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,’ what movie do you do?” do do you do that? “These are the craziest, wildest, and basically evil movies,” says director Sébastien Vaniček. Varietyalthough he acknowledged that he knew the public would hate the scene. “There is no limit, I can’t have limits!”

Of course, the dog comes back to life in a new “badass” form, as Vaniček says with a laugh, along with the rest of the humans who transform into evil Deadites after being brutally murdered. But it’s just the beginning of Vaniček’s endlessly brutal film, which features everything from a woman impaled on the headrest of a car seat to hot candle wax being poured into 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 the Deadites take their souls one by one.

Vaniček picks up where 2023’s “Evil Dead Rise” left off, but the film is only loosely connected to that film and the 2013 series reboots “Evil Dead,” which together forms a loose trilogy. “Burn,” which was primarily filmed in New Zealand, marks French director Vaniček’s second feature film following “Infested,” a much smaller-scale French film about a group of rapidly reproducing spiders that invade an apartment.

Unlike the last two “Evil Dead” installments, Vaniček told Raimi and producer Rob Tapert that he wasn’t all that interested in gore or pouring buckets of blood on his actors: “When I see it in the movies, it doesn’t upset me. It doesn’t deter me too much because I know how fake it is. But when I see the teeth on the sidewalk in ‘American History X,’ that’s the moment I can’t look at the screen anymore.”

Vaniček spoke with Variety about creating the most brutal “Evil Dead” installment yet, how he pulled off some of the cruelest kills, and what that final post-credits scene could mean for the future of the franchise.

This new wave of “Evil Dead” movies features new characters and a new director at the helm. After “Infested,” what did you set out to bring to this long-running franchise?

That’s mainly why I wanted to do it. Ghost House Pictures, Sam Raimi and their team told me that the film would be 100% my style. As soon as I told them what I understood about “Evil Dead” and we understood that we were on the same page, they just let me make the movie I had in mind. In terms of style, violence, brutality and type of violence, he had carte blanche.

Did that creative freedom surprise you?

Yeah! You take it very seriously and you don’t want to disappoint them because it is a great gift. You want them to be proud of the movie. Without this freedom, to be honest, I think I would have made another film in France.

The opening kill always sets the tone for these movies. How did you land on that lake scene as the perfect opener?

The first thing was we wanted the audience to know where they are, and for those who have seen “Evil Dead Rise,” I want them to say, “Okay, I know where it starts.” That movie left us with a Deadite at large, so I wanted to use him. Then, regarding the story of those two fishermen, in about seven minutes we are introducing the elements and style that we will have throughout the entire film: the editing, the sound design, the music, the characters.

What was your mindset behind creating assassinations? How much was done in practice?

Everything that could be done in practice, was done in practice. The only thing we practically couldn’t do were holes in the faces, so that was the only time we painted green areas on the faces. But even the final monster is practically finished: we just added CGI to have those holes. I definitely wanted to stay with George. [Pullar’s performance]his eyes and his face, and what he was giving to Souheila. The fire was one of the big challenges because I didn’t want to have CGI fire, so we had fire on set all the time. It was really complicated working with fire because you’re lighting the whole scene with real fire. It was quite long and intense, but in the end, the audience feels it when you do things for real on set and when you fake them.

Dinner with the family after attending Will’s funeral stands out as one of the most tense. The mother and father become quite cruel to Alice. Can you break that down?

That was one of the most challenging because I don’t have a fight, I don’t have an action. You have to play with the sound editing to increase this tension. We spent a lot of time writing it first because we wanted to have the best lines and the best moments and make sure that all of our characters are understandable: we know where they are, where they want to go, what’s going on, who’s who. It had to be very clear. It’s the first time they’re all together, and this scene is such a turning point that the stakes are high. I storyboarded the whole scene, I knew what shot I needed and when, I knew the editing by heart, what close-up and when. We rehearsed a lot with the actors to make sure they knew when to grab the glass, when to grab the corkscrew, when to look at this and do that because there were a lot of moments where they had to look at something and they didn’t have lines; It was also a matter of acting without lines. That’s one of the scenes I’m most proud of.

The car scene, when Tia (Luciane Buchana) is impaled on the headrest of the car seat, was also incredibly difficult to watch.

