Fast cuts, smash cuts, extreme close-ups, lightning speed, and a boiling lake-the beginning of “Evil Dead Burn” goes fantastically hard. It’s unapologetic and relentless. Pure great horror. The first part of the film, the pursuit of the fishermen and their demise is sensational. Then it decides to settle down. The contrast of pacing couldn’t be more obvious. It’s not so much of  convention rather than theory that “Evil Dead Burn” is throwing all it can at you. It’s that part that is faithful to the Sam Raimi/ Bruce Campbell Evil Dead franchise. It’s funny, it’s self-aware, it’s disgusting and embedded with deep themes. “Evil Dead Burn” had promise to be one of the great sleeper of the year, it is a great roller-coaster ride to start but stalls in the middle and is predictable in the end. Harsh to say, but that is the film itself-is harsh. 

The sun never shines. The construction crew doesn’t stop for a funeral, the dilapidated house in the woods is never cared for, and the bonds of a family structure are hanging on by a thread. What could happen to make things worse does, could the characters do to improve their footing don’t. The tropes are all there for an “Evil Dead” salacious horror that pushes the perimeters of disgust and never letting go, and also incorporating some great stunt and compelling camera work. That made this film work at times. Where it falls is the disarray treatment of a story, something that they could be more pulp and superficial with and the audience would be more understanding but instead it wanted to go deep with its themes and that is where it loses its aesthetic and feeling, something that they got right away. The movie has a severe identity problem.  It wants to be a stand alone horror film as well as an addition to the “Evil Dead” franchise and without picking one of the others makes it an empty exercise.  I wonder if it did not have the label of an “Evil Dead” film it most certainly would be reviewed differently.   

Technically the film is impressive. The stunts and set-up of the story are terrific. It’s the shallow characters and the lazy story where it is weak, especially in the third act. There’s just no feeling towards any of them and nobody would care what would happen to any of them.  

“Evil Dead Burn” wished it was about toxic family and domestic violence. To be voluntarily blinded about the abuses your adult child is inflicting on their spouse and parents being emotionally immature. That great thing to address in horror but clashes hard when silly takes over in the film.  The film is a great study to show when you are in disarray towards your vibe. If it wanted to maintain a pulp nothing below the surface roller-coaster ride of disgust and blood and gore and cartoonish ad-lib that would be great-instead it felt that wasn’t enough and decided to slow it down with lazy cliches and CGI monsters at the end. At least they thoroughly trashed the dilapidated house in the woods.  7.5/10