Evil Dead Burn is about loss, a visceral metaphor for grief. How appropriate because every Evil Dead movie is about loss for me…
I inherited a hideous couch from my grandma. Once my standard of living rose to a point where I could afford better free furniture, I tossed that hideous couch. Prior to that, I had never watched the original Evil Dead.
Then I did. Lo and behold, grandma’s hideous couch was like the couch in Evil Dead. I owned an Evil Dead couch, and I threw it out in the garbage.
For nothing.
I could have literally called Sam Raimi and said:
“Hi, Sam Raimi, I have an Evil Dead couch.”
“Really!? Want to be best friends?”
“Maybe…”
Now I have nothing. And then movies like Evil Dead Burn come along and make me feel worse. Not only because it is a painful reminder of my lost Evil Dead couch, but because watching it makes a person feel bad in general…
Evil Dead Burn
Evil Dead Burn is the sixth film of the franchise. It’s a long way from the splatterstick roots of the originals. Gone is the gonzo lunacy of torturing a mugging Bruce Campbell with campy special effects while Sam Raimi gleefully giggles off camera.
Evil Dead 2013 rebooted the franchise with a more serious tone. Evil Dead Burn takes that serious tone to an Ingmar Bergman level. If Evil Dead Burn was any more serious, it would have the first name of “Yahoo.”
A couple half-hearted attempts at humor are made, but the bulk of Evil Dead Burn is a dour affair. This extends to its look. The film could just as well be in black and white. Almost all color is leeched from the proceedings.
The story is about a family mourning the death of a son. The mourning is pushed to a cringe/awkward level as the parents reach passive-aggressive heights with the surviving spouse that borders on Minnesotan.
Okay, maybe not that bad…
A plot is injected into this dynamic that illustrates the bottom of the barrel that Evil Dead Burn scrapes: the good old magic-dagger plot. Deadites search for a magic dagger that can destroy them. Why?
I don’t know because I didn’t take notes. I could have, though — with a phone app even — and no one would have complained. It was only me in the theater
Evil Dead Burn Baby Burn
Evil Dead Burn is written and directed by Sébastien Vaniček. He is a Frenchman that brought us the spider horror film Infested, not to be confused with Infestation (2009), which oddly works due to a likeable performance from Chris Marquette.
The film stars a cavalcade of names that make sure the budget stays at $20 million. This ensures producers Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell get as big of a piece of the pie as possible. John Carpenter would be proud of their check-cashing ability.
If you recognize Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Erroll Shand, Maude Davy and George Pullar, then you are a bigger movie fan than me. All I know is that they are seven people who have never been in my kitchen…
They deserve no ire for their performances, however. They are all right in the pocket of what they need to be for a film like this. Victims scream. Deadites taunt. Heroes overcome.
It’s just a downer to watch.
Evil Dead II Burn
Since the original films fall under splatterstick, their gore comes off as ridiculous. Since these new Evil Dead films take themselves seriously, the gore comes off as sadistic.
For example, one character gets their face bashed in. Later, another character gets their face rubbed into — and I mean into — that bashed-in face.
Want to see a man shoot himself in the head multiple times and later share a deep, bloody French kiss with another character?
Probably not.
Yet, Evil Dead Burn is so desperate to provoke a reaction of ewww, these are the type of gags it comes up with. These people need Jesus. Horror is about pushing things up to a line…but not crossing that line. Once that line is crossed, horror ceases to be horror and turns into disgust. You can watch My 600-Lb Life and get the same result.
The reason movies like Evil Dead 2, Dead Alive and Re-animator get away with it is because they are live-action cartoons supplemented with impish, practical effects.
Evil Dead Presidents Burn
Despite all that, Sébastien Vaniček displays a degree of talent that can’t help but shine, even though the tired-franchise deck is stacked against him. He somehow drags Evil Dead Burn to an almost average rating all by himself.
The opening of Evil Dead Burn is effective. The image of a deadite with her head above water like a shark fin is great. Likewise, Vaniček proves adept at presenting kinetic action scenes that deliver real impact.
A couple other sequences stand out. At one point, Souheila Yacoub crawls along the floor while a deadite beats the living daylights out of another character in the background. It’s chaotic, expansive and claustrophobic all at the same time.
Another great shot features a rotating camera while a deadite scoots up a wall and onto the ceiling as they drag a character behind them.
Vaniček likely has a satisfying action movie in him. He is capable of a rough-and-tumble style that would work well with Statham-like fisticuffs.
From a purely objective standpoint, Vaniček delivered on the type of movie he set out to make with Evil Dead Burn. It’s just a type of movie that has limited appeal. Normies will run for the hills. Old guard Evil Dead fans will question the change in tone. Meanwhile, the kids are seeing Backrooms and Obsession.
Evil Dead Burning Down The House
The main problem with Evil Dead Burn is that it is an Evil Dead film. This forces it to use certain Evil Dead tropes that don’t pair well with being serious. If Vaniček used the same basic template without being forced to come up with ewww gags, he might have ended up with a horror film that worked better.
Or brighten everything up. Light the movie like Creepshow and let the audience know this movie is a spook house at a county fair, and they are in for a gonzo ride. Then release the film in October instead of the summer.
Fans of gritty horror may enjoy this one…at least until the unearned CGI villain showdown happens. As for regular viewers, they are better off forgoing Skittles and bringing a bag of Prozac into the theater to munch on while watching Evil Dead Burn.
