Film Review - Thanksgiving
Images courtesy of Sony Pictures.
A decade and a half after the fake trailer featured in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse, Eli Roth's Thanksgiving slashes its way onto the silver screen. Eschewing the 70s aesthetics of its predecessors, it takes a handful of iconic shots from the trailer but transplants them into a very modern movie, which Roth apparently intended to be imagined as a remake of the original “lost” film. Featuring decent helpings of gore and humour, the film focuses on a killer’s rampage during the titular holiday in the town of Plymouth, one year after a devastating Black Friday riot.
Though I'll admit I went in with somewhat lowered expectations after a slew of mediocre and disappointing horror films over the past few months, as well as not being all that in love with Roth as a director, Thanksgiving won me over with the chaos of its opening scene. Its depiction of people turning into animals for Black Friday sales is horrifying, while being just exaggerated enough to still remain funny. A man with a sliced jugular still going for his free waffle iron feels emblematic of the cut-throat nature of American consumerism.
The actual main characters aren't exactly breaking free of horror stereotypes, but they're well-defined enough that it's not too much of a task to keep track of them all, despite falling into the Friday the 13th pitfall of having maybe just a few too many. The performances are decent, and there's plenty of potential motives to keep you guessing as to who the killer is, as well as a plethora of bodies ready to be carved up. Thanksgiving’s real saving grace is that, unlike many modern slashers, the kills are actually pretty creative, with very little stuffing when it comes to the violent setpieces. Most of the practical effects are saved for later in the film, and although I would've appreciated a bit less CGI, the tone was light-hearted enough that I didn't really mind.
It's a shame that this had to come out after Halloween, but it's a far better seasonal horror than something like ThanksKilling, a film that rides almost entirely on the ridiculous premise of a turkey killing people and makes little effort to actually push that concept further or do anything creative. Granted, the killer's motive to bring together a group of survivors for one final dinner does feel a little half-baked, and I would've appreciated if there was a little bit more emphasis on that scene as the climax of the film. Instead, once the dinner set piece is over, the film quickly realises it hasn't revealed the killer yet, and kind of limps awkwardly to its ending.
Overall though, Thanksgiving is an entertaining ride, and one that should please even the more discerning horror crowds - the audience I saw it with absolutely ate it up. Leaving little room for seconds, Thanksgiving reminds us to be thankful for the simple pleasures that horror brings, and not unlike the dishes that might adorn a festive dinner table, there's plenty of corn to go around.
Follow Eli on Letterboxd, Twitter and Instagram.
Thanksgiving is screening in cinemas from Thursday 16th November. For tickets and more info, click here.