Courtney Howard // Film Critic
EVIL DEAD BURN
Rated R, 1 hour and 50 minutes
Directed by: Sébastien Vaniček
Starring: Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Errol Shand, Maude Davey
45 years into the ever-growing saga of EVIL DEAD, filmmakers are blessedly still finding innovative routes into the demented wrath the Necronomicon and Deadites hoist upon their unwitting victims. Director/ co-writer Sébastien Vaniček’s latest tension-fueled chapter gives things a subtly refreshed facelift, examining what happens when the ancient evil descends during a particularly nasty family reunion, compounding their grief, stress and anxieties over the death of a loved one. Sick, twisted and absolutely ruthless, the crazed carnage on display is at an all-time high. Berserk, horrific hijinks give way to a mean-spirited carnival of gnarly, uncompromising and vomit-inducing gross outs. It’s one for the books.
French ex-pat Alice (Souheila Yacoub) isn’t on friendly terms with her toxic American in-laws. They aren’t the nicest bunch – and fissures in the family foundation are only made worse once her abusive husband/ restaurateur Will (George Pullar) dies in a tragic car accident. Surly, short-tempered dad Edgar Pryce (Erroll Shand) and prickly mom Susan (Tandi Wright) blame their daughter-in-law for stealing their eldest, most favored son away from them. 85-year-old grandmother Polly (Maude Davey) is struggling with dementia, which adds to Susan’s daily exhaustion. Will’s brother, wannabe writer Joseph (Hunter Doohan), is a coward, not taking charge of his life, yet is assigned to take care of the secluded family home that’s fallen into extreme disrepair (a metaphor!). Joseph’s long-suffering girlfriend Thya (Luciane Buchanan) frequently plays empathetic peacemaker to all, trying to stem any foreseeable conflict.
Still, the familial strife all comes to a head the weekend of Will’s funeral. It’s not enough that Alice’s etiquette isn’t up to snuff, as she’s judged harshly for everything from showing up bedraggled and without sporting her wedding ring to not preparing a proper, loving eulogy for Will. No. Chaos ensued prior to this event, put into motion by Joseph discovering his grandfather’s secretive stash of research materials and tools relating to the Necronomicon. His actions awakened a familiar angered Deadite (one fans might recognize from the lake portion of EVIL DEAD RISE), who then curses the Pryce family through Will’s susceptible state post car crash, all so that the sinister clan can take possession of a special dagger that kills them for eternity. As the insidiousness spreads to each of the family members one by one – exploiting and manipulating their prey’s insecurities – Alice must fight back against these forces.
Vaniček and co-writer Florent Bernard deliver the goods with their mix of dark humor, oppressive discord and perfectly calibrated, vile violence. They lay out a clearly defined family dynamic without overstating the finer points of the characters’ relationships. Unlike EVIL DEAD RISE where we care about the family unit persevering, with EVIL DEAD BURN, we’re not supposed to care about anyone in the Pryce bloodline. We’re solely rooting for Alice to burn it all down. They’re all awful people who deserve the torment coming to them. Patriarchal aggression trickles down into the schism between the brothers’ disparate personalities (like Will’s predominant anger issues and Joseph’s timid nature). Mom’s WASPy denial and coddling are destructive to her sons’ intimate relationships. Though we empathize with Thya’s inevitable outcome (for which the blame rests squarely on Joseph’s inaction), her Deadite reincarnation wreaks havoc on grandma, who rudely accuses Thya of stealing her money.
While the filmmakers wind up overlooking a few rules of their own world in the final act and fall prey to Stupid Protagonist Stuff (like Alice coming to the aid of a clearly compromised Susan), they effortlessly thread the franchise’s past into the new shenanigans. They intelligently retcon what was a throwaway sequence in EVIL DEAD RISE into a springboard for their new disturbing tale. The Pryce family connection to Professor Raymond Knowby from EVIL DEAD II is also notable. Kills are inventive (although animal lovers be forewarned as one such murder is cruel, but put to inventive use). Two “oners” are brilliantly deployed – one using a God’s eye view of a murderous melee and the other (as seen in the teaser trailer) utilizing an immersive 360 soundscape. Plus, the close quarters smack-down inside the car is fairly clever.
Yacoub makes for a great final girl. She elevates the material’s weaker spots, giving it a charged emotional buoyancy while bringing to light the resonance in the narrative’s sparse thematic undertones. Finding moments where nuance and vulnerability shine through the hard-edged action can be a challenge, but her dynamic performance reveals depth and dimension in ways that feel earned. Shand is an imposing villain, tapping into the combustible, dark and malicious undercurrents. Buchanan looks like she’s having the most fun, slipping into the Deadite decay with sadistic aplomb.
Philip Lozano’s cinematography keeps the mood deliberately dour. The constant gray cast to the aesthetics gives the picture a tactile texture that’s hauntingly depressing. Sunshine is used sparingly and keyed directly into our heroine’s psyche. Elements like fire and heat add an uncomfortably humid, sweaty stench in sharp contrast to the antagonists’ ice-cold temperaments. Double Danger’s (Xavier Caux and Douglas Cavanna) score is big, lavish and operatic in scale and scope. Gloriously massive chorales and brassy instrumentation heighten the grotesque atmospheric pull. The film also contains one of the year’s most memorable smash cuts, where a Deadite plowed into by a car whizzes to a close-up of a club-goer’s twerking, hot pants-covered booty.
EVIL DEAD BURNS leaves its scorching brand on the franchise and its wildly wicked payoffs are what stand to impress, reviving the New French Extremity subgenre. The feature and both of its end credits tags (stay until the very, very end!) are sure to leave audiences in a state of gruesome glee that should sustain them until director Francis Galluppi’s EVIL DEAD WRATH releases in 2028. Evil lingers in these dark times.
Grade: 4 out of 5
EVIL DEAD BURN will be in theaters on July 10.
