Eli Roth (Hostel, The House With A Clock In Its Walls) returns to direct another horror flick for the big screen. This one is just as much topical as it is scary. Its main premise revolved around a Black Friday riot that went really awry. And the post-events were just as tragic, as a Thanksgiving-inspired slasher/killer wreaked havoc on the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The victims were pretty much the perpetrators or were linked to the reason for the devastating events that occurred the previous year on Thanksgiving weekend. And, of course, one of the kids in the store had to record it all for the clout. The opening scene of a somewhat realistic Black Friday sale night opening at an off-shoot Walmart called Right Mart was almost near-accurate. I felt like the craziness and riot activity could easily have mimicked real-life tragedies…and for what? A free waffle maker for the first 100 customers.
What was great about this movie was its ability to keep the pacing up without convoluted dialogue. The deaths or fights with the killer were tight but still impressive. The story was pretty typical for a slasher movie. The motive of the killer was clearly connected to the events of the Black Friday mass trampling. For some strange reason, it reminded me of Attack on Titan’s rumbling, but more real and brutal.
The John Carver history was a nice backdrop to the story as well. I was confused by the trailer who the mask represented, and it reminded me of the Guy Fawkes mask from V For Vendetta. I actually walked out of the film learning more about Plymouth, Massachusetts. I also learned how it was the birthplace of the holiday Thanksgiving itself!
“Roth was able to bring the horror factor to Thanksgiving’s deaths using many practical effects mixed with VFX/CGI.”
Roth was able to bring the horror factor to Thanksgiving’s deaths using many practical effects mixed with VFX/CGI. I thought each one was as gruesome as the next. I did not expect to see a lot of sausages (human intestines) for a Thanksgiving film! From disembowelment to beheadings, this film had a nice spread of deaths at various points in the film (pun intended!). The campiness reminded me of Sam Raimi’s style of horror in his Evil Dead universe.
Surprisingly, the film’s weakest point was not Patrick Dempsey (Disenchanted, Grey’s Anatomy) aka McDreamy’s attempt to keep a Massachusetts-local accent throughout the movie. It was the somewhat lacklustre dialogue and some of the characters’ choices. Can we be done with the whole bully making the smart kid do their homework trope? It just seemed a little lazy on that part.
Even though some of the casual Gen Z lines made me facepalm and laugh out loud, the sore jokes also stood out. But I still love it when teenagers think the world revolves around them, and they just ignore the fact that they were responsible for a guy getting his neck slashed (at least indirectly involved). The adult cast was mostly carried by Dempsey and Rick Hoffman (Suits, Billions), and then there was the teenager cast.
“From disembowelment to beheadings, this film had a nice spread of deaths at various points in the film (pun intended!) for a Thanksgiving horror.”
I will admit I liked the lead character Jessica, who was played by Nell Verlaque and has not had much on her acting resume. But her performance was about on par with the new lead of the Scream franchise. For the Addison Rae fans, she was not the leading role. To be honest, she was kind of just there in the background at times.
The rest of the adolescent cast was where the high school dynamics fell apart. They definitely had some emotional beats while the killer was after them, but it really only felt like Jessica was the only one appearing to be traumatized by it all. I was also confused by the looks of some of the actors, whether they were older teens or not. I thought they could have easily made them college students.
The music and score of the film were lacking, especially for a Sony Pictures-adjacent film. Typically, Sony Pictures features some good music in their films, like the recent Spider-Man animated films or even in Morbius and the Venom films. I thought some Thanksgiving music theme would be tied to this, but I was disappointed. Most of the sound cues were typical screeches and such to evoke jump scares; nothing unique about the sounds.
The killer themself was menacing in stature and in their movements. I felt every heft in each axe swing they threw. Again, I felt similar vibes in swagger to the Ghostface Killer from the Scream films, mixed with a little bit of the killer from the Happy Death Day movies. The dark humour-killing elements were definitely similar to the latter comparison.
Thanksgiving was a nice, silly slasher film that can be enjoyed once for the mystery aspect. I do not feel like it will hit as hard on a second watch. The 106 minutes felt a little dragged on at times, but not to a point of dread. The lingering shots or random inaudible moments shot through windows were interesting cinematic moments. I would say if you took those out, it would still only shave out about like 5 minutes tops. Definitely check this film out if you have that craving to see some good practical effects horror.
