REVIEW: Evil Dead Burn - More Gore Than Horror

New Line Cinema and Sam Raimi are returning in 2026 with Evil Dead Burn, the sixth film in the famous Evil Dead series. I’ll admit I’m not the biggest fan of the franchise. I haven’t seen the classic films, and my first encounter with the universe created by Sam Raimi was 2023’s Evil Dead Rise, a film that, if I recall correctly, I enjoyed more than this new production.

Evil Dead Burn draws on all the elements that have made the series famous over the years. There’s the Necronomicon, also known as The Book of the Dead—the book that turns people into Deadites, the franchise’s iconic demons. There’s plenty of gore, along with blood, mutilations, and extremely violent scenes. If you’re familiar with the series, this is probably exactly what you’d expect to see—and that’s exactly what you’ll get.

My problem was never the amount of blood, but the way the film builds its story. There are so many moments that, by 2026, have become mere clichés of the horror genre. What’s more, in the middle of the most tense sequences, the film throws in a few moments with a comedic twist that, honestly, I didn’t understand at all. I didn’t find them funny, nor did I feel they belonged there. On the contrary, their only effect was to pull me out of the oppressive atmosphere the film was trying to build.

The movie begins exactly as you’d expect from a classic horror film: two characters are fishing alone on a lake in the middle of nowhere. It’s the kind of opening we’ve seen dozens of times and that no longer manages to surprise anyone. After this scene, we’re quickly introduced to the real protagonists and the story we’ll be following for the next hour and fifty minutes.

Alice, played by Souheila Yacoub, is the main character. After her husband, Will (George Pullar), dies in a car accident that is as mysterious as it is tragic, she tries to find solace in her husband’s family. Instead, she discovers a family that has never accepted her and that holds her responsible for Will’s death.

It doesn’t take long before the power of the Necronomicon makes its presence felt. And here comes yet another cliché that I noticed right away: a mysterious voice begins to chant incantations in an ancient language—probably Latin—and all hell breaks loose. One by one, the family members are transformed into Deadites, and their only hope seems to be a dagger, which we learn is the only weapon capable of defeating the demon controlling them.

There is, however, one scene that I simply didn’t understand. The character Edgar, played by Erroll Shand, kills his own dog with a fork. From my perspective, it’s a completely gratuitous scene that adds absolutely nothing to the story. The only explanation I can come up with is that the filmmakers were trying to shock the audience and stir up controversy. For me, it didn’t work—it just seemed like a scene thrown in for the sake of shock value.

Just as the action reaches its peak and the film begins to deliver exactly what it promises—mutilation, gore, and chaos—those comical moments reappear. One example is the scene in which an elderly woman, completely oblivious to what’s happening around her, slowly rides up to the next floor in an elevator designed for people with disabilities, while everything else comes to a halt for a few seconds and all we hear is the creaking of the elevator. Perhaps the intention was to lighten the mood, but for me it had exactly the opposite effect. The film had managed to put me in a state of tension, and such sequences only served to destroy it.

The ending is not at all surprising. Alice finds the dagger, manages to defeat the demons, and emerges from the whole ordeal alive.

Overall, Evil Dead Burn is, in my opinion, a mediocre movie. The gore scenes and fast pace could have turned this production into a very successful horror film, but the screenplay isn’t strong enough. The lack of memorable jump scares and the repeated use of comedic moments prevent it from being anything more than a simple gore film.

The actors’ performances aren’t anything to write home about either, though I’m a bit more forgiving here. I don’t think anyone goes to see an Evil Dead movie expecting Oscar-worthy performances. On the other hand, the screenplay has some obvious problems. There are characters who disappear completely from the action for several minutes—as if a real bloodbath weren’t taking place in the house—only to reappear a few minutes later without any explanation. There were moments when I imagined the actors simply stepping out of the frame, sitting down on a chair next to the set, and returning when the director told them it was their turn again.

Visually, the film looks decent, but it doesn’t impress. It doesn’t seem like a big-budget production, and the setting is as classic as it gets for the genre: an old, isolated house in the middle of nowhere. Since the story is set in 2026, there are also a few shots filmed with a drone, but honestly, I got the impression they were included just because… they could.

If you're a fan of the Evil Dead series, there's a good chance that Evil Dead Burn will give you exactly what you're looking for and leave you satisfied as you walk out of the theater. If, on the other hand, you’re just a fan of horror movies, you might end up feeling the same way I did. Evil Dead Burn is more of a gore fest than a horror movie that actually manages to scare you.

I can't recommend it as a movie that's absolutely worth seeing in theaters. However, I think it's a great choice for an evening at home once it becomes available on streaming platforms.