Spoiler alert: This story contains major spoilers for The Evil Dead Burn, currently in theaters.
The Evil Dead breaks one of the cardinal rules of cinema: don’t kill dogs.
“If you don’t do that in ‘Evil Dead,’ what movie do you do that in? These are the craziest, wildest, fundamentally evil movies,” director Sebastian Vanicek told Variety, admitting he knew audiences would hate the scene. “There are no limits, there are no limits!”
Of course, as Vanicek says with a laugh, the dog comes back to life in a “terrible” new form, as do the rest of the humans, who transform into evil Deadites after being brutally killed. But this is just the beginning of Vanicek’s endlessly brutal filmography, featuring everything from a woman being impaled on the headrest of a car seat to having hot candle wax poured into her mouth.
The latest installment in Sam Raimi’s long-running horror series, originally based on the 1981 classic, follows a family on the brink of carnage after Will (George Puller) dies in a car accident. His wife Alice (Suheila Yacob), who was abused by him during her life, has had her soul taken over by the Dedeites one after another, and is now grieving along with the rest of her family.
Vanicek picks up where 2023’s The Evil Dead left off, but the film is only loosely connected to that film and the 2013 series reboot The Evil Dead, forming a loose trilogy as a whole. Shot primarily in New Zealand, “Burn” is French director Vanicek’s second feature, following “Infection,” a much smaller French film about an apartment building being invaded by a rapidly reproducing colony of spiders.
Unlike the previous two Evil Dead films, Vanicek told Raimi and producer Rob Tapert that he wasn’t really interested in gore or pouring buckets of blood on the actors. “When I see it in a movie, I don’t get disgusted. I don’t get too fazed because I know how fake it is. But when I see teeth on the sidewalk in ‘American History X,’ in that moment I can’t look at the screen anymore.”
Vanicek spoke with Variety about creating the most brutal “Evil Dead” series to date, how he pulled off the most despicable kills, and what the final post-credits scene means for the future of the series.
Provided by Warner Bros. Movies
This new wave of “Evil Dead” movies has new characters and a new director at the helm. Coming away from “Infested,” what did you aim to bring to this long-running series?
That’s the main reason I wanted to do it. Sam Raimi and his team at Ghost House Pictures said this movie would be 100% my style. As soon as I told them what I understood about The Evil Dead and realized we were on the same page, they let me do the movie I had in mind. I had a complete blank slate in terms of style, violence, brutality, type of violence.
Were you surprised by that creative freedom?
Yeah! You take it seriously and it’s such a huge gift that you don’t want to disappoint them. I want them to be proud of this movie. If I didn’t have this freedom, I think I would have made another film in France instead, to be honest.
The opening murder always sets the tone for these movies. How did you arrive at the lake scene as the perfect opening?
First of all, I wanted the audience to know where they were, and I wanted people who had seen The Evil Dead to think, “Okay, I know where we start.” There was one wild Deadite left in this movie, so I wanted to use that. Next, regarding the story of these two fishermen, in about 7 minutes we will introduce the elements and style of the entire film, including editing, sound design, music, characters, etc.
What was the idea behind creating the kill, and how much was actually done?
Everything that could be realistically done was done realistically. The only thing I couldn’t actually do was make holes in my face, so this was the only moment I could do makeup with green parts on my face. But even the last monster was practically finished. We just added CGI to put holes in him. I definitely wanted to keep George[Puller’s performance]his eyes, his face, and what he was giving Suheila. Fires were one of the major challenges. We didn’t want to use CGI, so we always had fires on set. Working with fire was very difficult, as the entire scene would be lit with real fire. It was quite long and intense, but in the end, the audience feels it more when you’re doing something real on set versus when you’re faking it.
The family dinner table after attending Will’s funeral stands out as one of the most tense. Her mother and father are very malicious towards Alice. Could you please break that down for me?
It was one of the most challenging for me because there are no fights or actions. In order to increase this tension, you need to play with sound editing. I spent a long time writing it in the beginning because I wanted to have the best dialogue and the best moments, and I wanted to make sure that all the characters understood. We know where they are, where they want to go, what’s going on, who’s who. I had to be really clear. This is the first time they’ve all been together, and this scene is a major turning point, so the stakes are very high. I storyboarded the entire scene, memorized which shots needed when, the editing by heart, and knew which close-ups to do when. We rehearsed a lot with the actors to make sure they knew when to grab the glass, when to grab the corkscrew, when to watch this and do that. Because there were so many moments where you had to see something and you didn’t have any dialogue. That was also a problem with acting without lines. That’s one of the scenes I’m most proud of.
