Thanksgiving Review

“This year, there will be… no leftovers.” – The Thomas Carver Slasher

Finally, Thanksgiving gets its own holiday themed slasher film. This is something I’ve been complaining about for years, something obvious that was overlooked in the heyday of the slasher films back in the halcyon days of the eighties and early nineties. I mean, if Christmas, Halloween, April Fools, Friday the 13th Valentine’s and birthdays can have their own themed horror movies, why not Thanksgiving – right?

This is an expansion of a mock trailer directed by horror director Eli Roth as part of the Grindhouse feature back in 2007, and truly delivers on every score. It’s a full-blooded throwback to the slasher movies of the eighties which I loved so much (possibly to an unhealthy degree) to the extent that they have their own section on this site – aim your machete here for Slasher Central.

As much as I advocate originality in horror movies, I have to admit that I enjoyed the hell out of this film, despite it being a traditional slasher in just about every way possible. The structure, the execution, it’s all there. Much as I love the Scream films for their self-awareness and their commentary on the industry concerning sequels, trilogies, reboots, legacy characters and so on – I loved just taking my seat in the multiplex and enjoying watching a new film that observed all the old rules and tropes if the sub-genre and seeing how the old tried and trusted formula still worked.

The film opens in the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts with a Black Friday sale at the RightMart superstore, which kicks off its sale on the evening of Thanksgiving. People being what they are start to queue up early, vying for position because the first 100 customers will get a free waffle toaster. Some privileged teenaged kids (who, as per tradition in these movies all appear far too old to be in high school) get to go in early through a side door and mock the crowd outside through the window. The already tense and volatile crowd now become a baying mob and storm the building causing mass carnage. People are maimed, crushed, bones are broken, fights break out – it’s hell on the front lines of sales, which is why I avoid them.

A year later, RightMart is again preparing to have a Black Friday sale on Thanksgiving Day, having really learned nothing from the tragedy of the previous year other than to put a couple more security guards on duty.

So, the killings start.

The ringleaders of the riot and the privileged kids are being targeted in a series of mostly Thanksgiving themed murders. The perpetrator is wearing a pilgrim hat and a plastic mask of John Carver, who was a pilgrim on the Mayflower and the first Governor of Plymouth (thus proving the educational value of horror movies, I didn’t know about him before this film).

The killings themselves are, in Eli Roth’s style, gleefully gory and over the top, so if you’re a slasher fan, you’re going to have a blast. Roth knows his audience, and delivers a film that both repulses and makes the target audience laugh (I did). From the ongoing theme of taunting his intended victims by tagging them into a photo of a Thanksgiving dinner setup with their names on their places at the table to the murders themselves, be it by buzzsaw, by knifing a trampolining cheerleader through the trampoline as she repeatedly lands, or by actually glazing and stuffing someone in an oven and cooking her like a turkey. The identity of the killer remains a surprise until the end, as per tradition, and there are several red herrings, which I won’t spoil here. But trust me, John Carver has earned his place alongside Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers.

Ultimately, this is a film that will become as much a Thanksgiving tradition as John Carpenter’s masterpiece is during October. Eli Roth’s genuine feel for the slasher film shows through in every single frame, it hits every mark, making this the best horror movie I’ve seen this year – and it’s been a good year for horror!

Rob Rating = 10