Evil Dead Burn      Director: Sébastien Vanicek Cert: 18Genre: HorrorStarring: Souheila Yacoub, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Tandi Wright, Erroll Shand, Maude Davey Running Time: 1 hr 50 minsThe Deadites, as created by Sam Raimi and dispatched by Bruce Campbell’s Ash, have been menacing audiences since The Evil Dead, in 1981. Over the decades, the franchise has transitioned from low-budget horror into horror-comedy with sequels, a remake, television and stand-alone films, including a mean-spirited 2013 reboot and the Irish director Lee Cronin’s extravagantly gory Evil Dead Rise.The nuts and bolts remain the same, even if the zingers are gone. Humans are transformed into rabid, demonic Deadites when someone foolishly recites from the Necronomicon, a book of the dead.Watched as a straight-up, nasty horror that intersects with the increasingly unavoidable “grief is the real horror”, Sébastien Vanicek’s film is powered along by an interesting tweak to that theme. Alice (played by Souheila Yacoub), the traumatised widow of Will, has converged with her in-laws after he dies in a fiery (and demonic) car crash. It’s a white-knuckle ride for Alice as she attempts to keep quiet about her abusive husband’s reign of terror while listening to lavish tributes from his grieving mother.A particularly nervy dinner, with a nod to Leatherface and clan in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, implodes when the infested family patriarch realises that Alice is no longer wearing her wedding ring. Dad is the first to turn Deadite, but not the last.Vanicek makes imaginative use of the limited setting, as common household objects – a dishwasher, bathroom porcelain, a car headrest – are utilised for murder and mayhem. Those hoping for a return to the “splatstick” of the possessed hand in Evil Dead 2 or the cartoon medieval capering of Army of Darkness will be disappointed. Instead, Evil Dead Burn brings a convincing new-French-extremity energy to the Deadites. Regrettably, that’s not really who they are. Where did the groovy go?In cinemas from Thursday, July 9th[ Disclosure Day review: Eve Hewson asks the practical questions in Spielberg’s sprawling sci-fi yarnOpens in new window ]