The car scene where Tia (Lucien Buchana) is impaled by the headrest of a car seat was also incredibly difficult to watch.
The car fight was an important scene for me because I love these kinds of scenes. Right after the dinner, I wanted a scene that was a turning point, something really intense for the audience. It was something I wanted to try as a director to fight a big battle in such a small environment. My co-writer (Florent Bernard) and I were just looking at our cars and thinking, “If we were going to fight a tiger in a car, what would we use?” Such crazy weapons just came about because we were thinking of the craziest ways to fight something. Headrests were one of them. When I started writing, I drew Tia with a headrest on her head. Then I arrive in New Zealand with my amazing staff and tell them my crazy concept. I needed to find a way for this headrest to stay on Luciane’s head. Again, it’s actually all a lot of fun to do.
From the beginning, this movie is built around family dynamics. There’s a moment when Joseph (Hunter Doohan) can’t shoot his father, who has turned into a Deadite.
That is the essence of “The Evil Dead.” Are you ready to kill someone you love? That’s what happened to Ash in the previous film, what happened to his brother and sister in the Fede movie, and what happened to his mother in Rise. That’s why the movie “The Evil Dead” lives on today because it asks some of the scariest questions on earth. Joseph’s answer is, “No, I’m not going to kill my father.” But that’s a big metaphor. Because his father and family are terrible and he’s not ready for it (yet). What’s really great about “The Evil Dead” is that it explores metaphor in a physical way. If you’re talking about an abusive husband, you’re going to see that husband as a monster, and you’re going to literally see a monster at some point. That’s what’s so cathartic about The Evil Dead. All the questions that are raised, we see the footage and the characters go through some horrifying situations. The audience is asked the same questions themselves, which allows them to immerse themselves deeply in the story. We wrote realistic characters, and I don’t think most people are ready for that. I completely understand the character, it’s such a horrible choice.
The bath scene is also terrifying. You use unique camera work that confuses the audience.
I want to enjoy the camera! That’s what these movies are made for. I had already started doing this kind of thing with “Infested” because I wanted people to remember some movements, shots, scenes – that’s me as an audience member. I definitely played with all the tools I had.
As for the bathroom shot, there are two stuntmen in the bathtub, each with two or three wires, and three or four people pulling the wires. That means there are 15 stuntmen behind the camera. It takes great teamwork to pull off this type of shot.
There are two post-credits scenes in the film, and the final scene shows a very familiar face of Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), which viewers may be surprised to see after she was killed off in The Evil Dead.
That was the demand on the production side and they let me do the movie I had envisioned, giving me all the freedom I wanted. That’s the game – they wanted that one scene. I didn’t know what they wanted to do with this movie, I don’t know what they’ll do in the future, I don’t know what the other movies will have, and I don’t know if she’s going to be here.
It really expands the possibilities of this franchise. You never know who is really gone.
Well, I think viewers love this character and want to see Ellie again. The studio understood that and made it possible. Can’t argue.
There’s a good deal of dark humor built into your writing, especially regarding your grandmother Polly (Maud Davey), who is revealed to have survived in the first post-credits scene.
Although Maud is much younger than Grandma, they had to cast someone younger to do some of the movements and stunts themselves. Mode was 100% capable of this kind of thing. It seems that she wore makeup for 5 to 6 hours every day until she became a 90-year-old grandmother, but her body moves quickly. When she becomes a Deadite, she becomes an animal of sorts. I was able to capture something amazing with my body. What was really interesting about Polly was, “What would happen if Deadites took control of people who were sick, who were already dead? What would they do with their bodies? What would they do with their brains?” Deadites are really smart creatures and will play with you. They want to torture not only your body but also your mind. Granny was a very interesting tool for us to explore different types of deadites and operations.
Is it true that Bruce Campbell will make a surprise cameo appearance?
Fans will need to keep an eye on him and know where he is.
Where do you see yourself going after this experience with bigger budget productions? Do you want to make another “Evil Dead” movie, or something more independent in the vein of “Infest”?
I have nothing against having the freedom and ability to write and direct my own work. I’m open to doing different franchises and studio films as well as my own work. It was great to do something like “The Evil Dead” and create something within a universe that people like. Because the playground is already here and it’s great. I know what it’s like to work in a studio and I know I’m not 100% free, but at least people trust me and we work together to make sure I do what I have in mind. You can’t direct a script you haven’t written, and you’ll definitely have to add your own touch.
I don’t think I’m going to write or direct another “Evil Dead.” Only Sam Raimi could make two “Evil Dead” movies! This series always needs a fresh vision and a fresh director. Fans want to be surprised, and if you want a series to survive, you need different visions.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
