Thanksgiving Review: A Festive Slasher!

Sixteen years ago Eli Roth created a fake trailer to accompany Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino’s film Grindhouse. Needless to say it was a massive hit, enough that audiences were dying for a feature length film of the holiday slasher. The time has finally come where Eli Roth’s idea has become a reality with his new film Thanksgiving, starring Patrick Dempsey, Rick Hoffman, Gina Gershon, and Milo Manheim.

The town of Plymouth, Massachusetts experiences a preventable tragedy during a Black Friday sale the year before, resulting in a masked killer named John Carver going on a killing spree to bring members of the town to the Thanksgiving dinner of their nightmares. What Eli Roth has created is an enjoyable slasher that is bound to be a holiday classic for years to come.

Thanksgiving succeeds in developing a terrifying opening that leads the movie down its path with enough mystery to keep audiences intrigued. Roth’s opening scene is a slight deviation from his normal style in that the audience is sick to their stomachs, but not because of gore, but because the scene is heavily based in reality. The Black Friday riot jumpstarts the rest of the film in that John Carver is clearly angry about the consequences of that night and must get revenge on those involved. As the group of teenagers try to get to the bottom of John Carver’s identity, the audience can’t help but think of the opening scene for clues that they may have missed in the midst of the chaos.

The film’s aesthetic is the perfect amount of a brown color scheme with a dark cinematography looming over the entire film. It has a fantastic ability to not just feature the film during the Thanksgiving holiday but utilize elements of the holiday for gnarly kills and its inclusion in the murder weapons. Thanksgiving certainly uses the “whodunit” convention but the ride up to the reveal is what makes it worthwhile.

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Thanksgiving doesn’t let its commentary of consumerism slide by, it makes it apparent from the very beginning because sometimes you just need to be “hit over the head with it” as John Carver says. Although we all love the traditions of Thanksgiving and a gorgeous meal, Roth delivers a film that displays its obvious flaws as an American holiday. Although John Carver is our ruthless killer, his anger towards the townspeople makes sense and gives us characters that we want to watch but also do not feel sorry for. Thanksgiving is a festive slasher that is rewatchable during the holidays for fans of the genre.

‘Thanksgiving’ Rating – 3.5/5

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