Evil Dead Burn's post-credits scene explained

This article contains major spoilers for Evil Dead Burn

Evil Dead Burn is now playing in theaters, and it has a surprising amount of connective tissue to 2023's Evil Dead Rise, including its opening and its post-credits scene. Let's unpack how this movie connects to Rise and how it may set up the next film, Evil Dead Wrath.

First, Evil Dead Burn employs a Deadite named Jess, this time played by Greta Van Den Brink, from Rise. Jess is shown at the beginning of the 2023 movie, and we learn that her possession and the mayhem she unleashes at the lake during the film's opening, actually occurs after the main events of Rise. The 2023 film concludes with Jess' possession. She also features heavily at the beginning of Burn. She brutally kills two fishermen and even boils one alive, again at the same lake. However, more importantly, she triggers Burn's main events by killing Will (George Pullar), who eventually returns as a Deadite.

His death in a car accident that Jess causes sets up the main events/family reunion at the heart of the film, and the family is targeted and eventually possessed by the Deadites because the grandfather was part of a secret cult that fought the Deadites. The demons seek a magical dagger that the grandfather hid somewhere. The weapon can kill the Deadites, hence why they want to find and destroy it.

So, Evil Dead Burn begins with some important connective tissue to Evil Dead Rise, in that it uses Jess once again to ignite the main events of the movie. It wouldn't be surprising if we see her again in Evil Dead Wrath, despite the fact she was in pretty rough shape after killing Will in that car accident.

Evil Dead Burn resurrects a major character from Evil Dead Rise in its post-credits scene

Jess isn't the only Deadite who returns from Evil Dead Rise. The post-credits scene resurrects the main villain, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), the single mom who lived in an apartment complex in Los Angeles and was possessed by the Deadites after one of her kids discovered the Book of the Dead. The post-credits scene loops back to the funeral home where Will's ceremony was held earlier in Evil Dead Burn. The daughter of the coroner asks her mom about the various urns of ashes and sees Ellie's name on one of them.

Moments later, the girl sees Ellie in a mirror, before she appears in the real world and viciously kills the child, before saying, "Mummy's back." It's a hell of a post-credits scene that proves just how popular Ellie is as a franchise character. However, the scene raises a lot of head-scratching questions. At the end of Rise, Ellie was brutally killed by her sister, Beth (Lily Sullivan), who hacks her apart with a chainsaw and feeds her into a woodchipper. One way to kill the Deadites is by totally destroying the host body, which Beth does.

Resurrecting Ellie resets the franchise's lore. Because Beth obliterated Ellie's body, the Deadite shouldn't have been able to return. It's also unclear why or how any ashes of Ellie remained, considering the brutal way that she died. Further, it's been confirmed that Evil Dead Wrath is a franchise prequel that takes place in 1972. This predates Ellie's timeline and her possession. So why would they bring her back in the post-credits scene when the next movie occurs in the 1970s? Maybe they just wanted a brief cameo of a fan favorite character, or maybe some of Wrath will take place in the present, allowing Ellie to return. There's also the chance she'll be used in a sequel some point down the line, after Wrath.

The post-credits scene does feel like a big deal that teases Ellie will have some role in the franchise moving forward. We'll have to wait and see what it is.

Evil Dead Burn is currently playing in theaters.