“Thanksgiving” Review
A mysterious murderer dressed as a pilgrim stalks and butchers a series of people in Plymouth, Massachusetts in “Thanksgiving”, a holiday-themed slasher film by Eli Roth.
While there’s certainly plenty of great films that we watch around Christmas and Halloween, Thanksgiving noticeably has few cinematic offerings. There’s “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” of course as well as “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” but, after that, things really drop off to the point where, for those few weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving, I begin to make some stretches as to why I watch certain films around this time. “The Last Waltz”? The film’s titular concert took place on Thanksgiving Day of 1976. Easy enough. “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Knives Out”? Both films certainly have a fall atmosphere and capture the chaos of family. “Chicken Run”? Well, it’s about birds that don’t want to get eaten. Granted, they’re chickens but it’s still poultry. “The Godfather”? Okay, I don’t know why cable stations put this on around Thanksgiving but I am all there for it.
With such a lack of cinematic holiday spirit, one genre that has been slowly filling this void is horror. After all, who doesn’t want to see people getting eaten by a turkey, for once, in “ThanksKilling”? There are a few standout horror films related to the November holiday that exist on a low budget but leave it to Eli Roth to garner a respectable $15 million to make “Thanksgiving”, a wickedly entertaining slasher horror film that is guaranteed to make you love gore with the gleeful enthusiasm inspired by your favorite food at the Thanksgiving table.
Set in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the town famous for creating Thanksgiving back in 1621 is faced with a terrible tragedy when a Black Friday rampage leaves multiple people dead. A year later, a group of teenagers that were involved in the riot find themselves being stalked by a murderous pilgrim who vows to murder everyone connected to this tragedy.
If you couldn’t tell by the film’s premise or its trailer that this isn’t meant to be taken seriously, then I don’t know what to tell you. I mean, this is based on one of the fake trailers (directed by Roth) for the “Grindhouse” double feature by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. Much like “M3GAN”, you should go into this movie understanding that it’s going to be a “tongue-in-cheek” slasher that works comedically within the genre and it does so exceptionally well.
Eli Roth has been outspoken of his love for the Italian style of horror called “giallo,” which combines elements of slashers, thrillers, whodunits and exploitation films, and this is what “Thanksgiving” has been bathed in. Obviously, “Thanksgiving” is going to be a mystery with the identity of the mysterious killer as the central plot point but the real giveaway for this giallo influence is the excessive gore which manages to sicken, entertain and inspire laughter all at once. Watching this film, it didn’t take much to remind me that this film was directed by the same guy that played Sergeant Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz in “Inglourious Basterds”.
Compared to other holiday themed horror films like “Halloween” and “Black Christmas”, “Thanksgiving” embraces its holiday much more and it’s a fun celebration. There is Thanksgiving imagery all over the place with the killer dressed as John Carver, the setting being Plymouth and many of the kills being creatively tied into the annual feast. Of course, most holidays have their baggage and this film contains some delightfully mean-spirited jokes including some about the atrocities inflicted on Native Americans and the incessant need of commercialism around Black Friday
Since most of the film’s characters that are being hunted by John Carver are partially responsible for a Black Friday massacre, it’s difficult to feel sorry for them especially when they’re written to be delightfully unlikable. However, while you do want to see many of these people get their comeuppance, the film’s protagonist/final girl Jessica (Neil Verlaque) is remarkable. With her father and stepmother (Rick Hoffman and Karen Cliche) owning the store that was at the center of the tragedy, she is dealing with the guilt of the massacre’s aftermath and you sympathize with her. After watching all of the “Friday the 13th” films in a row for October, where many of the “Final Girls” are blandly written, it is refreshing to see this trope done so well.
If you are willing to embrace the ridiculous nature that has surrounded previous “Grindhouse” related films, like the original double feature of “Planet Terror” and “Death Proof” and “Machete” (also based on a fake trailer for the film), “Thanksgiving” is going to be a fun time. It’s gory to the point of absurdity, full of the creative treatment of holiday symbols and manages to capture the spirit of the holiday in a dark, twisted way. While there are so few Thanksgiving films, I think that the reason people watch this slasher every year will go beyond the holiday with which the film shares its name. People will watch “Thanksgiving” because it’s a thrill.
