Thanksgiving

Back in 2007, Quentin Tarantino teamed up with directors Robert Rodriguez, Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, Jason Eisner and Eli Roth to produce Grindhouse — a double feature event with one film directed by Tarantino and the other by Rodriguez. This double feature also contained fake trailers produced by Rodriugez and the other directors. Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving is the most recent of these fake trailers to be adapted into features, following in the footsteps of Robert Rodriguez’s Machete and Jason Eisner’s Hobo with a Shotgun. If these released films are any indication of quality, I eagerly hope we will get Edgar Wright’s Don’t and Rob Zombie’s Werewolf Women of the SS in the future.

Horror is a genre that I find incredibly conflicting, with many horror films being clear all-time favourites and even more of these flicks being absolute drivel. While it’s no masterpiece, Thanksgiving is thankfully one of the great horror films. The film may not be a reinvention of the slasher genre, it is one of the few slashers that is actually solid. This film chooses to be more of a showcase for creative and brutal kills rather than a “deep” horror film with “themes”, which I was fully on board with. The characters are fairly archetypal and bare bones, but this isn’t a film that aspires to be anything more than a good time. And I’m okay with that!

Like the story itself, Thanksgiving’s performances all work for what they are.  The actors are generally fine, but occasionally they get the opportunity to elevate their scenes and bring some real terror to them. There are also some really unique moments of direction that enhance inventive, unique, and brutal kills. 

Though it is a romp for any horror fan, Thanksgiving is not without faults. Occasionally, the film breaks its own logic, primarily in regards to how the killer is able to get some places at times. The film is also paced somewhat slowly and could be trimmed down. The opening scene that sets up the film drags on a bit too long, and it takes a little bit to really get going. This is enhanced by the fact that there are large sections where the killer doesn’t appear, causing the film to lose a bit of focus. Thankfully, there’s still a lot of fun to be had with the film thanks to its aforementioned kills and to its underlying mystery. The film keeps you guessing as to who the killer could be, and it does make sense by the end. Again, there are some slight leaps in logic as to how the final confrontation gets set up. Neither the killer nor their reveal is unreasonable (if anything, the killer was a tad too obvious), but the way the characters arrive at the location of the climax raised a few eyebrows. 

Despite these issues, Thanksgiving is nonetheless well worth a watch for any horror fan!

7.5/10