After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the infamous holiday.
As a teenager in the ’80s, horror films were my favorite genre. Unfortunately, in Ireland, the rating system didn’t work the same way as it does here in the U.S.; an R-rated film here means if you’re under 17, you can gain admittance as long as you’re with someone over 17. In Ireland, American R-rated films were rated 18, which meant you had to be over 18 years of age to get in, so most of my teen years watching horror movies were spent in my living room viewing VHS tapes from the local video store.
Of course, there were always the go-to 1980s classics such as “The Thing,” “Poltergeist,” “The Fog,” “Children of the Corn,” and “Friday the 13th,” but I always found myself being drawn to the more independent horror films, like “The Evil Dead,” “Maniac,” “Street Trash,” “Blood Beach,” “C.H.U.D.,” “Bad Taste,” “My Bloody Valentine,” and Don Gronquist’s “Unhinged,” titles that because they were indie, could be filled with more blood and gore than a theatrical release.
Eli Roth has made a name for himself directing horror films like “Cabin Fever,” “Hostel,” “Hostel: Part II,” “The Green Inferno,” “Death Wish,” and now his love letter to ’80s slasher flicks, “Thanksgiving.” The idea was born out of a fake trailer he shot for the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double bill, “Grindhouse” in 2007, and he said in interviews over the years that the idea of turning it into a movie always intrigued him, so here we are, in 2023, a fake-trailer-turned-real-trailer-turned-real-film.
The movie takes place in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Thanksgiving night. The local store, Right Mart, is about to open for its Black Friday deals, but the crowds are becoming restless and violent outside. When Gabby (Addison Rae), whose father owns the store, and her friends manage to sneak inside early for some quick deals ahead of the crowd, people outside witness this and charge the door. A bloodbath follows as angry customers push and shove and step all over each other, trying to grab the latest holiday items. In the ensuing carnage, people are injured, and lives are lost.
One year later, the town has moved on and is trying to forget its violent past, but when residents start dying gruesomely, Gabby begins to put the pieces together. She comprehends that the killer was affected by the riot the previous year, and someone close to them died in the frantic mayhem. Now, they are seeking revenge. However, when Gabby realizes that she and her friends are on the killer’s Thanksgiving carving board, they, along with the town’s police department, headed by Sheriff Newlon (Patrick Dempsey), formulate a plan to catch the killer, but things don’t go according to plan.
“Thanksgiving” is set in the present, but the kills and overall ambiance are evocative of any number of ’80s slasher flicks, back when people died in gruesome and creative ways. Here, Roth immerses the viewer in some of the most imaginative and bloodsoaked kills in recent horror film memory. No one is spared. And he does an excellent job keeping you guessing the killer’s identity. Like any horror film where the killer wears a mask, where anybody and everybody is a suspect, he borrows heavily from that subgenre, and when the killer is finally revealed, it all makes perfect sense.
All the actors are perfect in their respective roles, with Patrick Dempsey and Rick Hoffman, the film’s veterans, having just as much fun as the younger cast. Naturally, the ending is not tied up nicely and neatly with a bow on top, as this could be the beginning of a prospective lucrative franchise for Sony, but it ends like so many 1980s horror films did: if you know, you know. If horror is your thing, I would highly recommend “Thanksgiving,” I, for one, am very thankful for Eli Roth and his killer imagination.
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