As the name would suggest, this slasher is set around Thanksgiving. In fact it is Thanksgiving 2022 and people are gathering outside the RightMart store in Plymouth, Massachusetts, waiting for the store’s Black Friday sale to start at midnight.
However, things go horribly wrong when Jessica (Nell Verlaque – The Marijuana Conspiracy), whose father owns the store, lets her friends Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks – Walker), Evan (Tomaso Sanelli – Titans), Gabby (Addison Rae – He’s All That), Scuba (Gabriel Davenport – Steal Away) and Yulia (Jenna Warren – The Young Arsonists) into the store early.
When the crowd outside sees them already inside, a crowd surge occurs that ends up in the death of a number of people and injuries to many others – including Bobby, who breaks his arm and puts his baseball career at risk.
Twelve months later a serial killer dressed in a John Carver mask turns up and starts to murder people who were at the RightMart that night. When she realises that she, her friends and her family’s lives are in danger Jessica begins working with Sheriff Eric Newton (Patrick Dempsey – Grey’s Anatomy) to work out who the killer is before he can deliver his promised, warped, Thanksgiving dinner.
It has become obvious over the years that when you see Eli Roth’s name attached to a project, you could easily be in for anything – and that includes good and bad. As a director he made a name for himself 20 years ago with Cabin Fever and since then has made brilliant films like The Green Inferno and Knock Knock, but there has also been trash like the gory Hostel flicks.
With Thanksgiving, it seems like Roth has found a way to deliver both his good and bad side as a filmmaker in the one film. On one hand the general premise of the film is decent and if you are a horror fanatic you are going to be impressed by some of the creative kills throughout the film. But on the other hand there are just too many sequences in this film that are recognisable from other films including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, Valentine and My Bloody Valentine 3D.
Sure the official word is that Thanksgiving is a homage to some of the better slashers that have come before it – but let’s be honest: what it really is is lazy filmmaking. The disappointing thing is that most people watching the film will know that Roth with all his talent and love of horror is capable of much more than what is served up here.
What does work in the film’s favour though is the story itself. This is not one of those films where the audience are going to be able to pick the killer from the get-go – and in fact screenwriters Roth and first time feature writer Jeff Rendell lead the audience down a merry path with some false flags leading them in completely the wrong direction.
Thanksgiving is not exactly a film that you are going to watch and be expecting some Oscar-worthy performances, but when it comes to the acting here it is not as cringy as some would expect. Patrick Dempsey leads the way playing the friendly town sheriff while Nell Veralque does enough to announce herself as one of the new generation’s scream queens.
Perhaps the biggest congratulations on the acting side needs to go to Jalen Thomas Brooks. He seems to relish in one of the roles in this film that actually does have some characterisation – and despite many of the questions raised about his character throughout the film, the audience will certainly be on his side when it comes to the battle for the affection of Jessica.
There are good and bad elements to Thanksgiving. Sadly, despite the film having an interesting premise and taking a small swipe at commercialising holidays and corporate greed, much of this film will have audiences thinking, ‘Now where have I seen that before?’ Still, if you are a fan of a good slasher this will certainly quench the thirst.
Thanksgiving opens in Phuket on Dec 5 and is rated ‘18’.
2.5/5 Stars
David Griffiths has been working as a film and music reviewer for over 20 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He is also an accredited reviewer for Rotten Tomatoes. You can follow him at www.facebook.com/subcultureentertainmentaus