Sam Raimi’s standout horror franchise is becoming more serialized, and the latest film, released on October 2 on HBO Max, has picked up the threat of Jessica (Greta van den Brink), who was unknowingly exposed to demonic evil in the apartment building at the end of Rise. The new sequel, directed by Sébastien Vaniček and produced by Raimi himself, has become a full-blown streaming success.
This is the sixth film in Raimi’s franchise, excluding the Starz TV series or the early proof of concept, Within the Woods. On HBO Max, within just two days of its release, the film currently sits at the #1 spot in the U.S. on HBO Max. But that’s not all — the film was sitting at the #4 spot in the overall chart on HBO Max and has constantly been trending on Prime Video in several regions, including but not limited to Germany, Mexico, and Poland. Then, on the Apple TV store and Google, it has been trending in dozens of countries. Not to mention, the unconventionally different zombie film is also trending on Rakuten TV, Catchplay, Crave, and friDay. This makes it a classic example of wider distribution in the streaming era (for U.S. audiences on HBO Max, Amazon, Apple TV, and Google carrying it through digital rentals/purchases, and Crave, Rakuten, friDay for other niche markets).
The film’s title is Evil Dead Burn, and it has already left Backrooms at #2 and Supergirl at #3 trailing shortly behind. Burn picks up the story from the ending of Evil Dead Rise, doesn’t merely repeat the Book of the Dead formula, and takes Rise‘s final victim as a catalyst for a new family’s nightmare. The premise also resurrects Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), reconnects old objects like the Kandarian Dagger and Professor Knowby’s (John Peakes) research, and leaves the door open for these formerly isolated stories to collide.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring
Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.
😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)
🧸Chucky(Child’s Play)
📞Scream(Ghostface)
🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)
01
Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.
02
You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.
03
Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.
04
Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.
05
How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.
06
Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.
07
Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.
08
Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.
The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath
your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what
it would leave behind.
A Nightmare on Elm Street · Since 1984
Elm Street
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you
to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever
won that particular argument.
Freddy is horror’s cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot
guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your
own head is where this does its damage.
These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose
because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Child’s Play · Chucky · Since 1988
Chucky
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the
person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you
describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You
know that feeling from real life too.
The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you
have met those adults.
By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Scream · Ghostface · Since 1996
Scream
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost
certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be
somebody who was at the party.
You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the
same way you watch films.
The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are
the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
The Conjuring · The Warren Files · Since 2013
The Conjuring
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people
asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary
room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than
personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are
the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one
standing in the hallway.
‘Evil Dead Burn’ Is Keeping Raimi’s Horror Franchise Alive for the Long Haul
Evil Dead Burn is also extending a franchise that has become unusually efficient at turning modest budgets into durable horror hits. Burn managed to rake in $72.4 million worldwide against a reported $20 million production budget, following Evil Dead Rise, which made roughly $147.3 million from a $15 million budget.
Warner Bros. and New Line are already moving ahead with another installment, Evil Dead Wrath, written and directed by Francis Galluppi (The Last Stop in Yuma County). Production has wrapped, and it is currently dated for April 7, 2028 release. Raimi and longtime franchise producer Rob Tapert are producing, while Bruce Campbell (Ash vs. Evil Dead) and Rise director Lee Cronin serve as executive producers.
Evil Dead Burn is available to stream on HBO Max in the U.S. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
