Evil Dead Burn (Sébastien Vanicek, 2026) Review

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“To your perfect family.” Hey kids! What do you want out of an Evil Dead movie? Well, if it's a colour scheme that looks like three-day-old porridge and weighty themes about miserable personal relationships, then you've come to the right place...

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Flavours of the Month: January 2018...

Tech-savvy portmanteau tales, numerous shades of horror, and Hollywood tell-alls are just some of what's been setting the tone of my January 2018...

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"Blood Simple" - original 'fake trailer' emerges, influenced by "The Evil Dead"...

The Coen Brother's first film - "Blood Simple" - took a some initial inspiration from Sam Raimi and "The Evil Dead", so it seems, from a recently unearthed 'fake trailer' that was used to sell the film to investors....

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Ash vs Evil Dead – Comic-Con Trailer Analysis

Watch the Official Trailer HERE and the Comic-Con Panel HERE.

Ash is back, baby! The trailer for the ten-part horror/comedy series from Starz premiered at Comic-Con 2015 and it's whipped up a bit of a fan frenzy – so let's dig into some of the highlights.

Boy Done Good:

So where's Ash gone since we last saw him? Not very far, it seems – if anything he's gone in reverse – living in a trailer hitched to the same car he's always had (just think of the time and money Ash must have spent restoring it after the events of the third film!), and now he's not even working at S-Mart. Now he has – so I presume – slid down the retail ladder to 'Value Stop' where he's still a Stockboy, re-living past glories as he tells his co-worker Pablo of his prior adventures: “I was the only one to escape, but now the evil has found me.” At least he's got himself a new prosthetic hand – a bit more fitting to 21^st Century life than that bulky steel contraption from the last movie … maybe whatever magic that made it function wore off? “You won't see that hand, but that's all I'll say,” teased Raimi in response to a fan question on the matter of Ash's substitute hand at the Comic-Con Panel.

“Ash, even in his prime, would be the wrong guy to save the world – now he's thirty years older and he has to save the world! I'm really worried for the world,” said Campbell of Ash's advancing years. “Crabby old man Ash.” Sam Raimi also noted some of Ash's continued (but loveable) foibles: that the character is “a heel, a coward, and a blow hard” but is also “a great monster hunter”. Still though, while he may be a bit down-at-heel (he's even revealed to be wearing dentures at one point – but could this just be a little joke only for the trailer?), Ash still knows how to wield a stump-mounted chainsaw – a moment in the trailer that pushed all the right buttons!

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Evil Dead (2013) – an all-out stream of fan thoughts...

As a huge fan of the original 1981 movie – it is one of my most cherished formative cinematic experiences – I was frustrated to hear that it was going to receive the remake treatment. However, the news that the original producers – Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell – were going to be involved softened the punch. If the progenitors were offering hands-on guidance, then perhaps this remake could steer clear of offensive trash like the 2010 remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street, and aim for worthwhile and respectful endeavours like the 2010 remake of The Crazies.

Well, I've finally been able to check it out (on Blu-Ray) and here's the essential meat of my view – I like it, but I don't love it. Mercifully it avoids the ANOES2010-like level of abusive suckage, but there are a few too many awkward quirks and overly-slick problems for it to match my respect (perhaps, even, love) for the likes of The Hills Have Eyes 2006, or Maniac2013 (admittedly, the 'worthy remakes' club is a rather exclusive one).

Rather than a straight review, I'm going to dive into the film from an obsessed fan's perspective, picking through the movie – my loves, my likes, and my hates – piece-by-piece – and go for some horror nerd analysis.

Click “READ MORE” below for a blow-by-blow, slice-by-gouge, hack-by-slash run-down of Evil Dead 2013...

Evil Dead 2013 remake trailer analysis...

Read my reaction to Evil Dead 2013 here.

Remakes are a funny old game, as I've remarked before, most recently when stating that a flick which would make for a good remake is Drive-In Massacre. One of the biggest problems with remakes that I find, however, is that they can never live up to the vibe that the original exudes. The scope of the remake is far larger, the production design is through-the-roof comparatively, and in-place of discovering a long-established classic during your formative years with fellow-minded classmates, you've got the big marketing push with the inevitable appearance at a Comic-Con.

 

This brings me to the 2013 remake of The Evil Dead – as first shown to us at the 2012 New York Comic-Con – and it has my fanboy mind all over the place. I'm a huge admirer of the original movie (which I first saw aged 14 after buying a VHS copy – which was at the time still severely cut by the BBFC – from my local post office), so the first mention a while back of the film being remade, sent we horror fans into a right old tizzy. The announcement that Diablo Cody would be heading up screenwriting duties was controversial enough in itself, but on the other hand – under the banner of Ghost House Pictures – the original creators of the The Evil Dead were actively involved, and had picked an unknown (Fede Alvarez) for directing duties (an offer that no sane aspiring filmmaker would turn down).

Click “READ MORE” below for a slew of screenshots and responses...

Evil Dead II, in clay, the Lee Hardcastle way!

Evil Dead II ... in clay ... with cats ... from Lee Hardcastle. Nuff said, now ruddy well watch this!