Review: EVIL DEAD BURN is a Mean Slice of Deadite Devastation

In Evil Dead Burn, the mean get meaner. Fans of Sébastien Vaniček's arachnophobia nightmare Infested know the kinetic intensity he can achieve, but Evil Dead Burn would make even Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead remake blush. It's a breakneck endurance test that will leave you breathless and afraid, heated beyond a boil in minutes. While that sounds like most other Evil Dead entries, and franchise tenets are present, Evil Dead Burn is a full-sprint horror flick that aims to set your boundaries ablaze (for better, and for worse).

Climax star Souheila Yacoub leads Vaniček's Deadite sequel, which is framed around a doomed family reunion. The widowed Alice (Yacoub) grieves her restaurateur husband's death with his timid brother Joseph (Hunter Doohan), distraught parents (Tandi Wright as Susan, Erroll Shand as Edgar), and racist ol' granny (Maude Davey as Polly). Alice does her best to assimilate, but while Susan and Edgar tearfully pay tribute to their beloved son, all she can think about is the physical and emotional abuse she endured behind closed doors. It's a breeding ground for resentment, and a threat to explode with the right spark … a perfectly imperfect group for an Evil Dead infiltration.

Vaniček and co-writer Florent Bernard plop viewers into an already unstable environment, what feels like the handoff into an Act II. It's purposeful, so the experience rushes forth Deadite carnage that Evil Dead fans crave. Alice's abusive relationship is revealed in hazy flashbacks (outside a clear opening sequence of toxic male aggression), as the Necronomicon's spell (or related scribblings) possesses her in-laws and others. It's a gutsy approach that cranks the propulsive action to eleven but lacks a leveled foundation, diving in headfirst. A cavalier structure that makes for one hell of an off-the-rails ride, missing a smidge of establishing dynamics that anchor us to characters who exist to become the devil's playthings.

That said, holy fucking shit does Evil Dead Burn bloom with rage and bask in misery.

I mention Evil Dead (2013) alongside Evil Dead Burn because of their bleak brutality. Vaniček, a Frenchman, draws from barbed-and-bottomless New French Extremity signatures in the same way Alvarez tortured his cast. The point of Evil Dead movies is the "Evil," but where Sam Raimi brings a more Three Stooges yuck-it-up-ness, Vaniček wants you to beg for mercy. His Deadites are kissed by fire, as bitter themes infect characters like a plague; eternal suffering is an addiction that’s demonstrated by wicked practical fire effects. Violence is the prime attraction, and doesn't care about what's considered poor taste. Alice doesn't have a boomstick, so she uses thousand-dollar pens, corkscrews, and a bladed lawn edger yanked from the shed to get up close and way too personal.

There's no such thing as an easy way out in Evil Dead Burn, especially from the sweet release of death.

That said, there's something about the film's mean streak that is a tad out of calibration. Humor is an afterthought here, relegated to Polly's xenophobic remarks. That's not to say Evil Dead movies should be horror comedies, but Álvarez and Lee Cronin (Evil Dead Rise) pick spots that spike genuine laughter. Granted, French comedy plays a little differently stateside, but Polly's casual bigotry doesn't carry that quintessential Evil Dead grin. Evil Dead Burn is the nastiest, most black-hearted Evil Dead by a nose, and detrimentally so in terms of being too distracted by intentions of cinematic malevolence. 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.

The commitment of performances is a sight to behold, given what Vaniček asks of his cast. Yacoub fights with a lion's spirit, fueled by the hurt Alice has bottled inside, fending off Deadites who reveal a world-building reason for crashing the somber event. 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. But there can be a single-mindedness to it all, as Evil Dead Burn succumbs to its pitch-black motivations. Actors thrash, slash, and attack on command, transformed by rotten Deadite cosmetics, yet there's little time to establish connections that might allow their demise to hit harder. Choice moments attempt to surface flickers of empathy; however, they're slight and overwhelmed by an indulgent wrath.

Credit to the producing team behind Evil Dead Burn, because Vaniček is unleashed. All the energy, experimentation, and ruthlessness of Infested translate into a speedier, “dangerous but I like it” Evil Dead title. There's a forever-top-speed, controlled chaos to the filmmaker's vision that lends itself to the heretic villains who populate Evil Dead's universe, which Vaniček’s crew lets thrive. Cinematographer Philip Lozano orchestrates wild transitions with deceptive camera movements as he displays a keen artistic lens, pulling 180-degree flips or bouncing off mirrors to hide edit cuts, while Stephen McKeon’s score brings that demonic symphony vibe. It's the Energizer Bunny of haunted-house interpretations: an unapologetic barrage of the worst Vaniček's imagination can muster.

Plain and simple, Sébastien Vaniček rose to the occasion of carrying the Evil Dead legacy. I think, for reasons I don't want to spoil, Evil Dead Burn will be one of the more divisive franchise entries. But, for the extremists out there, and the gorehound Evil Dead faithful who hunger for a super bad time? Evil Dead Burn is guaranteed to make you sweat from start to finish—there's no quit in this one once it leaves the station.

Movie Score: 3.5/5