Possibly the trick here is to appreciate that Thanksgiving is both a gnarly, sadistic horror flick and a ruthless parody of the same. That’s remarkably self-reflexive, coming from Cabin Fever and Hostel director Eli Roth.
How to watch Thanksgiving in the UK
Thanksgiving is in UK cinemas now.
Thanksgiving
What is Thanksgiving about?
A year on from a Black Friday Sale stampede saw several people die, the historic all-American town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, is stalked by a sadistic serial killer dubbed The Carver—because he wears a John Carver mask (don’t be ashamed to click through, we had to Google it). For those not up on their Thanksgiving lore (i.e. non-Americans) this means we’re getting a Thanksgiving-themed slasher, which makes a change of pace from Halloween, the odd Christmas chiller, and the occasional ominous Friday.
It all began as a fake trailer that Roth made for Robert Rodriguez’s and Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse. This is actually the third Grindhouse trailer to make the jump to the big screen, including Hobo with a Shotgun and Machete.
The cast of Thanksgiving
Patrick Dempsey is the big name here, playing Sheriff Eric Newlon, with the requisite passel of soon-to-be-dead teens played by Nell Verlaque, Addison Rae, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Tomaso Sanelli, Gabriel Davenport, Jenna Warren, and Milo Manheim, with support from Rick Hoffman, Karen Cliche, and Gina Gershon.
Thanksgiving trailer
What are the critics saying about Thanksgiving?
You never can tell which way the critical community will flip for former enfant terrible Eli Roth, but with this outing he’s come up smiling. The general consensus is that Thanksgiving is a banger that obeys the rules of the slasher genre while mercilessly lampooning them, and it delivers plenty of gore to boot. It’s clear that Roth’s tongue is planted firmly in his cheek on this one. Now, if only we could get Rob Zombie to step up with Werewolf Women of the SS…
