Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
Plot: After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorises Plymouth, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the infamous holiday.
Review: What were you thankful for this past year? For this horror fan I was thankful Eli Roth returned to horror with his ode to old school slashers, Thanksgiving.
In 2007 Quentin Tarantino in collaboration with Robert Rodriquez released Grindhouse, a double film ode to the old grindhouse double-features of the 70s featuring Death Proof and Planet Terror. The directing team also had other horror directors make fake trailers for movies that didn’t exist. One of those trailers was called Thanksgiving created by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) which was a shout-out to similarly holiday-themed horror movies such as Halloween and Silent Night. Fast-forward 16 years, Roth has finally made a full-length film of his trailer and the result is a solid slasher that doesn’t try to be anything beyond that, which was just fine for me.
The cast had some familiar faces such as Patrick Dempsey as the town’s sheriff, Gina Gershon as a loving housewife and character actor Rick Hoffman who most may know from the television show Suits, while most of the younger cast is unknown. No one truly stands out except maybe Joe Deflin as the guns and ammo eccentric McCarthy. I thought he was genuinely funny even though he didn’t have a lot of screen time.
While the movie may not have created a memorable final girl/guy it did give us an eye-catching new killer in the form of “John Carver”. Based off a famous pilgrim in the town’s history, the creepy pilgrim mask (my favourite being the partially burnt version), pilgrim hat and grisly kills in keeping with the Thanksgiving holiday were a blast to behold. One particular cat-and-mouse chase takes place in the latter half and ends with a turkey carving unlike any you’ve ever seen. I could totally see it popping up in a future 100 Scariest Movie Moments and I really appreciated Roth’s choice to use practical effects whenever possible over computer generated images (as I’ve mentioned in other reviews, CGI tends to pull me out of the narrative faster than your family members reaching for the last turkey leg).
Not to brag (I’m totally bragging) but I figured out who the killer was from pretty much the first act. That didn’t stop me from enjoying this movie though. No offence to the more cerebral horror movies out there but sometimes all I need is a guy in a creepy mask, a big axe and a town of unsuspecting villains to satisfy my horror-loving needs. And Thanksgiving, with its dark sense of humor and perfect runtime, did just that.
Sommer’s Score: 7 out of 10
Have you checked out Thanksgiving? What did you think of it? And you can check have a bite of some more slasher content below:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge-Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes. Double Tap Baby! Read More