Thanksgiving : La Semaine de l'horreur

I attended an advance screening of Thanksgiving (2023) this evening. The plot revolves around the infamous town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, grappling with a tragic Black Friday massacre. As the locals gear up to celebrate Thanksgiving a year later, someone decides to deliver festive justice to those responsible.

Directed by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever), the film stars Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy), Addison Rae (He's All That), Gina Gershon (Killer Joe), Nell Verlaque (The Marijuana Conspiracy), and Rick Hoffman (Ballers).

The movie is truly remarkable. I found myself smiling from the opening scene to the closing credits. It captures a 90s slasher vibe with a plethora of characters who could be the killer, a high school class facing peril, and a relatable motive for the antagonist. The kill scenes are all top-notch, earning a solid 10/10, with a perfect blend of creativity, gore, blood splatter, and more gore. The Black Friday and parade sequences are standout moments, eliciting cheers from tonight's audience. Noteworthy are the elite decapitation scenes and a sequence reminiscent of Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. For a modern-day slasher, it doesn't get much more enjoyable than this. I'd give this an 8/10 and highly recommend it.

Sat down to watch this last night after wanting to see this movie since it came out.

I came away a little bit disappointed with the whole movie.

Firstly I didn't know this movie was a comedy horror, even though it's not classed as one, it certainly felt like one.

The murder scenes were so over the top you couldn't help but laugh at them.

As one reviewer stated on the Totally Killer review, that the problem when a movie is played for laughs, the tense and murder scene are not that frightening because of the comedy element.

This I found spoiled the movie somewhat for me.

Would I watch it again, no I wouldn't.

Will I watch the sequel when it comes out in 2025, yes I will as I didn't hate the film but I felt it wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

A struggling five star rating.

There were so many opportunities for this movie to go wrong. There is nothing better than a painfully stupid concept well executed to the point that it is actually good. Thanksgiving is the only Thanksgiving slasher movie I can think of. It is really enjoyable and, somewhat, grisly in parts. Eli Roth has a a unique and twisted mind. Roth does a great job in all of his movies tempering his grotesque imagery and thematic content with humor. This is no exception. The cast is good and strong- had it been a no name Director the film would not have attracted so many named stars. Patrick Dempsey is very good. I liked it.

I'm trying to decide if this was satire or an actual horror.

The acting was pretty bad and the lines were very cheesy but for some reason I couldn't stop watching it. It was like a car wreck , Lol - it's across between. "I know what you did last summer "and "urban legends."

The Boston accents were glitchy and the acting was absolutely terrible.

. It was nice to see a small Ontario towns in this film. I had to close my eyes a few times because of the Gore. I don't think I'll be having turkey for a while. Nice to see Patrick Dempsey in something albeit cheesey . If you want cheese, bad acting and gore - this is for you

.

I love horror movies, specifically my favorites are stalker/killer/slasher types.

I wasn't sure how Eli Roth would handle this type of movie because he's really more known for his "gore" rather than "run from the killer" style of films. Although I enjoy his dialogue in his former scripts and have good things to say about the hostel series, I was still a little skeptical.

My final verdict is a good one. I liked it. I thought the story was good, it was entertaining, and the killer scenes were pretty well done. I like how he inserted just enough humor to make me laugh, but didn't take it over the top. The jokes were subtle and just right.

The kills were pretty good too... knowing Eli Roth's past resume, I was afraid that he would take the gore too far... but thankfully he didn't.

A pretty satisfying horror holiday outing... I wouldn't mind a sequel now either.