One of 2026’s most intense movies is available to watch right now

'Features the maximum level of darkness and gore that you could probably have while still retaining a sense of fun.'

The horror film follows Alice (Souheila Yacoub - Climax, Dune: Part Two), a young woman whose hot-headed husband Will (George Pullar) dies in a car crash.

In the aftermath of the shocking event, Alice plans to stay at the rural home of her in-laws (which include Wednesday star Hunter Doohan) for the funeral and as she settles Will's affairs.

It soon becomes clear that the family blames Alice for her late husband's death and that the central clan is also being targeted by a sinister force.

Evil Dead Burn Review

Chances are that if you enjoyed 2013's Evil Dead and 2023's Evil Dead Rise (directed by Dublin's own Lee Cronin), you'll get a kick out of Evil Dead Burn.

After Sam Raimi's delightfully idiosyncratic trilogy of movies - which ran from 1981 to 1992 - the franchise has settled into a formula. Each film has a different up-and-coming horror director at the helm, gathers a group of people in a confined space where they are terrorised by demonic trickster forces, and features the maximum level of darkness and gore that you could probably have while still retaining a sense of fun.

It must be said, however, that this remains a very effective, compelling formula, particularly with someone like France's Sébastien Vaniček behind the camera, who made the ultimate spider horror with 2023's Infested.

Not only does he deliver a string of inventively gory, tactile and darkly funny set pieces - sequences which feel truly original and occasionally even veer into surrealist art territory - but he delivers an emotional story too.

With an enhanced focus on its characters and the family they inhabit, Evil Dead Burn makes text something that has always been subtext in this franchise.

The aforementioned trickster demons, the Deadites, not only physically attack their victims, but they take great pleasure in psychologically toying with them. In Evil Dead Burn, these monsters identify each member of the central clan's hidden desires, insecurities, and flaws, so that they can manipulate them, turning each family member against one another.

Just as compelling as the carnage in Vaniček's latest is an early dinner scene between the lead characters where their grief, resentment, and trauma collide with shocking results.

When a horror movie basically starts at 11, it can be hard to keep that relentless energy up. Indeed, Evil Dead Burn fizzles out by the time it reaches a climax set at a different location. Also, some of its nocturnal scenes in this back half of the story are a tad too dimly lit.

But this is another solid entry in a franchise that shows no sign of slowing down (a sequel is already in the can, set for release in 2028).

On that note, be sure to stay until the very end of the credits.

Evil Dead Burn Interviews

JOE spoke to Evil Dead Burn stars Hunter Doohan and Souheila Yacoub, as well as their director Sébastien Vaniček, ahead of the horror's release.

When asked about what attracted the actors to the franchise, Yacoub says: "The Evil Dead franchise offers so many different emotions. If you want to have a good laugh, you can watch Evil Dead. If you want to be scared, you can watch it.

"If you want to be moved in this specific one, Evil Dead Burn, there are plenty of options for everybody."

Doohan (who's spent a lot of time in Dublin filming Netflix's Wednesday, even giving restaurant Hang Dai a shout out in our discussion), notes too that while starring in a splattery horror like this presents "unique challenges on set" for an actor, he approached the movie in the same way he would a drama or something else less intense.

"Even though you're talking about Deadites, you want to make it feel as grounded and real as possible, so that the horror works even better," he explains.

As for the movie's extraordinary levels of gore, Doohan and Yacoub say this was mostly accomplished practically.

"The makeup team was insane, and all the crazy prosthetics that we had," the former tells JOE.

"There's one scene where someone cuts their own throat. They did a whole neck prosthetic, with a magnet with the household item that's cutting them open, and then a blood pump.

"You have these crazy, gory, dramatic moments, but then as actors, we get to like really react off of it in real time, which is amazing."

Yacoub goes as far as to say that 90% of what viewers see on screen, the actors saw on set.

"So for us, acting was easier than what you have to imagine or when you're shooting with the green screen behind you. I mean, everything was there," she adds.

Vaniček believes part of The Evil Dead franchise's ongoing popularity is the freedom its creator Sam Raimi gives to the up-and-coming directors he hires to helm the sequels.

"I think people love the fact that they are putting their trust in young directors, new directors, and they leave them the freedom to do their own story, to write the stories and direct them," the filmmaker explains.

"That's how you have completely new and original stories. We don't have the same brains, so every story is unique."

When asked about the particular focus on family in Evil Dead Burn, Vaniček says: "We studied the Deadites, what makes them so unique.

"These are not just demons who want to have hell on earth. They want more. They want to play with people. They are predators. It's like a cat playing with a mouse.

"They're torturing them, and they torture them with their intelligence. They are old demons, so they are pretty smart. The fact that they know what's happening in your head, they know your darkest secret. They can torture you with it.

"It's even more powerful when they are taking control of a family because all the bones in this family are made of love.

"So, that means as soon as there's love, there are problems. When you see the movies from Sam Raimi, it's about a boyfriend and a girlfriend, and when you see [Fede Álvarez's 2013 film], it's about a brother and sister.

"So [it's about] how the Deadites can just hurt you with love and how love is never far from hatred."

Speaking to JOE, Vaniček confirms that the extreme violence in Evil Dead Burn led the censors to demand edits to the movie.

The director says he considers this to be a rite of passage when working on this franchise.

He recounts: "That's to be expected honestly, because you don't have limits when you are shooting and when you are writing. It's like: 'Just go with the flow and go as far as you want.'

"And then you have censors who watch the movie, and they tell you that you can't do something.

"I had two scenes that were problematic, and I needed to understand: 'What's the problem? [What] are the shots telling about my characters, about society?'

"The funny thing is that, for example, a guy shooting himself several times, there's no problem with the censors because that's a gun and guns are 100% allowed in American cinema.

"But when I understood the problems we had [with the scenes], it's not about cutting because that's not a question. That's out of the question to cut a violent scene.

"It's not even about making it less brutal. To understand where the problem lies, it's never in shots or in the violence; it's more like: 'How can I just release the pressure a little bit for the audience to breathe and then put the pressure back?"

"There are ways when you are editing things to get that, and that's what we did. So the scenes are still here and pretty, pretty intense. But at some point I just let you breathe for two seconds, and then I put the pressure back."

For die-hard Evil Dead fans, the director confirms there is a stealth Bruce Campbell cameo within the film.

"Yeah, there's a Bruce Campbell in the wild. You have to keep an eye open," Vaniček urges fans.

Evil Dead Burn is in cinemas now.