There aren’t a whole lot of Thanksgiving movies out there. There’s a select few, like Planes Trains, and Automobiles, Free Birds, and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, but it’s a holiday that’s certainly been lacking when it comes to movies. However, there’s now a new horror film, simply titled Thanksgiving, that celebrates the holiday in the bloodiest ways imaginable. Does this slasher deserve being watched every year at Thanksgiving or is it overcooked? Let’s dig in to find out.

Mild spoilers for Thanksgiving are ahead.

The Good

The kills are exceptionally creative and shockingly satisfying. Almost all of them perfectly fit the theme with folks getting stabbed by electric carving knives, cooked in ovens, and impaled by the Mayflower, which leads to some twisted fun. On top of that, none of these gruesome kills (with very realistic-looking gore) are off-camera or too dark to see. These killing scenes are everything that a slasher fan is looking for.

Of course, there are a handful of jumpscares throughout, as is the case with a lot of horror films. While in most other modern movies, many of these jumpscares are fakeouts with them just taking place for the phone ringing or a bird cawing, the ones in Thanksgiving are actual scares. Each jumpscare is the killer attacking or murdering someone. The jumps are actually earned.

Thanksgiving deals with horror clichés rather interestingly. Instead of avoiding cell phones or having no service for no reason, cell phones are used as normal. Phone calls for help are made, videos are live-streamed, and social media posts allow the cops and the rest of the world to stay updated on the horrific events. The police actually believe the victims and are actively trying to stop the killer throughout the movie rather than sending a single cop to check on it or never showing up. It’s also worth noting that the killer feels like a real person rather than teleporting around town and being outright invincible.

Thanks to Eli Roth’s directing, the movie is well-shot. Some of the best shots in the film have the killer subtly lurking in the background or peaking around the corner. Audiences may miss him, but he’s there. Each brilliantly eerie shot adds to the spooky atmosphere.

While the twist at the end is far from the most mind-bending or surprising, it’s still a pretty decent one. Playing whodunnit throughout provides a lot of fun. Viewers will likely be able to figure it out before the reveal, but the journey there is quite entertaining. All the clues and foreshadowing is there, and the reveal offers solid payoff for it.

There’s an element of comedy-horror throughout, which is quite fun as well. There are some wonderfully nihilistic moments that are gruesome but are played for laughs, and they’re done quite well. The killer has a solid sense of humor throughout with the way he forces the Thanksgiving theme into his murders and delivers twisted lines about eating Thanksgiving dinner. There are quite a few moments that are hard not to laugh at.

The Bad

Most of the characters (with some exceptions) are absolutely insufferable. They’re annoying and just plain mean-spirited. It’s hard not to hope that they get killed. They’re genuinely frustrating to watch at times. Sometimes great horror comes from being afraid for the characters because of how much we empathize with them and care for them. That’s absolutely not the case here. On top of that, many of the characters fall into slash movie archetypes like the dumb jock, the headstrong guy that just wants to fight the killer, the sleazy cheerleader, and the final girl.

The movie opens on a scene that takes place on Black Friday. It depicts a chaotic and violent riot in which shoppers straight-up kill each other for waffle irons and other household products. The movie takes place in modern day. Black Friday is far from like this now. Sure, people wait in lines late at night or super early in the morning and it can get crowded, but it’s fairly organized and civil. People aren’t literally breaking down walls to get into a store; they’re scrolling on their phones until they’re allowed in. This scene is played for hyperbole, but it’s so unrealistic that it’s immersion-breaking. Worst of all, it’s one of the most vital scenes to the plot.

Some of the victims had multiple opportunities to attack or take down the John Carver killer and they didn’t take it. Even the character who was amped to fight Carver decided to run when the murderous pilgrim got his ax wedged in a wall. He was just a guy, not some paranormal entity like Freddy or Jason. With the weapons and numbers they had, they could have taken him. It’s only a few moments, but they’re a bit frustrating.

Hollywood has a rather extensive library of incredibly bad Boston accents in film. Thanksgiving comes close to taking the cake. These accents are so fake and cringeworthy they give the ones used in The Perfect Storm a run for their money. If an actor can’t do an accent, just don’t have them use that accent. This takes place in modern day Massachusetts; it’s a pretty diverse place with lots of people who have lots of accents. There’s no need to force actors to attempt ones they’re clearly terrible at. The depiction of the “Mass-holes” and their road rage is pretty spot-on, though.

Conclusion

Thanksgiving is certainly not the next great slasher franchise, but it is a lot of fun. Despite its flaws (that should have been easy to avoid), the film is worthy of being watched every year by horror fans and will likely be the topic of conversation at many dinner tables this Thanksgiving. It doesn’t revolutionize the genre, but it’s undoubtedly a fun time for those slasher flick fanatics.

Rating: 7.5 / 10

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