Evil Dead Burn’s Rotten Tomatoes Debut Breaks Franchise’s 13-Year Streak

Just ahead of its theatrical release, Evil Dead Burn has made its debut on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s been more than two years since the sixth installment in the Evil Dead series was announced. Sam Raimi created the franchise and directed the first three movies, with Fede Álvarez and Lee Cronin taking over for the most recent releases. Now Sébastien Vaniček, who has only directed one other feature-length film, is at the helm of Evil Dead Burn.

Critics have started sharing early reviews of Evil Dead Burn, which has debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 80% (as of this writing). While it’s a very promising start ahead of its July 10 release in theaters, that score is lower than every Evil Dead project that has come out since 2013’s Evil Dead.

Some critics are calling Evil Dead Burn the best non-Raimi film in the franchise. The intense nature of the movie will keep horror fans entertained from start to finish, they claimed. Others, however, called it a disappointment and the worst installment yet.

Out of all five films that have been released over the years, the one with the highest Rotten Tomatoes score is the first sequel, Evil Dead II, at 88%. Tied for second are The Evil Dead, and Evil Dead Rise with 85%. All three are Certified Fresh, which means they have scores of at least 75%.

Army of Darkness and Evil Dead, meanwhile, failed to reach Certified Fresh status, instead earning scores of 68% and 64%, respectively.

Evil Dead Franchise	Rotten Tomatoes Score
The Evil Dead	85%
Evil Dead II	88%
Army of Darkness	68%
Evil Dead	64%
Evil Dead Rise	85%
Evil Dead Burn	80% (as of July 8, 2026)

The Evil Dead was one of the very first films that Raimi directed. Not only did he serve as director, but he also wrote the script, which tells the story of a group of college students who take a trip to a cabin in the woods and inadvertently awaken demons that possess most of them.

Raimi returned to direct and co-write Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness before handing the reins off to other filmmakers. In 2015, he returned to the horror franchise as co-creator and producer of the TV show spinoff Ash vs Evil Dead, which aired for three seasons on Starz and has a nearly perfect score of 99% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Álvarez’s Evil Dead film in 2013 served as a reboot for the franchise, which then lay dormant for another 10 years until Cronin stepped in as director of Evil Dead Rise three years ago.

Now Evil Dead Burn is just days away from being released in theaters. Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Erroll Shand, Maude Davey, George Pullar, Tapiwa Soropa, Keanu Karim, Alain Chabat and Greta Van Den Brink are the stars of the film, which centers on a widow named Alice who lost her spouse.

During a time when she and her husband’s family should be grieving, they’re instead facing the horrors of the Deadites while staying at a creepy house in the middle of nowhere.

Evil Dead Burn will be released in theaters on Friday, July 10, 2026.