Warner Bros. released the first official trailer Tuesday for Evil Dead Burn, the sixth film in Sam Raimi’s enduring horror franchise, setting a July 10 U.S. theatrical release date for what promises to be its most viscerally domestic entry yet. Directed by Sébastien Vaniček, the film stars Souheila Yacoub, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Tandi Wright and George Pullar in its third standalone entry following 2013’s Evil Dead and 2023’s Evil Dead Rise.
The story centers on a woman who, after losing her husband, seeks comfort at her in-laws’ isolated family home — only for the gathering to collapse into horror as relatives transform one by one into Deadites. According to the official logline, the film asks what happens when “the vows she took in life… live on even in death.” The trailer delivers on the franchise’s tradition of grotesque practical horror: an undead visitor with a car headrest lodged through her skull, a Deadite drinking burning candle wax, and a particularly savage encounter with a knife-filled dishwasher.
Vaniček’s selection signals an emerging strategy for the franchise. Sam Raimi hired the French filmmaker after being impressed by his directorial debut Infested (2023) — and gave him complete creative control over the project. Vaniček, who co-wrote the script with his Infested collaborator Florent Bernard, set the tone early. “I told the studio that I wanted to make a nasty film, a film that hurts, from which you come away tested,” he said.
The trailer follows footage screened exclusively for industry attendees at CinemaCon in Las Vegas last month. Evil Dead Rise, which originally was planned for HBO Max before pivoting to theaters in 2023, grossed around $147 million worldwide — the commercial benchmark Burn now faces.
Raimi produces alongside Rob Tapert under the Ghost House Pictures banner, with the film co-financed by New Line Cinema and Sony Pictures. Bruce Campbell, who starred in the original trilogy, returns as executive producer alongside Evil Dead Rise director Lee Cronin. The franchise shows no sign of slowing down: a seventh installment, Evil Dead Wrath, is already in development for a 2028 release, written and directed by Francis Galluppi, with principal photography underway in Auckland, New Zealand.
