Evil Dead Burn, the latest film in producers Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell’s reimagined Evil Dead franchise, has sparked some positive reviews from Rotten Tomatoes critics.
Directed by Sébastien Vaniček, Evil Dead Burn once again involves the Necronomicon, aka the Book of the Dead, which this time unleashes a demonic presence upon a widow, Alice (Souheila Yacoub) and her in-laws at the rundown, remote home after Alice’s husband, Will’s (George Pullar) tragic death. Before too long, the family members turn into Deadites and the number of people in the home to fight them is dwindling rapidly.
Playing in Thursday preview screenings before opening in theaters everywhere on Friday, Evil Dead Burn also stars Hunter Doohan (Wednesday), Luciane Buchanan (Chief of War), Tandi Wright, Erroll Shand (Chief of War) and Maude Devey.
As of Wednesday evening, Evil Dead Burn has earned an 80% “fresh” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer based on 56 reviews. RT’s Critics Consensus, Audience Summary and Popcornmeter score are still pending.
Note: This article will be updated with an adjusted critics’ score, if necessary, as well as more reviews as they are posted on RT.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘Evil Dead Burn’?
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter is among the top critics on RT who gives Evil Dead Burn a “fresh” score, writing, “Right off the bat, Vanicek shows he’s not fooling around, with a maximum-brutality kill.”
William Bibbiani of The Wrap also gives Evil Dead Burn a “fresh” score, writing in his RT review summary, “It’s not the smartest Evil Dead. It’s not the funniest ‘Evil Dead.’ It’s not the best ‘Evil Dead.’ But it is the evilest ‘Evil Dead,’ and that feels right. Dead right.”
Nick Schager of The Daily Beast deems Evil Dead Burn “fresh,” writing on RT that the film “finds the funny in the fantastically nasty — and, in doing so, proves a stomach-churningly amusing nightmare.”
Owen Gleiberman of Variety also praises Evil Dead Burn. Gleiberman writes in his “fresh” RT review summary, “The violence, while nonstop, remains aggressively ‘thematic,’ as the bottled-up family tensions and angers come out in the form of gnashing, bashing, gouging, severing, impaling, dismembering.”
Slant Magazine’s Rocco T. Thompson is among the top critics on RT who gives Evil Dead Burn a “rotten” score, writing, “What begins as a nasty delight chronicling a noxious family quickly becomes a meditation on gendered abuse that, while well-intentioned, ends up feeling uncomfortably literal-minded.”
Monica Castillo of AV Club isn’t a fan of Evil Dead Burn, either, writing in her “rotten” RT review summary, “It’s a misfit standalone entry that has moments of humor and striking camera moves but ventures into too-serious territory in such a way that it loses the Evil Dead spirit of guilt-free chaos.”
Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com also gives Evil Dead Burn a “rotten” score. Tallerico writes in his RT review summary, “It’s a film so impressed by its most memorable images that it didn’t consider how to tie them together.”
Rated R, Evil Dead Burn plays in Thursday previews before opening in theaters nationwide on Friday.