Evil Dead Burn – 4K Ultra HD Review

THE MOVIE — 2¼/5

Plot synopsis: After the loss of her husband, a woman seeks solace with her in-laws in their secluded family home. As one by one they are transformed into Deadites—turning the gathering into a family reunion from hell—she comes to discover that the vows she took in life, live on even in death.

Quick Hit Review: Full disclosure, the supernatural horror genre isn’t a favorite of mine and with few exceptions (The Exorcist, The Conjuring and yes, The Evil Dead) I just don’t find them all that entertaining primarily because the filmmakers and writers play fast and loose with the rules in order to get from point A to point B in the plot and provide some scares along the way, the latter rarely does it for me. I did appreciate many elements of the 2013 reboot-ish Evil Dead though remember little about 2023’s Evil Dead Rise only that the high-rise apartment setting was a cool wrinkle at the very least.

With Rise’s box office success ($147M worldwide off of a ~$20M budget), it’s no surprise a follow-up would be quickly greelit. Now we get Evil Dead Burn, the seventh installment in the franchise and by far the meanest of the bunch, a movie I had trouble sitting through not so much disgusted by the gore (that’s a staple in the series after all), but watching characters I couldn’t care less about thus when the Deadites take possession I didn’t mind if they died or not.

The film was directed by French filmmaker Sébasten Vanicek, who apparently impressed producer Sam Raimi, to nab the job. Personally, while on the technical front this movie does excel and includes a well done one-shot sequence. But that’s the only praise I can place on this movie.

Evil Dead Burn is unfortunately a dour, unpleasant movie to sit through. There’s some of that Evil Dead dark humor but he seemed to be crammed in there out of obligation to the series and those couple scenes felt out of place. As I said, I’m not a huge fan of the series or anything but I at least want to be mildly entertained but with Burn it was a chore to sit through.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2¼/5

This release comes with a slip cover and a redemption code for the Digital HD copy.

Evil Dead: Blazing the Trail (5:35) – Director Sébastien Vanicek and his crew explore how Evil Dead Burn honors the franchise’s ever evolving legacy while introducing a daring new vision.

The Hot Shot: Evil Dead Burn‘s One-Shot Sequence (5:23) – Dive into Evil Dead Burn’s most gripping scene as cast and crew detail the intense focus and synergy required to create the complex one-shot sequence.

This One’s Gonna Burn (4:50) – Explore the fire-fueled chaos of Evil Dead Burn by witnessing how the stunts and effects teams brought the film’s physical horror to life.

VIDEO – 4½/5

Warner Bros. unleashes Evil Dead Burn onto 4K Ultra HD and is presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and a 2160p high-definition transfer. As you can imagine, this is a very dark looking movie and other than maybe a few pops early on and in the daytime, the remained is devoid of great, vibrant colors gearing more towards the darker elements. That said, detail is relatively sharp so there’s that.

AUDIO –5/5

The included Dolby Atmos track does light things up with great depth as the Deadites take control while the dialogue comes across with great clarity throughout. It’s by far the most impressive element of this disc.

OVERALL —2¾/5

Evil Dead Burn isn’t terrible but really difficult to sit through, not so much for the violence or gore or anything but more so for characters you don’t care about and a story that was rather thin.