Horror fans have been speculating for years on the connections between Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead (2013) and Sam Raimi’s original trilogy, while also pondering whether or not the events of Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise (2023) are connected to any of the above. But one thing we’re pretty sure of at this point is that this year’s Evil Dead Burn is connected to Evil Dead Rise.
Both the Red Band and Green Band trailers for Evil Dead Burn feature glimpses of a character who looks awfully similar to the Deadite form taken by Jessica in Evil Dead Rise!
Jessica (Anna-Maree Thomas) is the character featured in both the opening and closing sequences of Evil Dead Rise, with the film’s opening scenes showing Jessica at a vacation cabin on a lake with her friends. Possessed by a Deadite, Jessica scalps her cousin and decapitates her boyfriend before levitating above the lake in one of the film’s most striking moments.
We later realize at the very end of the film that the core events of Evil Dead Rise were taking place before the opening sequence, with Jessica living in the apartment complex that serves as the film’s key location. Heading off to that vacation cabin in the woods, Jessica is attacked by an unseen force, setting the stage for the memorable Evil Dead Rise opening sequence.
What happens to Jessica after the Evil Dead Rise opening title sequence? The character’s fate is unknown at this time, but again, she appears to be making a return in Evil Dead Burn. While we can’t confirm any of these details at this time, it would appear that Jessica is somehow involved in the traumatizing events that lead to a Deadite infestation in Evil Dead Burn.
Does Jessica pass the infection along to the family at the center of Evil Dead Burn? Or is this a completely different Deadite character altogether? We’ll find out in the coming months…
Evil Dead Burn will possess theaters on July 10, 2026.
After the loss of her husband, a woman seeks solace with her in-laws in their secluded family home. As one by one they are transformed into Deadites—turning the gathering into a family reunion from hell—she comes to discover that the vows she took in life… live on even in death.
