This has always been a thing in the series, but here it just feels painfully more relatable to how friends and family can sometimes use emotional manipulation to get you to feel a certain way, no deadites required. The cast all does pretty solid across the board, but it might just be Maude Davey’s Polly that steals each and every scene they’re in. Probably because she just reminds me of every old person at the family function; confused, but unafraid to speak their mind.

But the real scene stealer here is, of course, the insane level of violence. This is a gross, disgusting, viscous movie that doesn’t waste any time getting right into the meat and potatoes of it all. Kicking things off with a loosely connected cold opening, the film doesn’t take too long before everything starts to unravel with the elements you’ve come to expect; everyone gets possessed, leaving one girl left to try and fight her way out. Heads get smashed, faces get sawed in half, and skulls get crushed with bare hands in absolutely gruesome fashion. The violence does have a tinge of campiness to it, but the presentation is as visceral and unflinching as it gets. There’s honestly some pretty distressing moments of violence that I won’t spoil, but there’s usually two things horror audiences tend to want to avoid seeing harm come to. Evil Dead Rise kinda already did one of them, so you might be able to guess what that second thing is. It’s a tough watch, but it does lead to a moment that might just get a tickle out of Resident Evil fans.�

There’s two things I admired a lot about Vanicek’s last film; the hectic energy and the groundedness of his characters. While this film admittedly moves so fast that it kinda leaves worthwhile character development in the dust, that crazy, erratic energy has successfully made the jump to here. Rarely does the film ever take the time to linger on one shot or subject, cutting pretty rapidly in even slower scenes. This might seem headache inducing for some, but I thought it fit for the most part. It helped to accentuate the madness in my eyes, giving it its own somewhat unique voice that helps differentiate it from the pact.

And it definitely needed that, because this is very similar to the last two films this franchise has produced. Now, if you’re a fan of those films like I am, that’s not entirely a bad thing. But they still feel like a far cry from those original Raimi films, both in tone and execution. This is mostly a self-serious film, but there are some moments of dark comedy that sometimes work, sometimes don’t. But, conceptually, there’s nothing here that’s really pushing the envelope of creativity like those original films. The deadites have more or less been boxed into these pseudo-zombie designs for the past three films, and I wish these films would lean back into the freakishly demonic appearances some of them had in the past. We need a Henrietta for a new generation, damn it. And the story telling can be very heavy handed at times. There’s, like, ten different Chekov’s items in this that get so much attention that they might have well as drawn a red circle around them and had arrows pointing to them.

Additionally, the settings are getting a bit repetitive. Evil Dead Rise injected some new scenery by having the film take place in an apartment building this time around, but Burn more or less returns to the home in the woods, only this one has more than one floor. I get that Evil Dead is kind of a domestic horror film in some ways, but I think it’s time to mix it up and find some type of new or exciting setting for future films to freshen things up. And while I do have some praise for the themes at play here, it does kind of make a caricature of domestic violence and generation trauma in a way that doesn’t entirely move you in a way that gets you caring for these characters all that much. Possessions in these films are often pretty terrifying and honestly sad as your loved ones are ripped away from you. But we hate nearly everybody in this house, so, yeah, hack away, man.

Even if this may be the weakest entry in the series to date in my eyes, I still don’t consider this a bad movie. It hardly ever ceases to be entertaining with its nonstop mayhem that continues to find new and brutal ways to absolutely ruin the human body. It’s that carnage that really holds the movie together, while the underbaked story and overly familiar concept keeps it from being a true standout in the franchise. But you know that saying “a bad day fishing beats a good day working”? That’s kinda how I feel here, finding enough to enjoy my time with despite some apparent criticisms. So maybe give this one a try if you wanna see more tendons than you’ve ever seen in your life and demons who’ve got a mouth on them. Sam Raimi can keep picking directors he likes, and I’ll probably keep seeing them every year as one big vomit inducing tradition.

RATING

LAST LIGHT

Sometimes it’s customary to light a candle in honor of the memory of a loved one that’s passed…then you throw that sh*t back, because it’s time to party! At least, that’s what one of the possessed characters does with a candle in this movie, and it got me wondering how you would go about make a candle-like drink. Well, what I landed on is this coconut flavored tequila cocktail that packs a little bit of smoke from mezcal and a little bit of spice from some habanero bitters. The final product is nice and creamy, but to really sell the candle part of the drink, I’ve also thrown a lime boat garnish on top that you can light on fire. For a little extra subtlety, I went ahead and froze a lime husk into a large whiskey cube, so you don’t have to worry about the balancing act that comes from putting a lit crouton on top of a lime on top of an ice cube. Highly recommend!

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5oz tequila
• 1/2oz mezcal
• 3/4oz coconut cream
• 3/4oz lime juice
• 1/2oz vanilla syrup
• pinch of salt
• 2 dashes habenero bitters
• Garnish: lime husk (half of a lime that has been juiced)
• Garnish: Crouton
• Garnish: 151 rum

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add ingredients to a shaker and shake with ice until chilled.
2. Strain into rocks glass over large ice cube.
3. For the garnish, nestle the lime husk on top of the ice cube (or freeze it directly to it, as explained above)
4. Place the crouton in the lime husk, then douse it with a small amount of 151 rum.
5. Carefully ignite the crouton using a match or lighter.
6. IMPORTANT! BLOW OUT DRINK AND REMOVE LIME HUSK BEFORE CONSUMING!