Thanksgiving

Movie Name: Thanksgiving
Year of Release: 2023
Director: Eli Roth
Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Nell Verlaque, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Addison Rae, Chris Sandiford, Tomaso Sanelli, Gina Gershon, Ty Olsson, Karen Cliche, Rick Hoffman, Derek McGrath, Katherine Trowell, Mike Amonsen, Amanda Barker, Shailyn Griffin, Tim Dillon, Milo Manheim, James Goldman, Yusuf Zine, Russell Yuen, Jeff Teravainen, Jordan Poole, Joe Delfin, Dorian Giordano, Joseph Claude Dubois, Frank J. Zupancic
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review

Eli Roth has had a diverse career since making a name for himself with "Cabin Fever" and the "Hostel" series (the latter of which started a trend at the time named "Torture Porn"). He has also ventured into acting, as was the case of his performance in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Bastards". "Thanksgiving" is actually inspired by the short fake trailer for the "Grindhouse" film Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez released in 2007. The film follows the story of Jessica Wright, a high school senior in the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Jessica's father owns a local store called RightMart, and after Thanksgiving, the entire population it seems, is desperate to get into the store for the Black Friday sale. Jessica and her boyfriend Bobby, alongside a few of their friends manage to get in early, through a side door, which heightens the frenzy of people waiting, who witness them doing so. A stampede quickly ensues, resulting in something close to a riot in the store, resulting in multiple deaths. A year later, the store is getting ready for another Black Friday sale, even though there are multiple protests against it. However, multiple people involved in the riot at the store in the prior year, start being targeted and killed in particularly horrifying manners. Jessica aids the investigation by providing some of the footage of the riot to the town's sheriff. As more people get killed and abducted, the police set a trap by placing Jessica and her family as bait during the Thanksgiving parade. However things don't go according to plan. 

One of the best things about Eli Roth, is his economical way of showcasing a narrative, and the characters that inhabit it. He's very much deft at putting a polished B-movie spin on his best features. This one is no exception. He quickly creates the set up for the action that is about to take place, and populates the narrative with an inventory of characters where any of them can possibly be the lethal killer. What is less engaging on this narrative is of course the fact that most of these characters are threadbare developed, without much to them essentially, aside of the fact they all embody a type (the cheerleader, the jock, the trophy second wife, and the list goes on). Of course Eli Roth knows the rules of creating this type of device, and he also plays with it. Therefore the film moves efficiently, without being particularly original, but emphasizing the particularly brutal death scenes for the characters. The cast is a bit all over the place, with Nell Verlaque leading the group, but with the memorable roles going to Rick Hoffman and the underrated Ty Olsson. The production is solid, with highlights going to Milan Chadima's cinematography, Brandon Roberts' score and Peter Mihaichuk's production design. It's not a particularly memorable endeavor, but it's a watchable film.