Thanksgiving might be a lesser-known holiday outside of the States, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know what it’s supposed to represent, or see how commonly ignored the good intent is when connected to the consumerist chaos of Black Friday. Oddly they feel entwined from outside the USA these days – although let’s not disregard Christmas in a similar vein, if we’re being fair.

With all this in mind, Director Eli Roth and co-writer Jeff Rendell have taken the absurdity of both these US moments, and thrown it into the classic horror slasher genre (with definite sprinkles of Wes Craven’s Scream including Marco Beltrami-like piano), and created a feast of gory deaths and silly, yet comparatively entertaining outcomes for the bloody and unsubtle: Thanksgiving.

Beginning with a family gathering of sorts, we meet Patrick Dempsey’s Sheriff Eric Newlon and a selection of other locals before diving into the setup for everything: An intensely charged superstore scene, where Roth essentially recreates one of those CCTV videos we’ve seen on the internet of people going truly mental for Black Friday deals. During this, we meet a host of individuals who aren’t that likeable, and a sequence of carnage ending with some nasty deaths that undoubtedly could have been avoided – but people die for the sake of a free waffle iron. Ah, it’s the American Dream.

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One year later…

Thanksgiving wastes no time in setting up possible suspects and reasons, plus an early brutal death (which eventually leads to the line ‘If we let the police handle this we’re all gonna be 50% off!’), and consequentially a situation that’s got I Know What You Did Last Summer written all over it. It’s obvious to draw the conclusion that someone is out for revenge, but who from the original tragedy? From here, and one by one, certain residents of Plymouth, Massachusetts will be targeted and murdered by a person disguised as the Mayflower’s John Carver (one of the Pilgrims) – but what’s the motive, and what will be the eventual outcome?

Roth’s film will unravel the secrets, and the comedy-horror deaths are part-brutal, part-funny as the killer finds more extreme and specific ways to take the people out they’re targeting for reasons – also to be revealed. It’s a true blender of silly gory and genuine nasty but you can’t underestimate the ambition. While there’s quite a lot of exposition early on, it does hold a watchable intrigue from start to finish, even if at first you think you’ll surely hate everyone (so who cares) because they’re so dislikable at the beginning.

Nell Verlaque’s Jessica is the front player to making you care a little, think of her as the Neve Campbell or Melissa Barrera in this situation, and although also targeted, fights her way better than others along the way, and picks up a good partnership with Gabriel Davenport’s Scuba, as they fend off the terrible things trying to come their way. There’s also a good performance from Rick Hoffman, and what I’d call a ridiculous Gina Gershon cameo – and I mean it in a what happens scenario (Gina’s ace).

Thanksgiving is one for the season, and while it does have some foul moments (as I’m not a fan of the excessive torture-like-porn that Roth can inhabit), the idiocy here pushes the film into the realms of ridiculous and raucous and I’d think that would make it a fun group watch. Brutal, funny, stupid with some good jump scares and more than enough to keep you watching up to the finale – the writing duo also celebrates tongue-in-cheek one-liners which fits the film perfectly – and our killer is even nice to a cat, which was a massively welcome change.  

Let’s put it this way, there’s more than just a turkey being carved, and while it it’s never as smart as the likes of Ready or Not, it’s just the right side of outrageous.

Thanksgiving is available on Digital now, or pre-order a physical copy here: https://amzn.to/3TCkFwu