Gobble gobble! Thanksgiving has come early (or very late if you’re from Canada), and Eli Roth has prepared a gruesome feast for slasher fans to devour. Adapted from the infamous fake trailer seen in 2007’s Grindhouse, this ultra violent b-movie is a ridiculously over-the-top treat.
If you’re watching this movie looking for a well written story and three dimensional characters, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. The narrative is thin and the characters play more like caricatures, but that’s part of the charm. Actually, it’s kind of the whole point. Roth has made a film teetering on the edge of parody, but thanks to his wealth of experience in the horror/slasher genre, one that never fully crosses that line. The gratuitous violence is both disturbing and hilarious, which is an impressive balancing act.
The film relies on a borrowed formula to work through its plot and collection of brutal kills. Look at the story’s framework and it’s impossible to ignore a striking similarity to the Scream franchise, but it works because you aren’t here for the plot. You’re here to watch a man dressed like a pilgrim savagely murder people, while the town scrambles to figure out who the killer is. The body count is high and the kills are wildly creative, with just enough tension to give the movie a high stakes feeling. Roth doesn’t hold back on brutality, and it truly feels like anybody’s life is on the table.
Thanksgiving takes 2007’s Grindhouse appetizer and turns it into a whole feast. It’s a movie that knows exactly what it’s trying to be, overcoming its own tired tropes and thinly written characters with a variety of gruesome and insanely creative kills. Rejoice, slasher fans! We’re eatin’ good this holiday season.
3.5/5
Review by: Benjamin Garrett
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