One year after the Right Mart Black Friday tragedy that resulted in multiple consumer deaths and injuries, a mysterious man begins to terrorize the people of Plymouth, Mass as the town prepares for their Thanksgiving Day celebrations.  Dressed in a John Carver mask and a pilgrim hat, the man begins to enact his revenge on those he deems responsible for the massacre. 

Eli Roth directs Thanksgiving after breaking the story with Jeff Rendell who penned the script.  The concept originated as a trailer that was shown as a part of the Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez led project Grindhouse (2007).  TriStar Pictures funded the expansion of the concept and distributed the resulting 106-minute holiday slasher that draws heavily on the setups and expectations of the classic pick ‘em off films of the ‘70s and ’80s while folding in modern technology and sensibilities. 

The film is framed around Jessica (Nell Verlaque), heiress to the Right Mark Empire being run currently by her father, Rick (Thomas Wright), and his new wife, Kathleen (Karen Cliche).  Her ex-boyfriend, Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks), a star baseball player who suffered a career-ending injury during the massacre is back in town for the holiday weekend and none too pleased to discover that Jessica is now dating Ryan (Milo Manheim), a nerdy nemesis of the varsity athlete.  Rounding out the core cast are Jessica’s friends, couples Scuba (Gabriel Davenport) and Yulia (Jenna Warren), and Evan (Tomaso Sanelli) and Gabby (Addison Rae).  In addition to a smattering of ancillary characters, John Carver has no shortage of people to target, but the large cast – despite helping to flesh out the world and make it feel wider than most of Thanksgiving’s contemporaries – stretches this novel concept a bit too thin and the charm wears off by the time the few survivors face off against the hell-bent pilgrim. 

Thankfully, Roth dispatches with his characters in some really creative and gruesome ways, so much so that audiences can be forgiven for wincing in anticipation as they watch one of them simply put in their contact lenses for fear of what may or may not come next.  Before leaning too deep into the gore, however, Roth takes a much campier approach as the stampede of customers break down the door to Right Mart hoping to get their hands on a waffle iron.  From getting trampled down, to chunks of scalp being ripped from the head of a woman whose hair got caught in a shopping cartwheel, the opening is bold, bloody, and downright goofy at times.  After the jump forward one year to the present day, the film takes on a darker and more grim turn while still utilizing the spaces well.  There is still some creativity going on in how John Carver utilizes a walk in freezer door in one murder, and humor as Carver attends to the needs of a demanding kitty before leaving the scene of another, but the kills themselves take a more traditional approach as the weapon of choice is a large axe lifted from the historic display. It is not until he begins to target the core group of teens does Carver get truly creative. 

The film stalls a little as it regroups around the allegedly tragedy-stricken group of CW high schoolers.  Unrefined performances are to be expected in the genre, but even playing into the trope, Thanksgiving is – unfortunately – a pretty abysmal effort across the board.  This signals that it probably stems more from Roth in the director’s seat than from the individual actors, but the joke falls flat and it makes for an increasingly agitating experience between the blood, guts, and gore when these people are supposed to be setting up and investigating the mystery. 

As for the story, the film really squanders its premise on that front.  There is very little in ways of clues or intrigue, instead, the film supports itself on survival alone.  While the creative kills certainly help salve the disappointing story, this lack of plot makes the film feel much longer.  These characters all bump along a track to a conclusion without much in the way of narrative interest.  This is mostly due to so much of the Carver plot being delivered online and watching characters looking at Instagram posts and YouTube videos is just inherently uncinematic.  Whenever something happens, the group quickly pulls out their phones to discuss what was posted as all the triggers are delivered digitally instead of stumbled upon.   The entire finale kicks off with Jessica “thankful for the [cell] service” as she records Carver’s identity reveal and confession on a live video.  Poor Verlaque in her opening moment as the final girl is stuck standing there, not only with the lame joke to deliver but also holding up her cell phone with the flash on for a weapon. Coming down from the high of a human turkey dinner, the reveal is really lacking. 

For what it is, Thanksgiving is a much better modern slasher than most as it does try to push some boundaries in what will appeal to a mass audience.  It leans into a perverse brand of holiday spirit which is when the film is at its strongest as it pokes fun at the capitalist and commercial takeover of a holiday meant to bring us together.  As Carver is preparing his human turkey – and, it needs to be stated the perfect accident that the first governor of the Plymouth Colony has such a thematic and slasher-appropriate name – Thanksgiving is a total delight in all of its gross-out glory.  Unfortunately, the concept is still a little slight to support a feature-length narrative, and – to admit another pun – trimming the fat in that middle act when the teens are doing absolutely nothing would have been greatly beneficial.  Without the downtime, the film would have maintained the power of its most thrilling moments while keeping audiences on the edge the entire time instead of just waiting around for Roth to serve up his next course.