Thanksgiving (2023) Movie Review - The Best Thanksgiving Themed Horror?

Welcome to Knockout Horror. It’s Thanksgiving for you guys in the USA and I hope you are all enjoying the celebrations and eating way too much. Obviously, I am from Wales, in the UK, so we don’t do the whole Thanksgiving thing. I’m a huge NFL fan, though, so I will definitely be watching the games with some food.

If you are looking for something altogether more horror related for your holiday viewing, why not take a look at the film we are checking out today – Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving. It follows the story of a small town in Massachusetts finding themselves the victim of a maniacal serial killer after a black Friday riot leads to disaster.

Slim Pickings

Let’s be real, for a second, when it comes to Thanksgiving related horror movies, there is very little to choose from. You have average slasher Kristy, which takes place on a college campus over the Thanksgiving holiday. Bruce Campbell’s whacky horror comedy Black Friday from a few years back. A bunch of low rent movies that look pretty terrible. 80’s classic campy slasher Blood Rage and a bunch of stuff that isn’t really horror at all.

When it comes to Thanksgiving horror, the trimmings are light and the turkey is well and truly overdone. With that in mind, it was pretty refreshing to see Eli Roth come along in 2023 with this holiday themed slasher movie. The Hostel director wanted to make a feature length version of the short Thanksgiving. A mock trailer he directed that featured in 2007, Tarantino and Rodriguez, double feature Grindhouse.

A Traditional Approach

Roth intended for Thanksgiving to follow the blueprint of golden age slasher movies like My Bloody Valentine and Nightmare on Elm Street. There was only one problem, the trailer that featured in Grindhouse was utterly ridiculous and would have bound the creator to a rather silly plot. One that featured a killer who was once enamoured with a turkey that was killed for thanksgiving. Resulting in him murdering his family, spending years in a mental asylum before breaking out to, once again, take out his vengeance on the town.

Roth decided to strike every element of that trailer away. Pretending it was a movie that never made it to mass release due to being too brutal for broadcast. This allowed him to look at 2023’s Thanksgiving as a full reset on the formula. Gone was the terrible backstory, the gratuitous nudity was removed, the grainy visuals disappeared and the killer was given an altogether less ridiculous motive. The result is a movie that works pretty well.

Quite Enjoyable

Thanksgiving features a very strong, and somewhat chaotic, start set in a department store on Black Friday. A large cast and a very active, dramatic, opening have you wondering just what type of movie this might be. It doesn’t feel very typical of films like this but that opening belies what is, at its core, a fairly generic slasher with a slight mystery, whodunnit, element.

It works fairly well, for the most part. Kills are pretty inventive, provoking a few groans for how gruesome they look. The large cast offers plenty of opportunities for brutality. Some of the scenes are very well setup with nods to a bunch of horror classics throughout the years. The mystery element is pretty intriguing and there is enough gore to keep things interesting.

Thanksgiving nods heavily to classic slashers with much of the dialogue but, in my opinion, it feels more like an early 2000’s slasher than an 80’s one. Featuring moments that are incredibly reminiscent of films like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The strong focus on a single friend group and their connection to the killings that are taking place feels incredibly familiar. Fans of movies like that will find plenty to like. It’s basic but it works and that is the perfect way to summarise Thanksgiving, as a whole.

Simply Very Basic

Thanksgiving is, at its heart, little more than a very basic slasher. This is, kind of, what Eli Roth does and if you enjoy his other movies you will like this. Kills, though fun, are heavily telegraphed and very predictable. The cast is almost universally unlikable making them difficult to relate to. The movie is woefully predictable and the killer reveal comes as a major disappointment. It’s the kind of reveal that leaves you wondering just how cute Roth was trying to get. It’s just so damn obvious and comes as a big let down.

Acting is a real mixed bag. This is an incredibly bloated cast and the result is a bunch of performances that feel very weak. Patrick Dempsey stands out, as does Amanda Barker in a very fun role. None of the teens brought much to the fold. All of them struggled to really appreciate the severity of the situation but they did well when interacting with each. Feeling, at least, somewhat like a real friend group.

Cinematography is fine. There are a few continuity issues here and there but this feels like a pretty big budget affair for a horror. Some of the kills will have you scratching your head a bit for how silly they are but I loved the practical effects. Thanksgiving has a pretty wicked sense of humour, at times, and that adds a bit of much needed levity to the film.

Should You Watch Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is probably the best Thanksgiving horror I have watched and definitely worth checking out. There are some inventive kills, it fits the theme nicely, Roth does a lot right and the gore is fantastic. With that being said, this is just a super basic slasher wearing a thanksgiving hat. Totally watchable but the disappointing killer reveal and subpar acting do leave you wanting a bit when it is done.

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Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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