REVIEW: Thanksgiving (2023)

 By Stephen Pytak

Eli Roth's "Thanksgiving (2023)" is a little better than I thought it would be.

It was inspired by a faux trailer he made in 2007 for the Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino cinema experience called "Grindhouse." 

But instead of trying to incorporate new footage to extend that 16-year-old short into a full-length feature, Roth and company decided to do a remake in the spirit of that classic parody of slasher movie trailers.

In the process, Roth has given us something new which stands on its own. Sure, it's filled with nods to movies like "Happy Birthday to Me (1981)," "My Bloody Valentine (1981)," "The Prowler (1980)" "Friday the 13th (1980)" and John Carpenter's "Halloween (1978)." But the filmmaker has also managed to give the project its own identity, and has given us a boogeyman who's just as intriguing and formidable as, say, "Michael Myers" or "Harry Warden." 

It is the best slasher film of 2023. And I believe down the road it will be considered a classic.

Here's the gist.

The scene is Plymouth, Massachusetts, a town with a history. In 1621, colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared a harvest feast in autumn. The event went down in the books as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations.

The film begins 401 years later, in a time period where the Thanksgiving celebration isn't exactly about sharing.

A mob is gathered outside a discount department store called "Right Mart" for a Black Friday sale, which will start on a fateful Thursday night. A series of unfortunate events, including a waffle iron giveaway for the first 100 people in the door, send the crowd into a frenzy. And soon, the glass entrance doors shatter, an unlucky few are trampled and shots are fired.

The mess divides the community, especially since there was no justice for the victims. "Black Friday Tragedy Yields No Arrests," according to one newspaper featured in the film.

So one year later, vengeance comes to town in the form of a boogeyman dressed as a Pilgrim who goes by the name "John Carver." And soon, people disappear, crime scenes are discovered and heads roll.

Nell Verlaque as "Jessica" in Eli Roth's "Thanksgiving (2023)" 

I'm not going to do spoilers here, but I want to point out a few things the film does right.

Back in 2021, a horror film called "Black Friday" was given a limited release before being dumped onto the shelves at Walmart. While it features actor Bruce Campbell, who does his best to elevate the material he was given to work with, it's an ill conceived project that I don't recommend.

The Black Friday scene in Roth's "Thanksgiving" is better than that entire film. It's well-staged, comic, savage and, to be honest, truthful to some degree. Discount hunters can be wacky. And when the crowd goes wild, the scene is akin to a zombie ambush you'd see in a film like "28 Days Later (2002)." It must be seen to be believed.

There are a ton of swear words. And that's not always a bad thing.

See, it doesn't matter what you do in a film. But what does matter is how you do it. Sometimes that comes down to who you have on set on a given day. Sometimes it's luck. I'm sure Eli Roth had a little bit of both working in his favor, so it's kind of funny hearing crazy-eyed shoppers yell "fuck" a dozen times.

It's one of the best scenes of the film (and honestly, one of the best sequences in any film I've seen this year).

Horror fans who bought a ticket to see "Thanksgiving (2023)" in the theater hoping to see an honest-to-goodness slasher film will not be disappointed.

"John Carver" means business. And it's a joy to behold the kind of mayhem he brings to town.

While watching this, I couldn't help but think about other small town slasher films made in recent years, and how some just didn't deliver on this level.  David Gordon Green's "Halloween Ends (2022)" came to mind.

I liked "Scream VI (2023)" and I really enjoyed "It's a Wonderful Knife (2023)," but I think the mayhem Roth injected into "Thanksgiving (2023)" made it the slasher film of the year.

The kills were creative, and the filmmakers had the skill to edit them into decent shocks.

Meanwhile the cast is good, and included a few names I recognized including Patrick Dempsey and Gina Gershon, who I remember from "Showgirls (1995)." And I think the film score from Brandon Roberts is also pretty decent.

So if you're a fan of slasher cinema, it's a great time to go out to the movies. 

RATING (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4.5