The car fight was important to me because I love these types of scenes. Right after dinner, I wanted a turning point scene, something really intense for the audience. Having a big fight in such a small environment was something I wanted to try as a director. With my co-writer [Florent Bernard]we were just looking at our cars and thinking, “What would we wear if we were fighting tigers in our car?” Those kinds of crazy weapons just happened because we were thinking of the craziest way to fight something. The headrest was one of them. When I started writing, I drew Tia with the headrest on her head. And then you come to New Zealand with these amazing teams and tell them your crazy concept! We had to find a way for this headrest to stay on Luciane’s head. Once again, doing everything practically is a great pleasure.

The family dynamic really grounded this movie from the beginning. We have that moment where Joseph (Hunter Doohan) can’t shoot his father, who has become a Deadite.

That’s the essence of “Evil Dead”: would you be willing to kill the people you love? That happened to Ash in the first one, that happened to him in Fede’s movie with the brother and sister, and the same thing with the mother in “Rise”. That’s why the “Evil Dead” movies live on because they ask the most horrible question on Earth. The answer for José is no, he is not willing to kill his father. But that’s a great metaphor because his father and his family are horrible and he is [still] I’m not ready to do that. The really interesting thing about “Evil Dead” is that you can explore the metaphors in a physical way. If you are talking about an abusive husband, you will see that husband as a monster, and you will literally see a monster at some point. That’s the cathartic thing about “Evil Dead”: all the questions that arise, you see them in the image and in the characters going through horrible situations. The audience is so involved in the story because they are asking the same question. We wrote a realistic character and I think most people wouldn’t be ready to do that. I completely understand the character, it’s a horrible choice.

The bathtub scene is also terrifying. You play with unique camera work that disorients the audience.

I wanted to have fun with the camera! These movies are made for that. I already started doing this kind of thing with “Infested” because I wanted people to remember some moves, shots and scenes; That’s who I am as an audience member. I definitely played with all the tools I had.

As for the bathroom outlets, there are two doubles in the tub and both have two or three cords, with three or four people pulling the cords. That means you have 15 specialists behind the camera. It’s incredible teamwork to achieve this type of shot.

The film has two post-credits scenes and in the last one we see a very familiar face with Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), who viewers will be surprised to see after she is killed in “Evil Dead Rise.”

That is the demand that the production had and since they allowed me to make the film that I had in mind, they simply gave me all the freedom I wanted. That’s the game: they wanted to have that scene. I didn’t know what they wanted to do with her, I don’t know what they will do in the future, I don’t know what will be in the other movie and if she will be here or not.

It really opens up the possibilities for this franchise. You never know who’s really gone!

Yes, I think the audience loved this character and wants to see Ellie again. The studio understood that and made it possible. I can’t argue.

Your writing incorporates quite a bit of dark humor, particularly with the grandmother, Polly (Maude Davey), who is revealed to have survived during the first post-credits scene.

Maude is much younger than Grandma, but I had to cast someone younger to do some of the moves and stunts herself; Maude was 100% available for this kind of thing. She had five or six hours of makeup every day to become a 90-year-old grandmother, but her body moves fast. When he becomes a Deadite, he is some kind of animal. I was able to capture amazing things with my body. The really interesting thing with Polly was, “What happens when the Deadites take control of someone who’s sick, who’s gone? What will they do with the body, what will they do with the brain?” Since Deadites are really intelligent creatures, they play with you. They want to torture you not only with your body but also with your mind. Grandma was a very interesting tool for us to explore different types of Deadites and manipulation.

Is it true that Bruce Campbell makes a surprise cameo?

Fans will have to stay tuned and see where it is.

Where do you see yourself going after gaining this experience in a bigger budget role? Do you want to make another “Evil Dead” movie or something more independent along the lines of “Infested”?

As soon as I have the freedom and ability to write and direct my own stuff, I’m not against anything. I’m open to different franchises and studio films and doing my own things. It was amazing to do something like “Evil Dead” and create something in a universe that people like because the playground is already here and it’s amazing. I know what it’s like to work with the studio, I know it’s never 100% freedom, but at least to be sure that I can do what I have in mind, people trust me and we work hand in hand. I couldn’t direct a script I didn’t write, I would definitely have to put my hands on it.

I don’t think I would write and direct another “Evil Dead.” The only one who can make two “Evil Dead” movies is Sam Raimi! It’s a franchise that needs new vision and new directors all the time. Fans want to be surprised and if we want to keep the franchise alive, we need those different visions.

This interview has been edited and condensed.