There are horror movies where you instantly know who the hero is. Then there are Evil Dead movies, where the script practically laughs at the idea of heroes. Evil Dead Burn (2026) understands that better than most modern horror releases, and nowhere is that clearer than in Hunter Doohan’s performance as Joseph Price.
If you expected another fearless survivor who suddenly becomes an action legend halfway through the film, prepare to be disappointed—in the best possible way. Joseph isn’t fearless. He isn’t especially clever under pressure. He doesn’t magically overcome impossible odds because the screenplay needs him alive. He’s scared, he makes terrible decisions, and those decisions carry devastating consequences.
That’s exactly why he became my favorite character in the movie.
Hunter Doohan Leaves Wednesday Behind
Most viewers still associate Hunter Doohan with Tyler Galpin from Wednesday. That role made him recognizable around the world, but Evil Dead Burn throws him into something far darker and much less forgiving.
Forget sarcastic jokes. Forget supernatural teen drama. Here it’s all about panic, guilt, blood, and Kandarian demons tearing apart an already broken family.
Doohan plays Joseph Price, a member of the troubled Price family whose curiosity ends up triggering one of the bloodiest nightmares in the franchise. At first, his story almost feels like a slow family mystery. He’s searching through his late grandfather’s belongings, trying to understand why the old man spent decades hiding disturbing secrets from everyone around him.
That quiet investigation doesn’t stay quiet for long.
Who Is Joseph Price?
Joseph isn’t introduced as some fearless occult expert or future demon hunter. He’s simply a young man desperate for answers. His grandfather’s strange past becomes an obsession, especially after discovering evidence that connects him to a mysterious organization dedicated to protecting forbidden knowledge.
Hidden among old journals, forgotten documents, and locked rooms is one artifact that changes everything:
- The legendary Kandarian Dagger.
Joseph slowly realizes his grandfather wasn’t collecting creepy relics for entertainment. He was keeping something dangerous away from the outside world.
Unfortunately, Joseph’s determination to uncover the truth awakens forces that should never have been disturbed.
The Price Family’s Nightmare Begins
While Alice arrives at the isolated countryside estate hoping to reconnect with her late husband’s family, Joseph is already digging into decades of buried history.
That investigation quietly becomes the movie’s biggest turning point.
Unlike so many horror films where characters make unbelievably stupid decisions simply because the plot demands it, Joseph’s mistake actually feels understandable. He isn’t trying to unleash evil. He’s trying to understand his family’s past.
Curiosity becomes the spark.
The demons provide the explosion.
Once the Kandarian evil awakens, the estate transforms into a prison. Hallways become death traps. Family members become victims. Every conversation slowly gives way to screams.
One by one, the Price family falls apart.
The Scene Everyone Keeps Debating
The most controversial moment in Evil Dead Burn isn’t one of the spectacular kills.
It’s Joseph’s choice.
Trapped, terrified, and convinced he’s about to die, he sacrifices another person’s safety to increase his own chances of survival.
Some viewers immediately turned against him.
I didn’t.
Honestly, I appreciated the decision because it refuses to turn Joseph into another unrealistic horror hero. Real people panic. Real people freeze. Real people make selfish decisions when survival instincts completely overwhelm rational thought.
That’s exactly what Joseph does.
It’s frustrating.
It’s ugly.
And that’s why it works.
Hunter Doohan sells every second of that emotional collapse without making it feel forced.
Does Joseph Price Survive?
No.
Anyone expecting a heroic comeback is watching the wrong franchise.
After his emotional breakdown, Joseph eventually loses his fight against the Kandarian infection. Despite everything he learned about his grandfather’s secrets and the legendary dagger, fear leaves him vulnerable long before the demons finally reach him.
His transformation into a Deadite is one of the movie’s strongest horror sequences.
The terrified young man disappears.
In his place stands something cruel, mocking, and completely possessed by demonic evil.
Even worse, the demon uses Joseph’s memories and voice to psychologically attack the remaining survivors, especially Alice. Instead of becoming another mindless monster, he becomes an emotional weapon designed to destroy hope before destroying lives.
His story finally ends during the film’s blood-soaked finale, where his body is permanently destroyed.
No miracle.
No fake death.
No sequel setup.
Just another devastating casualty of the Evil Dead universe.
Hunter Doohan Delivers One of the Film’s Best Performances
What surprised me most wasn’t the gore.
It was Hunter Doohan’s ability to make Joseph’s fear feel completely authentic.
Many actors can scream convincingly.
Very few can show a character slowly losing control over his own morality.
Joseph doesn’t suddenly become weak.
He slowly breaks apart.
Every terrible decision feels like another crack forming until there’s almost nothing left of the person introduced at the beginning of the movie.
By the time possession finally takes over, Joseph has already lost himself emotionally.
The Deadite transformation simply finishes what fear started.
Joseph Price at a Glance
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Character | Joseph Price |
| Actor | Hunter Doohan |
| Role | Investigates the Price family’s hidden occult history |
| Key Artifact | Kandarian Dagger |
| Turning Point | Chooses self-preservation over another survivor |
| Final Fate | Transforms into a Deadite and is permanently destroyed |
Why Joseph Feels Different From Typical Horror Characters
- He isn’t fearless. Terror controls nearly every important decision he makes.
- Knowledge doesn’t save him. Learning about the curse only delays the inevitable.
- Fear becomes his greatest enemy. His emotional collapse starts long before possession.
- There is no redemption. The movie never excuses his mistakes or rewards him with a heroic ending.
I genuinely wish more horror movies trusted audiences enough to write characters this way.
Not everyone gets a glorious last stand.
Sometimes people simply fall apart.
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Did Hunter Doohan Steal the Movie?
I wouldn’t say he completely overshadows the rest of the cast because Souheila Yacoub delivers an equally committed performance. Still, Joseph quietly becomes the emotional center of the entire story despite never fitting the classic horror hero template.
That’s not easy to pull off.
He’s frustrating enough to make you yell at the screen during one scene, yet sympathetic enough that his downfall still feels genuinely tragic.
Those two emotions rarely exist together in modern horror.
Hunter Doohan somehow makes both believable.
Long after the credits finished rolling, Joseph Price remained the character I kept thinking about. Not because he was the strongest survivor, but because he was probably the most believable person trapped inside this nightmare.
Modern horror desperately needs more characters like him.
Too many recent genre films rely on unstoppable protagonists who survive simply because the script refuses to let them die. Evil Dead Burn goes in the opposite direction. It lets fear destroy judgment. It reminds viewers that ordinary people don’t suddenly become legends when demons kick down the front door.
Joseph Price never becomes the next Ash Williams.
Instead, he becomes something far more disturbing—a painfully human victim whose fear slowly destroys everything that once made him himself.
That tragic downfall is exactly what makes Hunter Doohan’s performance one of the biggest highlights of Evil Dead Burn (2026).
