Many longtime fans of the Evil Dead franchise have been excited for Evil Dead Burn — the sixth installment in the series. Reactions to the brutal first trailer were wild, with people freaking out about the “horrible, horrible things” being portrayed. Evil Dead Burn reviews are out ahead of its release on the 2026 movie calendar, and while critics agree this is the most violent of the franchise, one big question has them split: Is an Evil Dead movie dependent on at least some humor?
In the latest offering a recently widowed woman and her in-laws seclude themselves in a remote house that has ties to the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. Despite hitting the obligatory beats like the Book of the Dead and requisite Deadites, some critics like David Rooney of THR crave some laughs to break up the “grisly carnage” and “vicious cruelty.” Gorehounds, however, will be more than satisfied. Rooney writes:
I missed the antic spirit, the wicked sense of mischief and the straight-up goofy comedy that defined Raimi’s originals, not to mention the unhinged madness of Bruce Campbell’s beloved leading character, Ash. (Raimi and Campbell serve as a producer and executive producer, respectively.) The series’ new iterations, starting with Fede Álvarez’s 2013 soft reboot Evil Dead, have largely abandoned its roots as horror-comedy in favor of orgiastic slaughter. There’s no doubt an audience for that, but it’s a whole other style that honors the early chapters in name alone.
Mark Kennedy of the AP agrees, rating the movie just 1 star out of 4. With so much elevated horror available these days (see Obsession and Backrooms’ record-breaking box office runs), Evil Dead Burn seems like a step in the wrong direction. Director Sébastien Vaniček promised to make this installment the franchise’s most brutal, and he did — just without being artful, clever or scary, Kennedy says, writing:
Vaniček has certainly delivered — a relentlessly violent, overlong, one-note, meandering grindhouse that lacks its predecessors’ Looney Tunes approach to horror and humor. Evil Dead Burn shows signs that the franchise may have found itself a savage, nihilistic dead end in torture-porn, even as a seventh is on its way.
Maria Loreto of Polygon notes that while the first three Evil Dead movies brought slapstick comedy, the fourth and fifth offerings added gravitas with dramatic storylines. Evil Dead Burn is successful on neither of those levels, Loreto writes. Her Evil Dead Burn review reads:
The Evil Dead franchise has room for everything. It has room for camp but also for serious subject material like addiction and loss. Still, for these elements to work, the filmmakers need to have a firm grasp on the movie’s tone. Evil Dead Burn throws a bunch of guts against the wall to see what sticks. Filmmakers want the audience to laugh and cover their eyes in disgust. They want to deliver pathos when Alice reckons with her husband’s true nature. The movie ends up falling flat on all fronts.
Meanwhile, Nick Schager of the Daily Beast agrees that both revulsion and hilarity are the lifeblood of the Evil Dead movies, but unlike the above critics, he thinks that dichotomy is on full display in Evil Dead Burn. The movie, according to Schager, “finds the funny in the fantastically nasty — and, in doing so, proves a stomach-churningly amusing nightmare.” The critic says:
For the first time since Raimi was at its helm, the Deadites’ demented butchery feels fresh in Evil Dead Burn, and credit for that rejuvenation goes squarely to Vaniček, who recognizes the material’s inherent rollercoaster-from-Hell appeal. Escalating his carnage to staggering heights without losing sight of the relatable real-world stresses and strains that make his protagonists such vulnerable targets for the Deadites, the director goes old-school with his latest, devising a series of episodes so deeply discomfiting that they invariably elicit chuckles.
Alison Foreman of IndieWire also says she found plenty of goofiness in the upcoming horror movie, and even more than that or how Sébastien Vaniček’s monsters contort victims into “inventive new shapes,” Foreman seems impressed by what the Evil Dead franchise has been able to do overall. In the critics’ words:
Rather than forcing every filmmaker to imitate Raimi, the IP has evolved into one of genre’s most generous proving grounds. Each new artist inherits the same blood-soaked toy box and discovers an entirely different way to play with it. Vaniček doesn’t reinvent Evil Dead, but he does reinvent how an Evil Dead movie can feel. Whether or not that ultimately works for you, it’s the rare legacy sequel that expands the possibilities of its own franchise — and leaves you genuinely excited to see who will push themselves to the point of exhaustion next.
So there’s little question that if you’re looking for gore, Evil Dead Burn won’t disappoint. If you’re looking for Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell’s slapstick approach to Deadite horror, this may not be the movie for you. How important is humor to the franchise anyway?
Whatever your feelings on the topic, if you’re excited about this next Evil Dead offering, don’t let these reviews stop you from getting your ticket to the movie, which hits theaters Friday, July 10.
