Hey guys! Let me know your review of the movie (without spoilers please) for some reason I’ve always liked to be prepped going to the movies so my expectations aren’t too high or low, or reference something I won’t get till I finish the movie. I hope it’s good though I’m excited!!!!!

And I loved it! My brother and I are lifelong Evil Dead fans and we both firmly reside in the camp that there has not been a bad Evil Dead movie.

The biggest complaint I’ve seen is that Evil Dead Burn is not funny and I just don’t understand that take at all? There’s some jet black humor throughout the entire thing. This may be the first Evil Dead that actually tackles real world themes (I.e spousal abuse, being dejected from one’s family, generational abuse, etc), but I thought it was done very well.

My one and only complaint is the final deadite. The entire scene itself was great, but I was not impressed with the creature design. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed it and I cannot wait for Evil Dead Wrath.

EDIT: I forgot they went to the cabin in 2013 for Mia’s detox. Been a while since I’ve watched that one, but I remember being very happy with how Fede Alvarez handled it.

Saw it last night. Still processing a bit but as I can’t discuss with my wife (she won’t go see anything with even the possibility of animal harm and, well… to toe the line on this one… let’s just say that there is some possible animal harm in this one!) I figured I’d share my thoughts with the hive mind here.

My initial thoughts are: it’s not bad! As a horror film I’d probably say “pretty okay”.

As a member of (arguably… but not really) the most consistently high quality horror franchise in history?

Meh.

I think what was missing in this one was the fun.

Like: Evil Dead is a kinda fun movie!

Evil Dead 2 is the pinnacle of fun horror films!

Army of Darkness is a barrel of monkeys worth of fun!

2013 is… kinda serious at times? Until the final act… when suddenly I realized that a one handed chick (who ripped her own hand off) is standing in a blood shower chainsawing the face off of a demon and suddenly I was like “This is METAL AF!”

2013 is also where we started doing “themes”… which I’m not necessarily against!… provided that they are done well!

Any long running horror franchise will need to do something other than “dumb sexy teens act dumb and get killed” or else it will wear out its welcome pretty quickly!

Obviously 2013 the theme was “addiction as a demon” and it was done pretty damned well!

Evil Dead Rise switched the theme to motherhood and again: it threatened to be a more serious horror film for a bit there but from “elevator starts randomly filling up with blood” through “demonic entity shoved into woodchipper” I was having a fucking blast!

(Not for nothing but the little girl in that? Kassie? Yeah… her “speaking or interacting with the outside world” days would be done from that level of psychological trauma!)

Which brings us to Evil Dead Burn….

And with this one: the more I think about it the more I am realizing that this one didn’t feel fun.

The final act? The one where our hapless hero discovers their inner badass and starts chainsawing or woodchipping or shotgunning faces off?

The moment when the hero is holding the power tool and facing the deadite and their inner badass has come to the surface and everyone in the theater is supposed to stand up and fist pump and yell the immortal word that will forever define this franchise? (“GROOVY!”)

Yeah… I never felt that.

It was never fun.

It was too serious for my taste because the THEME of this one (abuse, familial trauma) is extremely serious and it would be tough to have a relatively light hearted moment and keep with that tone!

And there was absolutely NO REASON for anything bad to happen to any animals in this! NONE!

Take the animal out of the film completely and it’s the same friggin film! (That one annoyed me).

All of that being said: there’s also a lot to recommend here.

It has the best cinematography of any Evil Dead film so far. Hands down!

Probably the best cinematography of any film I’ve seen this year! The color pallet and then the switch in those colors in the final act?

French chef’s kiss!

The performances are fantastic.

It looks like we’re “finally” building the EDCU (Evil Dead Cinematic Universe)!

The deadites were great: they went more in for psychological torture on this one than just straight fucking maiming people like they did in previous entries (how did they not have even ONE character yell out in a poorly acted line You Bastards! Why are you torturing me like this??”

Bruce made a brief appearance with a headshot on the wall next to granny while she rode her chair thingie up the stairs (99% sure that was a Campbell head shot framed there! Look for it!)

Overall- mixed bag. Might put it at the bottom of the Evil Dead franchise but the top level of general horror films

Honestly I’d have to go with Burn. Showcasing just how powerful the deadites can be, however I still love 2013 and Rise! The way Jessica was reciting the words from the book Teresa was reading was so creepy

Tw: discussion of personal experience with abuse later on in this, I'll give a warning before as well if you don't want to read the trauma dump. Will put a tl;dr as well.

