For the 2007 double feature Grindhouse, directors Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie, and Eli Roth contributed three fake trailers. Wright homaged 70s European horror with Don’t, Zombie brought up Werewolf Women of the SS, and Roth offered up Thanksgiving. While the movie underperformed, the trailers were a highlight, and Roth started developing a feature film based on the trailer. Over the next few years, Roth and co-writer Jeff Rendell worked on fleshing out the script while producing other movies. During this time, Roth was hired by Lionsgate to direct a film adaptation of the popular video game Borderlands. While filming wrapped in 2022, reshoots were announced in early 2023, but Roth chose to make his holiday slasher instead. He left Tim Miller in charge while filming in Toronto and Ontario for three months on a $15 million budget. After 16 years of development, Thanksgiving finally slashed into theaters in November 2023.
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Synopsis
The small town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, is rocked to its core when a massive Black Friday sale ends in tragedy. One year later, Thomas Wright (Rick Hoffman), the store owner whose sale ended in death, plans to do it again. Wright commits despite warnings from his daughter Jessica (Nell Verlaque) and protests led by former manager Mitch Collins (Ty Olsson). Soon, a mysterious figure dressed as a pilgrim wearing a John Carver mask starts killing people in increasingly gruesome ways. The killer is targeting people involved in the Black Friday tragedy, which Jessica and her friends were present for. Sheriff Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey) is investigating the murders while Jessica deals with her ex-boyfriend Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks). As the killings continue, our heroes have to figure out who the killer is before they end up dead. This Thanksgiving, there will be no leftovers.
Review
If I’m being honest, I’ve never been the biggest fan of Eli Roth, primarily because of his writing style. In Cabin Fever and Hostel, he wrote the characters to be so unlikeable that you wanted them to die. That’s the sign of a bad writer: instead of writing well-rounded, three-dimensional characters, you make them as annoying as possible. With that in mind, I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed Roth’s latest offering. Thanksgiving is a solid throwback to 80s holiday-themed slasher films like My Bloody Valentine and Happy Birthday to Me. One thing that impressed me immediately was the gore effects, which are all done practically and look great. There are some memorable kills, including a few from the original fake trailer, including the infamous trampoline scene. The over-the-top nature of the kills adds to the fun, grindhouse-type vibe the movie is going for.
While I would’ve preferred Michael Biehn from the original trailer to return, Patrick Dempsey does an excellent job. He’s quiet and reserved, never playing the role for laughs and taking it seriously, which makes the dark humor funnier. Relative newcomer Nell Verlaque is also promising as the main heroine, Jessica, acting as the voice of reason. The rest of the cast is your typical slasher canon fodder, but that’s not to say they’re all detestable. Sure, there is some of that douchy bro attitude Eli Roth is known for, but it’s downplayed significantly here. Plus, any particularly unlikable characters are disposed of pretty quickly, so you’re never stuck with them for too long. Old-school slasher fans should look for an appearance from Lynne Griffin, known for Canadian chillers like Black Christmas and Curtains. Also, Gina Gershon has a small but memorable role early in the movie.
If I had any complaints, I’d say one of the biggest is the runtime, roughly an hour and forty-seven minutes. A slasher film like this should be kept at ninety minutes, and plenty of slower scenes could’ve been excised. Also, while the first two acts are strong, everything starts falling apart in the third. The film loses the sense of dark fun it had and goes straight for the gross-out factor. Plus, even if the effect was digital, I wish this had that faux grainy, scratched-up look from Grindhouse. Regardless, you’ll have a good time here if you’re a fan of Eli Roth’s work or slasher films. Even if you generally don’t like Roth’s movies (like myself), you might be surprised with this one. Overall, Thanksgiving is an enjoyably gruesome and humorous take on a well-worn horror subgenre that never seems to die.
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