All holidays deserve a scary movie, right? Halloween is the king of this and Christmas has its fair share too. Along with a few others who have had their day as well…that is except Thanksgiving. Ok, that is not exactly true, but the only one that comes to mind is Thankskilling about the turkey that murders people… and does other things to them that I don’t want to talk about here.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had plenty to eat. I also hope your food didn’t spoil the same way you will be spoiled here if you continue reading without having seen the movie. You have been warned. There are plenty of other reviews to read if you want to check them out here, then come back here for the main course when you are ready. If you want John Carver to come for you… continue forward.
Thanksgiving is the newest movie by Eli Roth and Blumhouse. The biggest name you would know from this is Patrick Dempsey (McDreamy to some of you) as Sheriff Eric Newlon, but the stars of the movie are the mostly unheard-of young cast. Nell Verlaque, Gabriel Davenport, Jalen Thomas Brooks, and Milo Manheim. There are several more, but I mention these since they are some of the ones that actually make it to the end. The movie starts with a Black Friday sale gone horribly wrong and quite gruesome in many ways. Arms being broken, people being cut, and a scene that will keep you up at night of a scalp being torn off.
We then fast-forward one full year as we see a little bit of the aftermath of the horrific incident the previous year. Most of the people in town haven’t forgotten about what happened and the teenagers are still infamous for their respected parts in it. Then the gore starts up again as the people involved in the Black Friday tragedy are slowly being killed off one by one. It mostly focuses on the core group of friends Jessica (Verlaque), Evan (Tomaso Sanelli), Gabby (Addison Rae), Amy (Shailyn Griffin), and Scuba (Davenport) since they were in the store during the riot. They spend the majority of the film trying to figure out what is going on, who the killer is, and trying to stay alive. As a young group of actors/actresses, the acting is decent, about what you would expect from a slasher flick of this level. But since some of them have barely been acting much more than a movie or two, it isn’t that bad. I believe that most of them will probably go on to star in more movies down the line.
Of course, the “real” star of the movie is the John Carver mask, isn’t it? Or the man wearing the John Carver mask technically. Much like the Ghostface mask in the Scream series, the Michael Meyers mask in Halloween, or the Jason Voorhees hockey mask in Friday the 13th in part three moving forward, the John Carver mask is the main constant throughout (except for the 5 minutes when he’s a clown… don’t ask). The mask mixed with the Pilgrim hat is enough to look creepy all by itself, let alone attach it to the face of a serial killer.
Overall, this was a fun time. Obviously, if you don’t like blood and gore or people getting cooked alive and served as a giant turkey, I would stay away, but for the rest of us, it was enjoyable and somewhat fun in a few ways. Now, I’m not saying I have a new Thanksgiving tradition to watch this every year now, but it may be fun every few years or to surprise my friends with it from time to time.
Just on pure fun alone, I give this a 7 out of 10. The story and progression of characters is another story and would probably have to fall in around the 6 out of 10 area… so I guess 6.5 out of 10 is my final answer. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Did I miss any other scary Thanksgiving movies? Did you enjoy this one? Happy eating and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!
I was wondering how this movie was. Wanted to hear a good opinion. I will check it out.