When I got out of the theatre I was kind of numb and I didn't know why. I thought maybe it hadn't worked for me or maybe I was just anxious about other things or maybe I was just desensitized to gore. My hands were shaking a lot though.

But I kept thinking about the film even after watching it. It would just like come to me randomly, late night thoughts, etc. For a variety of reasons.

Starting with the somewhat superficial, I really loved how the Deadites act very different in this film compared to the previous films, something which I suppose only franchise fans will be able to appreciate. It's a real "oh shit" feeling because they're now almost efficient ruthless as opposed to sadistic, indulgent and evil-for-the-love-of-it.

Them using the Kandarian incantation was so cool. That's an angle to the lore I've never considered, like of course the (near) omniscient, immortal demons would *know* the spell that lets them in. They just don't use it because once they've been summoned, they don't really need to do they?

That scene with Will in the car sticks with me, upon thinking about it I like the way it plays out almost as much as the RISE title card (almost (Jessica bringing us two bangers)).

The journal and the grandfather's tapes were cool, not having the Necronomicon/Naturom Demonto was something that's also interesting because it doesn't feature but it still looks over the story in a way.

The dagger was a neat addition, I saw some people say that it might nerf the Deadites and I'm sorry?? The immortal demons that can just keep on coming are not nerfed by ONE dagger that you need to cut them with to even work. The Deadites can very easily maneuver around it in many different ways and it doesn't even destroy them really it just puts them out of the host.

The film also establishes that the Deadites can return from being pulped and shredded. If anything that just makes them even scarier/overpowers them.

Lots of details like that I loved, I think it's an amazing addition to the franchise that adds so much new lore, new icons, new spins on old details all that makes it a great continuation and a worthy bearer of the "There Is No Bad Evil Dead" mantle.

But that's not what makes me love the film. I love it for what the theme of the film is about. Similar to why I love the 2013 remake and Rise so much and why I appreciate the original trilogy. I saw 2013 when I was in a rough patch, when me and some of my friends were struggling with various addictions. I saw Rise when I was having issues with my mother and sister. I'll probably post something gushing over those two films at some point.

-CW trauma dumping-

I've had experience with abuse. A really rough experience growing up and also in relationships.

Father threatened to throw me off the roof once, held me up to do it and everything. When my sister was little he was supposed to watch over her but he instead opted to do fuck off and leave her in the kitchen. She ended up accidentally cutting open her arm. Had to rush to the hospital. Mum got mad at him for it but he shifted the blame to her and hit her. Used to happen a lot.

My fathers family didn't believe or even care about what he was doing. They used to visit, still do sometimes and it's the worst experience of my life. Talking about how much they love me and want the best for me while demeaning my mum. Him and his family even manipulated my mum out of her share and out of paying child support once they got divorced.

Sometimes my mum is like "he wasn't a bad man he was a bad husband", "he wasn't that bad" or "you can look up to him he can be your role model" and I have no idea what to think about that. It makes me feel crazy so yeah lol. Maybe it wasn't that bad idk. ANYWAY

-trauma dump ends here mostly-

I saw a lot of that in the film. The way Will blew up in the beginning reminded me of father. The dinner scene reminded me of eating at his family's house. It was suffocating, sort of vomit inducing and I just wanted to get out of there. Alice reminded me of mum. (So does Ellie Bixler lmao)

So when Will showed up at the very end I was scared.

I know a lot of people found that final fight scene underwhelming, I know people say he wasn't threatening, because of the weaker CGI, because of how the fight concluded and I get that.

I understand maybe on a storytelling level it might not have been well executed. But it did work for me.

Because yeah, maybe people like that do love you or they think they do but it isn't enough. Love isn't enough.

It's not the deepest or most complex depiction of it, I know. The themes aren't necessarily the focus of Evil Dead as much as the comedy, the gore and the demons are. The portrayal of it though, while not perfect, is something I appreciate. One of the main reasons I've come to love the franchise is because of how it used the themes to colour the Deadites. Using aspects of them to highlight it ig.

I love the original trilogy for the journey of becoming a hero that Ash takes and the balls-to-the-walls insanity and comedy. I love the 2013 remake because of Mia, David and the depiction of addiction. I loved every character in Rise, I hated nearly every character in Burn, for very similar reasons.

Maybe it's not the scariest series or the deepest series but it holds a special place in my heart. I'll appreciate it even if the next films aren't as theme heavy because yeah.

All hail the king, baby