‘Evil Dead Burn’ Director Breaks Down His Brand of French Brutality, From Practical Effects and Real Fire to That Post-Credits Scene

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for “Evil Dead Burn,” now playing in theaters.

“Evil Dead Burn” breaks one of the fundamental rules of cinema: Don’t kill the dog.

“If you don’t do that in ‘Evil Dead,’ in which movie do you do that? These are the most insane, wild and basically evil movies,” director Sébastien Vaniček tells Variety, while acknowledging that he knew audiences would hate the scene. “There’s no limit, I can’t have limits!”

Of course, the dog comes back to life in a “badass” new form, as Vaniček says with a laugh, along with the rest of the humans that transform into evil Deadites after getting viciously slayed. But it’s just the beginning of Vaniček’s endlessly brutal film, which features everything from a woman getting impaled with a car seat headrest to pouring hot candle wax in her mouth.

The latest installment in the long-running horror franchise, first created by Sam Raimi with his original 1981 classic, follows a family on the brink of carnage after Will (George Pullar) dies in a car accident. His wife Alice (Souheila Yacoub), who faced abuse from him while he was alive, is left grieving with the rest of the family as Deadites take over their souls one by one.