Recently, I’ve gotten in the habit of watching lower-tier 1980s slasher movies as my version of late-night comfort viewing. There’s something soothing about the formulaic killing sprees, and the sometimes clumsy performances and special effects are charming when filtered through genuine vintage film grain. I don’t find most modern slasher movies nearly as endearing, which makes it all the more enjoyable when a movie like Eli Roth’s “Thanksgiving” gets things right.
It’s not entirely surprising that Roth can capture the spirit of old-school slashers with “Thanksgiving,” since it’s based on the fake retro trailer he created for the 2007 Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez “Grindhouse” project, which expertly mimics those 1980s B-level slashers I’ve enjoyed so much.
The feature-length version of “Thanksgiving,” released in theaters in 2023, is set in the present day, though, so Roth can’t rely on those nostalgic signifiers. Instead, he translates the throwback vibe to one of the best slasher movies of the 2020s, which horror fans should catch before it leaves Netflix on August 17.
‘Thanksgiving’ brings terror to a new holiday
Of course, there are plenty of horror movies set around Halloween, and there’s a thriving subgenre of Christmas horror movies, too, but there are almost no horror movies set on Thanksgiving.
That might have been part of the joke for Roth’s “Grindhouse” segment, but in the full-length movie, he effectively incorporates familiar elements of the very American holiday into a suspenseful, gore-filled murder mystery.
Set in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the site of one of the first American colonies, “Thanksgiving” opens with a bitingly satirical sequence that exemplifies Roth’s sometimes mean-spirited storytelling.
A mob of cutthroat shoppers overruns a big-box store on the eve of Black Friday, and multiple people are killed and injured in the melee over discount TVs and free waffle irons. It’s a savage and sadistic takedown of consumerism that’s so absurd it couldn’t possibly carry an entire movie.
That’s just the backstory for a more traditional slasher set-up. One year later, as the town gears up to celebrate Thanksgiving once again, a killer dressed as Plymouth founding father John Carver starts taking out people connected to the Black Friday riot, which, of course, includes a group of horny, photogenic teens.
‘Thanksgiving’ balances humor and suspense
Roth incorporates several ridiculous images and lines from his original “Grindhouse” trailer, but they never feel forced or hacky. Although Roth made his name with ultra-grim horror movies like “Cabin Fever” and “Hostel,” he brings a welcome sense of playfulness to “Thanksgiving,” while also creating multiple legitimately tense sequences. It’s both funny and horrific to see the killer baste and season one of his victims before putting her into a giant oven.
As is often the case, the teens in “Thanksgiving” don’t make the smartest decisions, but Roth avoids making them into total idiots, and he keeps enough of them likable so that viewers aren’t just rooting for them to get killed. When arrogant jock Evan (Tomaso Sanelli) laments that he needs a new cell phone so that he can text while at the movies, then parks in a handicapped spot, it’s clear that he has to go.
But protagonist and obvious Final Girl candidate Jessica (Nell Verlaque) is thoughtful and sensitive, admonishing her wealthy dad (Rick Hoffman) for running another Black Friday sale at his store a year after people were maimed and crushed there.
Patrick Dempsey draws on associations from his own slasher-movie history in “Scream 3” to play the helpful — or maybe too helpful? — local sheriff, and nearly everyone makes for a plausible suspect.
Slasher fans need to see ‘Thanksgiving’
There’s been a bit of a slasher-movie resurgence in the last few years, with the smart, well-crafted new “Scream” sequels and entertaining horror comedies like “Heart Eyes” and “Totally Killer.” This year’s sleeper hit, “Clown in a Cornfield,” even shares some key elements with “Thanksgiving,” including the small-town parade and the invocation of historical founders.
“Thanksgiving” is a worthy companion to all of those neo-slashers, as well as to fellow “Grindhouse” trailers turned feature films “Machete” and “Hobo With a Shotgun.”
Roth doesn’t set out to reinvent the genre, merely to celebrate it, and in the process, he creates what might be his best film to date.
“Thanksgiving” is streaming until August 17 on Netflix.
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