After a 10-year break, 2023’s Evil Dead Rise brought a continuation of the venerable horror franchise launched by Sam Raimi in the early 1980s. A hit, Rise led to another chapter via 2026’s Evil Dead Burn.

Demonic forces kill William Price (George Pullar). This leaves his widow Alice (Souheila Yacoub) in mourning along with her in-laws.

However, Alice can’t spend too much time in that state, as it turns out Will got turned into an evil “deadite” who comes after the family. Alice needs to find ways to combat this horrible menace.

Perhaps because he was too busy creating a lousy Mummy movie, Rise director Lee Cronin doesn’t come back for Burn. In his stead, French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček takes over the franchise.

Prior to Burn, Vaniček directed one feature: 2023’s Infested. Released mainly in his native France, it received no US theatrical distribution but it enjoyed great reviews and reasonable success streaming.

After this viewing of Burn, I feel curious to see Infested. Vaniček brings a fresh feel to the Evil Dead series and I’d like to witness what he did with a wholly original project.

Like Rise, Burn concentrates on a family in stressful circumstances. Rise involved a single mom, her kids and estranged sister all stuck in a condemned apartment complex to create its drama.

On the other hand, Burn deals with characters under less fretful physical circumstances, as Alice and the rest don’t deal with the dire financial and residential concerns of Rise’s roles. This means we get more of a psychological tale, as Alice navigates the pitfalls of life with in-laws who don’t much like her.

We also see that the Alice/Will marriage came with snarls that made it less than idyllic. All of these factors give Burn a good grounding in real-life tensions that add to the horror we see evolve.

For a franchise now into its sixth entry, Evil Dead remains surprisingly resilient. Really, of the five prior flicks, only Rise left me cold.

All three of the original Raimi movies ranged from good to great and 2013’s reboot turned into a fine reinvention of the property. It remains unfortunate that Rise delivered a pretty mediocre tale, but I find myself pleased to see that Burn bounces back after that moderate disappointment.

Vaniček musters a sly and perverse sense of humor that gives Burn added edge. No, he doesn’t make the movie a comedy, but he throws in quirky touches just often enough to add a little dark levity to the proceedings.

Vaniček also ensures that fans get plenty of the gore they like but that the violence doesn’t become a means to an end. The nastiness serves a purpose and fits the persistently hideous tone of the flick.

I won’t call Burn the best of the franchise. Even if I ignore the “Raimi Trilogy”, I still probably prefer the 2013 reboot to Burn.

Nonetheless, Burn delivers a good new take on the property. It restores my faith in the series and allows me hope that the next entry – a 2028 prequel called Evil Dead Wrath - will continue that trend.

Footnote: a tag scene appears a little under two minutes into the end credits that brings a bit more gore. Another sequence shows up with about two minutes left in the flick and provides a creepy throwback to Rises, one that hints we see more from those characters.

Evil Dead Burn appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Expect a fairly positive Dolby Vision presentation for this native 4K film.

Sharpness looked solid. Nary a sliver of softness marred the proceedings.

Jaggies and shimmering failed to distract, and edge haloes remained absent. The movie also lacked any source flaws and stayed consistently clean.

In terms of colors, Burn went with subdued tones, as the movie tended toward a dingy gray feel outside of some red/orange at times. These choices felt fine for this story’s stripped palette and HDR gave them extra impact.

Blacks became pretty deep and shadows looked well-depicted despite an intentional murkiness. HDR added punch to whites and contrast, though again, the cinematography leaned toward a somewhat dense image. In any case, this became a good representation of the source.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack, it lacked a ton of ambition, though I didn’t view that as a flaw. A story like this came heavy on ambience and light on opportunities for fireworks, so the absence of showy sequences failed to become a problem.

Music filled the various channels in a satisfying manner, and low-key effects fleshed out the spectrum in a logical way. Nothing dazzled but the mix seemed positive for the material.

Audio quality pleased. Speech was concise and natural, while effects remained accurate and full-bodied.

Music sounded vibrant and dynamic. While this never turned into a showcase track, it suited the story and kicked to life on a handful of occasions.

Three featurettes follow, and Blazing the Trail goes for five minutes, 35 seconds. It involves director Sébastien Vaniček, producer Rob Tapert, director of photography Philip Lozano, production designer Nick Connor, and actors Hunter Doohan, George Pullar, Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, and Maude Davey.

The show looks at the development of Burn, what Vaniček brought to the project, color design and photography. Despite some of the usual happy talk, we get enough useful material to make the reel worth a look.

The Hot Shot spans five minutes, 23 seconds. Here we find notes from Vaniček, Tapert, Connor, Yacoub, Doohan, Wright, stunt coordinator Clint Elvy and actor Erroll Shand.

The program focuses on the creation of one particularly challenging scene. “Shot” brings a solid look at this work.

Finally, This One’s Gonna Burn occupies four minutes, 50 seconds. We locate remarks from Vaniček, Tapert, Davey, Pullar, Elvy, hair, makeup and effects designer Jane O’Kane, special effects supervisor Brendon Durey and actor Luciane Buchanan.

“Gonna” digs into various effects and stunts. It becomes a positive view of these domains.

After the moderate disappointment of Evil Dead Rise, Evil Dead Burn gets the franchise back on track. Creepy and unsettling with just a touch of wicked humor, Burn becomes an effective horror tale. The 4K UHD offers largely positive picture and audio along with minor supplements. Burn winds up as a solid effort.