“Evil Dead Burn,” the sixth film in Sam Raimi’s five-decade horror franchise, will begin streaming exclusively on HBO Max on Friday, Oct. 2, giving fans a chance to revisit its brutal family reunion just in time for Halloween. HBO’s linear channel will air the film the following night at 8 p.m. ET, preceded by broadcasts of 2013’s “Evil Dead” and 2023’s “Evil Dead Rise.”
Director Sébastien Vaniček, who co-wrote the script with Florent Bernard, follows a grieving widow named Alice, played by Souheila Yacoub, as she seeks comfort from her in-laws after her husband’s death in a car accident. Her visit to the family’s remote estate turns violent when her brother-in-law’s research into an ancestral artifact unleashes the demonic Deadites, transforming relatives one by one into flesh-hungry monsters. Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Tandi Wright, Erroll Shand and Maude Davey round out the cast. Raimi and longtime collaborator Rob Tapert produced, with Bruce Campbell and Lee Cronin among the executive producers.
The film arrived in theaters July 10, 2026, after Warner Bros. moved the date up two weeks to avoid competing with Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” Box office returns proved modest by franchise standards, with the movie earning roughly $29 million domestically and $63 million worldwide. Critics landed on a 70% Rotten Tomatoes score across more than 200 reviews, praising the practical gore effects and its unflinching look at family trauma while faulting the script for shedding the dark comedy that has defined earlier installments.
Streaming arrives two months after the film hit digital platforms on Aug. 4 and roughly a week after its 4K UHD and Blu-ray release on Sept. 22. The timing also coincides with new Evil Dead-themed haunted houses at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights events in Orlando and Hollywood.
Raimi’s creation, which began with “The Evil Dead” in 1981 and later spawned the Starz series “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” continues to expand. A seventh film, “Evil Dead Wrath” from director Francis Galluppi, has already wrapped production and is scheduled for release in 2028.
