Sam Raimi’s Reaction To Evil Dead Burn Avoiding Spinoffs’ Major Departure From OG Trilogy Revealed By Director

Sébastien Vaniček is doing one thing different with Evil Dead Burn than the other spinoffs from Sam Raimi’s original trilogy.

The new installment in the iconic horror franchise centers on Souheila Yacoub’s Alice, who is rocked by the sudden death of her husband, with her and her in-laws gathering at a secluded home to honor his life. However, when she discovers one of the Books of the Dead, previously found by her grandfather, a terrifying demonic force is unleashed on the family, resulting in a gruesome string of Deadite transformations.

Ahead of the film’s release, ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan interviewed Sébastien Vaniček to discuss Evil Dead Burn. When asked about his early conversations with franchise creator/boss Sam Raimi about what they wanted the film to be, Vaniček began by sharing that much of their initial discussions were “about technical stuff,” describing Raimi as “a nerd” who was interested in learning “how I created stuff on my first feature film,” the acclaimed spider horror film Infested:

Sébastien Vaniček: He wanted to know how many mics I used, which camera, which lenses, where I put my camera. He’s a nerd, so we talked about technical stuff.

When they started talking properly about Evil Dead Burn, Vaniček shared that Raimi “loved the story and the characters” the co-writer/director created with his Infested collaborator, Florent Bernard, but that he was just as invested in “how physical I wanted this movie to be.” Vaniček further shared that he told Raimi that “I couldn’t promise it would be the bloodiest” installment yet in comparison to the previous two films getting bloodier and bloodier, but still promised the franchise boss that “it would be the most violent [and] the most brutal“:

Sébastien Vaniček: That’s not the same thing. I don’t think he cares so much about blood. It became something that is very, very bloody, but his movies are not the bloodiest. They are pretty funny. They have this slapstick humor. So I was like, “That’s my take on Evil Dead. Take it or leave it.” And he was like, “I want to see that.” So that was the conversation we had.

Much to Vaniček’s point, when Raimi first passed on the torch of the Evil Dead franchise to Fede Álvarez for the 2013 soft reboot, things began to take a much more graphic turn for the series. Álvarez’s film saw some division over how brutal it was compared to the original films, and the lack of even dark comedy that Raimi had become known for infusing the first two films with before going a more slapstick-heavy route in Army of Darkness. It also initially set the record for the most fake blood used in any movie production, estimated to be around 70,000 gallons.

The franchise continued its deviation from the tamer gore of Raimi’s original trilogy with the arrival of Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise in 2023. While a mere fraction of its direct theatrical predecessor, the standalone sequel utilized over 1,700 gallons for the production, particularly for the movie’s climactic blood-filled elevator scene. However, Cronin’s approach was still ultimately lauded by critics and audiences alike, as it returned to the underlying humor of the original films.

While Vaniček may not have aimed to set any blood-soaked records with his time in the franchise, the marketing for Evil Dead Burn has certainly promised the level of brutality that the co-writer/director alluded to above. Between fingers getting chopped off after getting stuck in car doors to headrests being used to impale some characters and others genuinely being set on fire, the filmmaker is pulling no punches with how brutal he wants to make his film.

What will be interesting now is to see how his Evil Dead Burn approach ultimately compares to the rest of the franchise. While Álvarez’s 2013 film is seen by some as an underrated chapter of the series, it’s still generally considered the weakest of the bunch, while both Ash vs. Evil Dead and Rise were better met because of their sense of humor. Should Vaniček prove too brutal for some, it may not spark the same success as its predecessors. Or, on the other hand, could be the ultimate change of pace needed to help set it apart from the Deadites’ previous reigns of terror in Evil Dead.

Release Date

July 10, 2026

Runtime

120 Minutes

Director

Sébastien Vanicek