Thanksgiving: Eli Roth Carves Up a Glib, Gory Horror Comeback

By Thom Ernst

Rating: A-

Eli Roth is back with Thanksgiving to ensure horror continues its tradition of subverting traditions. Especially the sacred ones.

On the table this time is American Thanksgiving, a problematic holiday to begin with, depending on which side of the colonization argument you fall on. But it’s not politics that got a masked killer cooking up ways to carve up the gentle folks of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The killer’s motives are a bit more sinister, and—in ways understood only by horror fans—delicious.

The Black Friday Massacre revenge killer in Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving

After a bit of a slump with the surprisingly tame retelling of Death Wish and the even tamer home invasion drama, Knock Knock, Roth has rediscovered his inner prep-boy sadist.

The film was born from the ‘fake movie trailer’ that divided Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s grindhouse features in Grindhouse (2007).

The original fake trailer has the perfect grainy clumsiness of a '70s grindhouse film: cheap, shoddy, and nasty. Roth’s feature restages some scenes originating from the trailer, but the production coming 16 years later, betrays some of the original’s promise of ‘70s grind.  No matter. The film works. Its uneven, but the unevenness is part of the ride.

The worst that can be said about Roth’s direction—and the same issue arises in the script in which he shares co-writing credit with Jeff Rendell—is that he can occasionally overplay his hand as if he couldn’t decide between two punchlines, so he delivers them both.

For the most part, Roth hits the mark, serving up a grisly meal of horror movie archetypes: The self-centered athlete (Tomaso Sanelli) the brassy waitress (Amanda Barker), the cruel stepmother (Karen Cliche), the greedy store owner (Rick Hoffman), the angry ex-employee (Ty Victor Olsson), the self-preserving security guard (comedian Tim Dillon) and of course, the promiscuous cheerleader, plus plenty of shady side dishes.

Roth and Rendell’s script imagines a Black Friday that quickly turns blood red when shoppers embark on a deadly rampage to be the first to get in on the free waffle iron promotion. Much of the mayhem was caught on surveillance cameras.

A year later, the deaths and mutilation coming out of that event are left unpunished. That’s about to change. Donning a mask with the likeness of John Carver (great name for a killer) is an unknown vigilante who begins exacting a cruel and cleverly staged justice on those deemed complicit in the Black Friday massacre.

Patrick Dempsey is the local sheriff. Nice to see Dempsey on screen again, still showing the distinctions that once earned him the nickname ‘McDreamy,’ based on his role in Grey’s Anatomy. Gina Gershon’s cameo as a doting wife to store manager Mitch (Olsson) is brief but not one that is easily forgotten.

At the other end of the age gap are the kids, the baseball stars, the cheerleaders, the outsiders, all of whom are on the killer’s hit list.

The younger cast hold their own alongside the more seasoned veterans, but if there is a weak link in the film, it’s with them.  Particularly problematic is the conflict between Ryan (Milo Manheim) and Bobby (Jaylen Thomas Brooks) both vying for the affection for Jessica (Nell Verlaque). The clash between Ryan and Bobby can at times seem unnecessary, despite providing the film with a workable McGuffin.

Thanksgiving is an American film with American money, American director, and many American actors. But watch closely and you’ll spot Canadian cameos from actors Lynne Griffin who starred in the original Black Christmas (1974), Derek McGrath, plus some voice work from Adam MacDonald, director of Backcountry (2014) and the Slasher television series.

Some credit needs to be given to the set designer (listed as Kari Measham) for their attention to detail. The hockey stick door-handles perfectly set the mood for the town of Plymouth as a working-class, baseball town (hockey stick door-handle aside).

The film is Roth’s, and so expect a silly premise, comic-book violence, and gory set pieces.  What you might not expect is the humour. Thanksgiving is funny. At a time when theatres are gearing up to showcase the prestige Oscar films, Thanksgiving is the anti-prestige, anti-Oscar, and anti-thanksgiving treat.   

See it with an audience. The crowd reaction is worth the price of the ticket.

Thanksgiving. Directed by Eli Roth. Starring Patrick Dempsey, Milo Manheim, Nell Verlaque, Jaylen Thomas Brooks, Tomaso Sanelli, Amanda Barker, Gina Gershon, Amanda Barker, Karen Cliche, and Rick Hoffman. In theatres now.