185) Thanksgiving (2023)

"There will be no leftovers this year."

Director

Eli Roth 

Cast
Patrick Dempsey - Sheriff Eric Newlon
Nell Verlaque - Jessica
Addison Rae - Gaby
Jalen Thomas Brooks - Bobby
Milo Manheim - Ryan
Tomaso Sanelli - Evan
Gabriel Davenport - Scuba
Jenna Warren - Yulia
Ty Victor Olsson - Mitch Collins
Rick Hoffman - Thomas Wright
Gina Gershon - Amanda Collins

I don't know if it's me, or if there has recently been a kind of campy holiday horror movie Renaissance. By holiday, I mean all holidays. 

Titles like "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey," and "The Mean One" (a horror take on "How the Grinch Stole Christmas") have come out recently. There's has been recent talk of a horror movie called, "Mickey's Mouse Trap" now that early Mickey Mouse cartoons have become public domain. 

The 2024 turkey day horror movie, "Thanksgiving" can be counted among recent cheesy flicks. 

I can't talk about "Thanksgiving" without tossing out references to older horror movies centered around common holidays. Christmas, for instance, is constantly the theme to so many horror movies such as "Black Christmas" (1974), "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (1984), "Better Watch Out" (2017), and one of my personal favorites, "Violent Night" (2022). It's a holiday that always seems to be in need of saving. 

Christmas isn't the only victim of bad horror movies. There are so many others themed on random holidays like "New Year's Evil" 1980), "Terror Train" (1980), "April Fool's Day" (1986), "Trick or Treats" (1982), "Bloody Birthday" (1981), "Uncle Sam" (1996), "Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill!" (2006) …the list is enormous. And let's not forget all the "Leprechaun" movies since we just celebrated St. Patrick's Day. Yeah, I covered all those already. On second thought, let's definitely forget those. 

"Thanksgiving" is a movie where customs and tradition goes head-to-head greed in the form of modern consumerism. 

It's Thanksgiving in the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. A raging, vulgar, greedy mob has gathered outside of the town's RightMart for Black Friday sales. 

Jessica Wright's (Nell Verlaque) dad, Thomas (Rick Hoffman) is the owner of RightMart. And he lets her, along with her friends, inside the store through a side door before the crowd is let in. This makes the crowd rage even more.

When the doors finally open, the fuming crowd push their way in causing multiple injuries, and the deaths of a few people. Amanda Collins (Gina Gershon),
the wife of RightMart's store manager, Mitch (Ty Victor Olsson) is one of the victims of the ruthless shoppers. 

The majority of the crowd only care about getting their discounted items before someone else. Plymouth is now tarnished by this event. 

One year later, Thomas is going to open RightMart on Thanksgiving Day for Black Friday, which sparks protests because of what happened the year before. Mitch is one of those protesting.
Jessica's old boyfriend, Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks), returns to Plymouth which arouses some jealousy with her current boyfriend, Ryan (Milo Manheim).

Meanwhile, Lizzie, who was in that RightMart crowd the year before, and as vulgar and unruly as ever, is working as a waitress in a diner. 

As she closes for the night, an anonymous figure wearing a mask of John Carver (one of the founders of the Plymouth colony) murders her. 

Soon after, other people around Plymouth who were involved in the Black Friday riot are killed off one by one. 
Sheriff Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey) is putting in as much effort and manpower as he can to catch this killer who's targeting everyone involved in that Black Friday riot. 

Jessica helps as much as she can to bring this killer down. Soon, the murderer goes after those closest to her. 

The movie is full of gore and splatter, and corny one-liners such as "If we let the police handle it, we're all going to end up 50% off." And that's followed by more blood and guts! 

By the end, well... I should have seen the end coming. 

In one scene, Sheriff Newlon tells Jessica, "Be careful who you trust, because this is a matter of life and death." What a giveaway! And it went right over my head. 

The movie is pretty much formulaic. There's a sadistic masked killer out for revenge. And it's a race against the clock for police to catch him before he strikes again. 

Still, it's entertaining enough for being a good ol' fashioned slasher flick. 

Director Eli Roth has directed some popular horror titles like "Hostel," "Hostel: Part II" and "Cabin Fever." He does a decent job with "Thanksgiving." It's clear Roth is a horror fan! He knows how to make an audience cringe and cover their eyes. His talent for making gritty Friday night, creature feature horror movies is ever present in "Thanksgiving." It's a fun and unique Thanksgiving Day horror feast.