Thanksgiving (2023)

“There will be NO leftovers!”

Gore god Eli Roth took sixteen years to finally give his fans Thanksgiving. The 2023 film is based upon a trailer that he made for the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarentino Grindhouse double feature (2007). Along with screenwriter Jeff Rendell, Roth developed the story about a vengeful slasher who goes after the people who ruined his life after a terrible Black Friday tragedy in which multiple people met violent ends.

One year after the Black Friday tragedy, a slasher in a John Carver mask begins systematically and violently killing people involved with the event. He also uploads the murders or their aftermath on social media. Sheriff Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey) tries to figure out who the killer is before more people die. A group of well-to-do and popular teens who witnessed, videoed, and downloaded the Black Friday tragedy to social media realize that the killer is taking out people associated with the event and do their own investigation in an attempt to stop the murderer. At the center of the chaos is Jessica (Nell Verlaque), whose father had the sale where the deaths occurred. She has a few suspects in mind and eventually teams up with the sheriff to put an end to the slaughter. Does she succeed? Watch Thanksgiving to find out what happens.

If you’re familiar with some of Roth’s other work such as The Green Inferno (2013), the Hostel films (2005, 2007), and Cabin Fever (2002), you already know what you are getting in Thanksgiving. That said, Thanksgiving gives viewers the same ol’ same old that they expect from Roth but on a toned down scale in my opinion. Yes, there are some very gory, exploitative scenes of violence involving everything from turkey thermometers to the traditional axe, but they aren’t as excessive as Roth’s earlier work. There’s almost no nudity, something Roth always manages to unnecessarily throw in his films, in the film as well. There’s only a brief flash of a bare bottom. There isn’t much humor in the film, either.

What it does have is a cast of very unlikeable characters that I had no problem watching meet a violent end. It also has an easily picked out slasher. I knew who the killer was almost immediately despite Roth giving us quite a few suspects.

The acting was okay. Dempsey does his best to hold the audience’s interest, but outside of his performance there is nothing that really stood out to me. Gina Gershon has a very brief role in the film and she and Rick Hoffman are really the only characters worth paying any attention to in my opinion outside of the sheriff. The teens are nothing more than annoying fodder and I honestly couldn’t tell you their names (except for Scuba) without looking them up on IMDb.

Fans of torture porn will probably like this film, but even they will be left wanting. Overall, Thanksgiving is good enough for one viewing. I have no plans to go back for seconds. Eli Roth has never been a favorite of mine and this film certainly didn’t change my opinion of him or his work.

Thanks for checking out my review.