This article contains massive spoilers for “Evil Dead Burn.”

Analyzing the “Evil Dead” franchise is surprisingly complex. What began with some rascally Michiganders (by the names of Rob Tapert, Bruce Campbell, and Sam Raimi) seeking to jumpstart their film careers by making the self-proclaimed “ultimate experience in grueling terror” has turned into a series spanning six movies (with a seventh on the way), a three-season TV show, and at least a dozen comic books and video games. Even though the franchise has featured a lot of variety, it’s retained one core mission throughout: for the demonic, human-possessing spirits of the Book of the Dead to wreak as much havoc as possible. The mayhem can be physical, emotional, psychological, or (as is usually the case), all of the above.

This week’s “Evil Dead Burn,” the sixth feature film in the series, certainly delivers on that mayhem and then some. Director and co-writer Sébastien Vaniček, along with co-writer Florent Bernard, tells what may be the most brutal tale in the series to date, which is saying a lot. Vaniček seems to be drawing from sources as disparate as the New French Extremity horror movement of the turn of the century, combining those films’ extreme violence and harsh subject matter with toxic family infighting along the lines of “Hereditary,” “Krisha,” and FX’s “The Bear.”

It’s a potent cocktail which makes “Evil Dead Burn” equal parts harrowing and perversely fun, and the fact that the characters are a bit deeper than the average installment in the series is the finishing touch. Additionally, the film follows the Deadites’ journey in a way that’s more precise than usual, hinting that the franchise may be headed for something uniquely integral rather than remaining a series of stand-alone stories.

“Evil Dead Burn” makes it clear from the opening scene that it won’t be the usual “Evil Dead” film. Where every other “Evil Dead” movie opens with a character or characters discovering the (or perhaps I should say a) Book of the Dead, a book is already in the possession of Joseph (Hunter Doohan). His grandfather Benjamin was a member of the cult group The Circle of the Wisemen, a cult apparently dedicated to studying (and/or perhaps seeking to stop) the Book and its evil spirits.

In addition to a book of the dead and a recording of Benjamin reading its passages, Joseph also finds a Kandarian dagger, whose unveiling awakens the Deadites from their temporary slumber. They arise from their last known position in a remote lake (as seen at the end, which is actually the beginning, of “Evil Dead Rise”) and take possession of Will (George Pullar), Joseph’s brother and the beloved son of Edgar (Erroll Shand) and Susan (Tandi Wright). Will’s wife, a French woman named Alice (Souhelia Yacoub), has suffered multiple instances of abuse at his hands over the years, and thus isn’t too broken up when Will seemingly dies in a car accident.

Of course, the possessed Will kicks off a Deadite infection, which spreads throughout his family once they’ve all gathered at their ancestral home for his funeral. The Deadites hunt for the dagger while torturing, possessing, and killing the family one by one, which also includes the elderly Polly (Maude Davey) and Thya (Luciane Buchanan), Joseph’s girlfriend. Alice’s hatred of the family (and their excuses for Will’s abusive nature) and various other long-standing issues between the members are exposed and used as Deadite ammunition.

During her long night of fighting off her Deadite in-laws, Alice finds the Kandarian dagger. It turns out the dagger is a rather unassuming-looking shiv-like blade, replacing the more ornate skull-topped stake seen in 1983’s “The Evil Dead” (something that Alice discovers in a very “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”-like manner). Alice uses the weapon to dispatch most of the Deadites, discovering that while it indeed dispels the evil dead spirits within each possessed person, the host still succumbs to their mortal wounds. The dagger’s powers underline the mercurial, ambiguous, and bleak nature of Deadite possession, which has always been fuzzy ever since the original film. In fact, similar to Ash (Bruce Campbell) being possessed and then unpossessed in “Evil Dead II,” Susan notably slides in and out of Deadite mode throughout “Evil Dead Burn.”

Eventually, the entire family and their loved ones have been violently dispatched, leaving only Alice and the Deadite Will, who has abstained from the mayhem after initially infecting his father. It seems Will has become a sentient charred corpse, a melting man perpetually on fire. Essentially, he’s a revenant reminiscent of the way he died, in a burning car wreck, making his pursuit of Alice visually upsetting as well as emotionally triggering. His strength and power allow him to overcome her briefly, and he nearly buries her alive in a nearby construction site.

Fortunately, Alice manages to use the Kandarian dagger on him, dispelling the evil for now. Yet as she recovers in the care of paramedics who arrive, Alice has a strange look in her eye, slightly reminiscent of the Deadites’ eye color. Is the Evil within her, or has Alice been marked with new trauma, or both?

On a character level, “Evil Dead Burn” is all about the lingering effects of violence, whether that violence be literally physical or inflicted emotionally and psychologically. Before the Deadites even begin to wreak their havoc, the family demonstrates various ways they hurt each other, intentional or not. From Susan’s lifelong resentment of her father to Edgar’s toxic masculinity to Polly’s racism, just about everyone is participating in violence before the literal knives and corkscrews come out. Alice is the most morally upstanding of all of them, which is why she ends up being our Final Girl.

Yet she’s not innocent, either. She harbors her own animosity toward the others, however justified. Also, as the Deadites gleefully point out several times, her traumatic history has seen her indulge in toxic coping mechanisms. While Alice does free herself from Will and his pernicious family, the last shot implies that she may not necessarily be safe from the evil dead, as her trauma still lingers.

This quality puts Alice on par with the other survivor characters in the franchise, all of whom are flawed and barely manage to overcome the Deadite scourge. Ash, of course, has been through the most, being the savior of humanity, God’s perfect idiot, and a hapless victim at various points. Mia (Jane Levy), as seen in 2013’s “Evil Dead,” was an addict who succumbed to Deadite possession before getting a chance at redemption. Beth (Lily Sullivan) from “Evil Dead Rise” was avoidant and aimless before discovering she was pregnant, and the loss of her family to the Deadites helped her rediscover her sense of responsibility toward her innocent niece. Though it may be a dubious honor, Alice has joined the ranks of these Deadite survivors.

It’s not clear where the Deadites go from here. Thus far, only the “Ash Vs. Evil Dead” series has maintained a tight continuity, whereas the “Evil Dead” films have generally had a loose one. “Evil Dead Burn” seems to change that, as the film opens with the reappearance of characters last seen in “Evil Dead Rise.” That said, Benjamin’s Book of the Dead is not the same one as seen in “Rise,” nor is the Kandarian dagger the same as seen in “The Evil Dead” and “Evil Dead II.” It’s easy enough to buy that there might be multiple Books of the Dead (a scene from “Army of Darkness” helps establish this possibility), but are we to believe that the Kandarian dagger discrepancy is an indication that we’re in a new canon separate from the Ash timeline? Or, given the series’ introduction of time travel in “Evil Dead II,” are the differences a byproduct of timeline-messing shenanigans?

The next movie in the series, “Evil Dead Wrath,” might provide some answers to this. It’s already been shot and is due for release in April of 2028. Besides the writer/director (Francis Galluppi) and the principal cast, the only thing we know about that film so far is that it’s a prequel, set in 1972. Is the series trying to build out a cinematic universe, perhaps one that hews closer to the MonsterVerse than Marvel? The credits scenes for “Burn” promise a continuation of Deadite mayhem in the present day, as Deadite Polly escapes, only to infect an innocent Samaritan who tries to help her. Who knows if we’ll be seeing Alice again (or Beth, Mia, or Ash, for that matter), but the possibility is there, and it’s very intriguing.