Thanksgiving is Eli Roth’s Best Movie Yet | Film Review

Every cinephile carries with them an internal list of their favorite filmgoing memories, even critics. Easily cracking my Top 10 has to be a midnight showing for the insanely overlong, slightly self-indulgent – yet gloriously maniacal – Quentin Tarantino / Robert Rodriguez nod to schlock cinema, 2007’s Grindhouse. It housed two great films by two filmmakers at the height of their powers, and baked inside of it were several faux trailers for films that never existed, from directors with an appreciation for horror. One of those previews featured a deeply monotoned narrator detailing a murderous pilgrim’s plight to slaughter the residents of Plymouth, Massachusetts in true Thanksgiving style (birds aren’t the only thing you can stuff, apparently). Now, in 2023, Eli Roth has fulfilled that early promise to deliver his feature-length exploration of all the absurdity contained in that trailer.

Thanksgiving preps the feast by demonstrating the madness we all know already exists in our holiday rotations: Black Friday sales. Right Mart owner Thomas Wright (an always mischievously welcome Rick Hoffman) has decided to take a chance and open his store on Thanksgiving night, once again a case of the rich choosing profit over family. What follows is batshit ferocity and the eventual deaths of several Plymouth, MA locals.

One year later and Thanksgiving is upon us once again. Only this time, a vicious serial killer is on the prowl, specially hunting down those directly involved in the previous year’s massacre. One by one, bodies begin to disappear in Plymouth, and their bloodshed is being broadcast on social media by our elusive skinner. Led by our newest final girl, Jessica (Nell Verlaque), and an earnest sheriff, Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey, also known as the Sexiest Man Alive), our heroes set out to catch and unmask the murderer before he finishes his sinister plan.

Eli Roth and Jeff Rendell do an admirable job building the story and setting up the inherent mystery within the film, giving us plenty of red herrings to distract from whomever the true killer might be. Which might be the biggest surprise coming from a director as invested in gore as Roth typically is (Hostel, Cabin Fever). Thanksgiving puts story first.

While the original trailer stuffed itself with 70s pastiche, Roth and Rendell’s take here is more a cheeky combination of Scream and an 80s slasher flick (which is a compliment). Jessica even has a potential suspect locked into her DMs, just like a certain Mr. Prescott did. Sure, there are elements of Roth’s textbook bloodletting, but this film should satisfy more than just gore-hounds with its well-paced and genuinely creative construct.

While the characters do little in the way of exceptional, they are all enjoyable to watch, enough so that we eventually even pull for a few of them to make it home for Christmas. Jessica in particular is instantly empathic, as Verlaque’s performance captures our investment straight from the outset. Even our butcher, known only as John Carver, has enough nuance in his – or her – mannerisms to jack up our anticipation level.

All-in-all, I personally owe Eli Roth an apology. While his films have felt very hit or miss to me overall, I firmly believed Thanksgiving to be the least plausible idea of those previous trailers for a feature film. The whole “holiday horror” schtick seemed to have worn thin, and I simply was not interested in little more than a generous helping of blood and guts on celluloid. Instead, he truly seems to have found his sweet spot as a filmmaker.

Roth not only set the table, but he also baked a fully cooked meal that does horror proud. A fleshed-out story with an instantly sequel-ready foe, numerous well-earned laughs, and a fascinating mystery all served up on a silver platter. Thanksgiving easily lived up to the hype of that initial trailer so many years ago and should remain a holiday staple for years to come. Not only is this the best export from the Grindhouse experiment (sorry, Machete), this is Eli Roth’s best film yet.

With a buffet as delicious as this, I cannot wait to see what this horror maestro whips up for dessert.