Grave Tone: Horror Podcast

·E67

Evil Dead Burn Review: The Most Brutal Deadite Movie Yet

July 10
39 mins

Episode Description

Evil Dead Burn review: Sébastien Vaniček made the nastiest movie in this franchise, and it starts fast and never lets up.

We came home from the theatre and recorded immediately. Evil Dead Burn drops French expat Alice (Souheila Yacoub) into a house full of in-laws who never wanted her there, and then turns them into Deadites one by one. The early hype said you are not ready. Usually, that hype is nothing. This time it is one of the exceptions.

Sébastien Vaniček Brings French Horror to the Evil Dead Franchise

  • Second feature after Infested (2023), the spider movie that got him hired. Sam Raimi saw it and handed him the keys.
  • Vaniček's stated goal was a visceral sensory experience that punches audiences in the gut and leaves them physically drained. It works.
  • The dry humour running through the crematorium scenes is unmistakably French, in the same family as Le Manoir.

Evil Dead Burn Cast and Performances

  • Souheila Yacoub (Climax, Dune: Part Two) plays Alice, the French expat widow, and she carries the whole film.
  • Hunter Doohan (Wednesday) as Joseph, Luciane Buchanan as Thya, Tandi Wright as Susan, Erroll Shand as Edgar, George Pullar as Will.
  • Maude Davey plays Polly, the grandmother, and she is the only real levity in the movie (she is also the funniest thing in it).
  • Mostly lesser-known actors, which is what this franchise keeps getting right.

Practical Effects, Gore, and the NC-17 Problem

  • The holes in Edgar's skull hold up in close-up for most of the runtime. Mostly practical with a VFX layer on top.
  • The original cut was rated NC-17. Vaniček trimmed one long, cold, raw scene to land the R.
  • There is one head sequence where you see everything. If you are squeamish, skip the popcorn.

Necronomicon Lore and the Evil Dead Timeline

  • The grandfather's link to Professor Raymond Knowby finally gives the modern films connective tissue back to 1981.
  • The Kandarian dagger returns as the only thing that kills a Deadite for good.
  • The Circle of Wise Men reaches back to the mage in Army of Darkness. [CONFIRM: exact in-film name of the Circle]
  • Burn's cold open brings back Jessica from Evil Dead Rise's lakeside prologue.
  • Evil Dead Wrath (Francis Galluppi, April 2028) is a prequel set in 1972.

Trigger Warnings and Scores

  • Animal death: the dog dies. Domestic violence is a heavy plot point, not a background detail.
  • Arthur: 8. Meaghan: 7.5 to 8.
  • Two credits scenes, one mid and one post. Stay for both. We are not telling you what they are.

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