Notable Cast: Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter
Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Erroll Shand, Maude Davey, George Pullar
If there’s one thing that I am willing to give the most
recent run of Evil Dead films, starting with the remake back in 2013,
it’s that they very much feel like the directors are given a decent amount of
freedom to create ‘their’ Evil Dead film. So much so that, whether the
audience wants it or not, there is an underlying theme in each one. Fede
Alvarez used Evil Dead (2013) to explore drug addiction, and Lee Cronin
used Evil Dead Rise to delve into the complexities of motherhood. The
latest, technically the sixth film in the series, continues that trend with a
new director and new themes to eviscerate.
For the latest, the Evil Dead curators Raimi and
Tapert have handed off the franchise to up-and-coming French filmmaker
Sébastien Vaniček, and he has his own take on the demonic forces of this
franchise’s world that both doubles down on the visceral violence, suffocating
tension, and its traumatic themes. His film, Evil Dead Burn, represents
a continuation of the series with more continuity to previous entries, while
managing to certainly be a film with its own identity - which has already
resulted in some mixed reactions from fans. However, Vaniček ably blends the
two like blood and snow to deliver a vicious film that never pulls its punches,
even in its rather nihilistic themes and narrative choices. Yes, it’s
absolutely what I want in an Evil Dead film.
While most fans are going to be coming to a new Evil Dead
movie for its horror pedigree, it’s perhaps more fitting to discuss the film’s
plot and narrative first. Not that the film lacks in its horrors, in fact it’s
quite the opposite, but the most fascinating aspect of Evil Dead Burn is
how it manages to replicate the necessary components of the franchise: isolated
setting, a group of people to get Deadite’d, some lore around the evils
manifested on Earth, and a wild array of creative ways to get pulverized, while
still managing to push the series forward.
All of those things exist in the film. Yes, it's an isolated
house in the woods. There’s a family grieving the loss of a son that has
gathered there. There just happen to be artifacts surrounding the Necronomicon
within the house (although the book itself remains shelved for this one) that
characters have to interrogate to survive the onslaught. Lastly, the house and
its location allow for many creative kill sequences. At its core, Evil Dead
Burn is absolutely an Evil Dead movie through and through.
However, its characters and writing are some of the most
debated aspects of the film. Vaniček certainly got the checklist from
Ghosthouse Pictures and followed it down, and an admiration for the series
permeates through its entirety. Yet, the director, who also serves as the film’s
co-writer with his collaborator from Infested, Florent Bernard, doubles
down on the nihilism of its premise. For the lead character, Alice, played by
Souheila Yacoub, who ably adds Evil Dead final girl to her already
relatively impressive genre resume, life has already proven to be complicated.
She’s invited to her in-laws' rural house in the aftermath of her husband’s
death. There’s a funeral before this gathering, so there’s already a sense of
loss that hangs in the balance with all of its characters, but it’s not just
sadness.
The film reveals that Alice’s husband, Will, was already a
monster. If the previous two Evil Dead films were taking a swing at the
‘monsters inside’ of the ones we love, Evil Dead Burn takes it to the
next level. What if the ones we ‘love’ do not love us back? In fact, what if
they have no love for us at all and, in fact, have a whole lot of unrequited
rage towards us? The initial fan response to this film was that it was the most
‘mean-spirited’ of the series and, quite frankly, they’re right. As the evil
forces possess the various members of this household, there’s no shock that
these people are out to hurt each other and, specifically, Alice. Not like in
the previous two Evil Dead entries. These characters were hurting each
other before they were possessed, each in their own way, so the possession that
turns them into Deadites is essentially bringing out the violence of their
malicious feelings. So yes, the film underlines generational abuse in its
decaying heart, and the audience gets to see that in full super-gory
glory.
This lends Evil Dead Burn the sense of being a film where every character is very much flawed, traumatized, and often unlikable to some degree. While some fans certainly had issues with that, it’s not inherently uncommon in the Evil Dead world. That’s perhaps the beauty of Ash in the original run. The guy’s an asshole through and through, but Bruce Campbell has enough charm and goofiness in his demeanor that it doesn’t necessarily feel as vicious as the selfish characters in this film. Yet, the manner in which Vaniček deploys the starker, darker tones absolutely suits his style, making this film feel individualistic compared to the others.
It is Vaniček’s style and tonal control that highlight what Evil
Dead Burn offers. He’s gunning for a ton of those ‘Raimi-inspired’ wild
camera shots, whether it's spinning cameras, odd angles, offbeat zooms, or one
of the most impressive one-take shots of Deadite carnage that rips through the
house and features a slew of incredible stunts, so fans ought to be tickled by
that. He does coat the film in an ashy color haze for most of the film,
replicating the greyness of the wintry setting and the lifeless feeling of the
family’s house and its members visually, which can run a tad redundant at
times, but even that feels very much in line with the film’s anxiety-inducing
icy disconnect of characters and themes.
While there is also much discussion online regarding Evil
Dead Burn’s lack of humor, for me, it was certainly there. It’s not as
blatant as the Three Stooges aspects of Raimi’s slapstick style, but there is a
dry - and extremely - dark humor that runs undercurrent to the malice and
tension of the film. A funeral is lambasted by the sounds of construction;
there’s an incredible tease and surprise regarding a chainsaw in the final act,
and the slowness of how a deadite is pulled down the stairs by an electric
sliding chair certainly fringes on the humor that many fans expect. As with the
rest of the film, though, this one has its own take to it, and for that I, once
again, am here for it.
Of course, the film takes all of that, then proceeds to gut
punch its audience with fantastical, teeth-grinding violence and gore. Classic Evil
Dead. Whether it’s the opening with some incredibly creative kills on a
lake, also featuring some fantastic use of a deadite as a ‘shark’ of sorts, or
the manner in which the violence in the house continually pushes its characters
up floors until there’s a relatively insane moment on a rooftop, this film is
delivering on the thrills and kills. The gore is top-notch, blending great
performances with some creative uses of the setting to sell it. There are a few
moments that even had me squirming in my chair, and I’ve spent my whole life
delving into horror cinema, so the film definitely earns some respect there.
There are a few shocking moments that show how far the film goes in its
brutality and gross-out moments, and that is a statement. Good for Vaniček. He
knew the assignment and aced the exam on that portion.
In perhaps one of the more interesting choices, Evil Dead
Burn is more focused on building a larger franchise than the other films
have been. It directly connects to Evil Dead Rise in multiple ways (stay
tuned for a scene during the credits), which the previous two films have, to
some extent, actively avoided. It establishes more lore, particularly around a
society of people who have been battling the deadites for quite some time, and
the addition of a ‘new’ artifact beyond the Necronomicon or other books that
might invoke the evil does add some potential for future entries. Whether this
all pays off depends more on future entries, as it does not detract from the
overall experience, but it is worth noting that Evil Dead Burn is also
laying the groundwork for the franchise as a whole.
All in all, while there were mixed reactions to Evil Dead
Burn among fans and audiences, it is another successful entry in the
franchise. It’s a great combo of individual style and classic Evil Dead
tropes, relying heavily on its brutality and gore to push itself further
towards the more extreme end of the series spectrum, but the film's style
manages to layer some intriguing choices around its themes of toxic
generational trauma. It’s insane, unsettling, and vicious enough that it earns
its pedestal with viscera and a stomach-turning smirk next to other films in
the Evil Dead franchise.
Considering the next film, Evil Dead Wrath, is
already slated for release next year, it’s exciting to see how this franchise
continues to evolve with each new director that is brought on board.
Particularly with how Evil Dead Burn seemingly runs with its unique
flavors of gotesquery.
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