Thanksgiving is a 2023 TriStar Pictures horror release directed by Eli Roth and starring Patrick Dempsey, Nell Verlaque, Rick Hoffman, Jalen Thomas Brooks, and Karen Cliche. This movie was adapted from a spoof trailer in the Grindhouse movie, with the same name and same director attached to it. This seems like a passion project of sorts for Eli Roth as he’s said he’s wanted to create an iconic slasher villain character for a while, and he has always enjoyed holiday themed horror films but felt like there was a gap missing when it came to Thanksgiving. Everything about this was classic bread and butter slasher formula. From the main group of teenagers and their varying personalities, to the small-town vibe and the local sheriff, to the masked villain killing people in clever and intricate ways, this was a slasher whodunnit film through and through. It is nice to see a new masked slasher villain emerge though in John Carver. It feels refreshing to see a new face of evil in the horror genre, especially the slasher subgenre, as most the iconic slasher villains that are household names are now 30-40 years old and have been recycled for new stories time and time again by this point.
This movie went all in on being a Thanksgiving based movie (hence the title). It took place in the town of Plymouth, Mass. (the place where the original Thanksgiving was held), there was a Thanksgiving parade, a couple Thanksgiving dinner scenes, and even a chaos fueled Black Friday mess as the cold open. The Black Friday madness that kickstarted this movie and became the overall motivation for the killer was equal parts insane and hilarious, poking fun at America’s obsession with consumerism (especially during the holiday season) and was a great lead off for a horror film. Probably one of my favorite scenes of the movie overall. This movie gave me Scream vibes if Scream was based around the Thanksgiving holiday. It was undoubtably a slasher, the killer named ‘John Carver’ remained a mystery through the movie, the kills were brutal and horrific but there was a decent bit of humor sprinkled in throughout as well, and the main characters of the movie were a group of high school age kids and a local cop. Ring any bells? Scream had an overall better cast of characters though by far, I couldn’t really attach to or feel much emotion for any character in this movie, final girl included. They all just kind of felt meh, some of them I liked much less than others. Despite that little gripe though I had a lot of fun and got a lot of enjoyment out of this movie and it’s a very welcome addition to a somewhat lackluster and non-existent slate of Thanksgiving movies.
If you’re into slasher movies I can’t find any reason why you wouldn’t enjoy this film. As a bit of a slasher enthusiast myself it was very nice to see a modern slasher with a brand-new villain emerge in the year 2023 where the slasher subgenre has kind of been treading water now for a bit, especially in the department of new stories and characters. This may potentially be Eli Roth’s overall tamest horror film as well. Although the kills are brutal and intense for some I’m sure, this didn’t have the raw and visceral, mean-spirited brutality that his horror movies tend to center around. The kills felt much more purposely hammy and at times cheesy than his previous work which is a bit of a breath of fresh air. It certainly makes the rewatchability every Thanksgiving season from here on out much higher for me as you can just have a casual fun night with a film like this and I can’t necessarily say that about all of his previous work, even though I like and enjoy him as a director and filmmaker overall. If you’re looking for something new and holiday driven this Thanksgiving season I would recommend it, and if you’re into horror or slasher movies I would certainly recommend it as well as it’s definitely something new and fresh. Check it out in theaters now or on streaming I’m sure sometime soon!
