A gory slasher movie that makes good on its promise of turkey-killing fun. It may not have the same campy charm as director Eli Roth’s phony trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s 2007 anthology Grindhouse, but it still delivers on the gore front.
The film starts with a typical small-town slasher structure, showing a riotous stampede that ends in a deadly department store massacre. But then, it shifts into a mode that seems to satirize modern consumer culture.
1. It’s a Thanksgiving movie.
There’s a horror movie for every holiday (from Halloween vampires to Santa-killing zombies), so it was only a matter of time before the annual Thanksgiving frightfest came along. Directed by Eli Roth, this turkey is a gory slasher flick with enough entrails and dissected bodies to satisfy fans of the genre.
The film follows a familiar small-town slasher structure, as the town of Plymouth is terrorized by a mystery killer dressed in a pilgrim costume and wearing the mask of John Carver, the first governor of the Plymouth colony. It’s an effective enough gimmick, though it lacks the sense of suspense or unease that elevates other classic slashers.
This is mainly because of the characters, all of whom are largely unlikable. Even the good guys aren’t particularly compelling, with everyone from the sheriff to a dumb-jock teen getting split open in the end. The only thing that saves this turkey from mediocrity is the gore, which features everything from crushed rib cages to a splatter-worthy mob stampede to a scalping by dueling shopping carts.
2. It’s a Christmas movie.
After a year of Black Friday-related mayhem, a mysterious masked killer returns to Plymouth to exact revenge. This movie follows a familiar small-town slasher formula, but director Eli Roth (Hostel) and screenwriter Jeff Rendell have a bit more fun with it than usual.
The movie available on gomovies begins with a terrifying, expertly staged sequence depicting a riot at a big box store called Right Mart (any resemblance to Walmart is entirely coincidental). The chaotic fracas culminates in gruesome deaths.
As in Scream, the film’s second act focuses on a group of characters attempting to uncover the identity of the killer. A sheriff, a newcomer to town, and a local arms dealer are among those targeted by the murderous masked figure.
The actors are generally quite good, but they lack the deft characterization that elevates better meta-horror movies like Scream and Happy Death Day. Likewise, the film’s gore is occasionally overdone (a cheerleader trampoline stab comes to mind). Yet even the nastiest moments are delivered with enough aplomb that walk-outs are unlikely.
3. It’s a Halloween movie.
Director Eli Roth drew raves for his fake Thanksgiving trailer, a slasher morsel that appeared in Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse in 2007. This full-length version echoes the concept, but it lacks the smart, scuzzed-out charm of its precursor. It also strains for a kind of operatically, dramatically arty sensibility that never fully gels.
Its kill scenes, meanwhile, are typically more gory and gruesome than scary, though they occasionally deliver a winking sense of dark humor. A blond woman bleeds over an unopened waffle iron box, for instance, and another victim’s blood is used to fill two corn on the cob holders.
The movie satirizes consumerism and frenzied Black Friday behavior, but its message isn’t always clear or convincing. And the unlikable cast of victims means that the deaths don’t generate much suspense or a sense of mounting terror. Plus, the killer’s instructions are sometimes downright absurd (saving a cat and feeding a dead one are among them). It’s a good addition to the genre but not a must-see for horror fans. It may be worth checking out for the aforementioned visuals, however.
4. It’s a Valentine’s Day movie.
It might be a little too tongue-in-cheek for fans of meta-horror (a la Scream or Happy Death Day) to fully enjoy, but Thanksgiving is still plenty of fun. It opens with a Black Friday stampede that ends in tragedy, and then follows Jessica and the town’s other survivors as they try to track down a masked killer. Thanksgiving uses a familiar small-town slasher movie structure, bouncing between scenes of quiet paranoia and suburban humor with outrageous, cartoonishly violent set pieces and kills.
The movie flirts with a few ideas about consumerism and our infatuation with social media, but it’s never really clear what the filmmaker is trying to say. And the gore is a bit too skewed toward the ridiculous—a trampoline scene involving a cheerleader’s acrobatic striptease is just out of place.
Thanksgiving has enough blood and vomit to satisfy most fans of stomach-churning violence, but it lacks the plot, characters, and acting to keep audiences at the edge of their seats. Ultimately, it’s an emblem of our age of true desensitization.
5. It’s a Christmas movie.
Director Eli Roth hasn’t touched a slasher in more than a decade, but he knows how to cook up a blood-soaked good time. His film, a de-basted version of the luscious mock trailer that appeared in Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s “Grindhouse,” is a fun romp full of guffaw-worthy gore (think heads sliced off on serving platters and scantily-clad cheerleaders stabbed through their torsos on trampolines).
This isn’t a particularly deep movie, however. The film’s ostensible heroine, department store owner Jessica Right Mart (Nell Verlaque), and her friends Evan (Tomaso Sanelli), Gabby (Addison Rae), and Yulia (Jenna Warren) all come off as sour, self-centered characters with few redeeming qualities. And while the screenwriters flirt with some over-the-top satire of consumerism and our incessant need to livestream everything, these undercurrents don’t always add up to anything memorable or clever.
Still, it’s hard not to enjoy a film that ends with a vengeful killer proclaiming “There will be no leftovers!” And if you’re looking for a bloody, trashy turkey to feast on this Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving delivers in spades.