In a new interview, director Sébastien Vaniček discusses his new movie, Evil Dead Burn, and gives us some insight into the highly anticipated new entry in the famous horror franchise.
Director of the skin-crawling Infestated, Vaniček has previously revealed that Burn will not be one of the funnier takes on the franchise, ala Army of Darkness or Ash Vs Evil Dead, but rather will be a white-knuckle terror ride, much like the recent Evil Dead Rise, and now he reveals that it’s a race against the clock horror: “It’s a horror and survival film on a very reduced timeline, with a race against time aspect. Which doesn’t prevent moments of relief: there is probably more humor than in the Fede Álvarez remake [released in 2013].
“However, it gets close to it on the horror side. It’s perhaps the least bloody of the Evil Dead films, but undoubtedly the most violent and brutal. Let’s say I’m aiming more for the discomfort of the famous teeth on the sidewalk scene from American History X than excessive gore.”
WATCH: Clip released celebrating Evil Dead Burn completing filming
Interesting that he’s now saying that, while not a laugh-fest, it will have some humour. The humour aspect has long been a staple of the Evil Dead franchise, but the previous two movies, Evil Dead (2013) and Evil Dead Rise (2023) have been more like Sam Raimi’s original 1981 movie, and were devoid of humor, focusing on white-knuckle scares instead.
Reluctant to share anything of the plot, Vaniček did give a few little details about the lead character and the tone of the movie: “The protagonist, played by Souheila Yacoub, is a French woman in the United States. Besides, the film has a very French DNA. With my co-writer, Florent Bernard, we couldn’t see ourselves telling the story of young Americans… Too far from us. So we went looking for things we knew. And I’m also bringing French music, as well as my own expertise, which remains very Frenchy. Even though I filmed in New Zealand.”
This is another new flavour in the world of the Evil Dead as all the previous instalments have been very American-flavoured, this new perspective could give the movie a very unique flavour.
Again, going do the traditional route, Vaniček says he was keen to make the effects as practical as was possible, giving it that Evil Dead look but it will also featurea new aspect that the previous movies mostly didn’t… fire: “I insisted on practical effects as much as possible and it’s not a spoiler because it’s in the film’s title: there’s a lot of fire, real fire, which offers a huge amount of texture and light play on screen… a good part of Burn is lit by flame. And what that creates on skin cannot be reproduced with digital special effects.”
Evil Dead Rise director reveals Army of Darkness connection to explain third Necronomicon
We’ve previously covered how the Evil Dead movies are set in their own multiverse, with the Necromicon seen in Evil Dead Rise serving as a direct connection to Army of Darkness (see link above). It seems that Vaniček himself is unclear which timeline this new movie takes place in and he’s not alone: “Even [Evil Dead creator] Sam Raimi doesn’t really understand this rather messy timeline,” he says, “but the mythology is present and we’re playing with it. It’s a balance: Florent is a hardcore fan, he wants to conform to certain imposed figures, place Easter eggs and make the fans happy. I tell myself that sometimes you have to twist the codes for the good of the film… To respect the franchise, you also have to transform it.”
But, finally, he addresses the big question… will we see Bruce Campbell return as Ash at some point in the movie?
He replied: “I will not answer, you will have to ask Sam Raimi!”
Campbell, left, has previously said he was retiring from playing Ash as he’s gotten too old for the role, he has also said he could return, so he likes to tease the fans. What we do know is that he will voice Ash in a planned Evil Dead animated movie and that there’s at least one more movie in the series already beign developed so, messy timeline or not, these horrible demons aren’t done yet, not by a long shot.
Thoughts? I know you have them and I wanna hear ’em all.
Evil Dead Burn arrives in theaters on July 24th, 2026.
New Evil Dead director promises audience will ‘come away tested’
Source: Premiere Magazine, France
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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