Thanksgiving is one of the rare horror films built around the holiday itself rather than simply taking place in November. Eli Roth’s 2023 slasher expands his short Grindhouse trailer into a fast, brutal and surprisingly confident feature.
Why Thanksgiving horror is unusual
Christmas and Halloween have inspired countless slashers, while Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve and the Day of the Dead have also received dedicated horror films. Thanksgiving, however, has a much smaller cinematic tradition.
Before Roth’s film, the category was largely represented by 1981’s Home Sweet Home and 1987’s Blood Rage, the latter remembered for its memorable cranberry-sauce line. Other films, including Wes Craven’s Deadly Friend, happen to unfold around Thanksgiving without making the holiday their central idea.
From fake trailer to feature film
Roth first introduced Thanksgiving as a deliberately excessive fake trailer in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s 2007 double feature Grindhouse. Its pitch was simple and gleefully nasty: a serial killer dressed as a Pilgrim, elaborate decapitations, a trampoline set piece and a gruesome dinner-table sequence.
Sixteen years later, Roth turned that brief parody into a full-length movie, much as Rodriguez eventually developed Machete from its own Grindhouse trailer. The result retains the original’s outrageous spirit while giving its characters and mystery room to develop.
A Black Friday massacre sets the story in motion
The film takes place in Plymouth, Massachusetts, associated with the Pilgrims’ first colony in America. During a Black Friday sale at a big-box store, Jessica, played by singer Addison Rae, helps four friends enter early. The decision contributes to a crowd crush as shoppers become increasingly frantic.
Three people die in the chaos, while Jessica’s boyfriend Bobby, played by Jalen Thomas Brooks of The Pitt, nearly loses an arm. The incident becomes the foundation for the killings that follow.
A year later, someone wearing a Pilgrim costume begins targeting people connected to the riot. The masked murderer also tags Jessica and her friends on social media whenever another victim is found. Jessica, her friends and the local sheriff, played by Patrick Dempsey, must identify the killer before the entire group is eliminated.
Roth’s brutality finds the right format
Roth is closely associated with graphic horror. David Edelstein’s well-known “torture porn” description was aimed at Roth’s 2006 film Hostel, a movie that helped define 2000s horror alongside Saw, the early Scream films and Rob Zombie’s Halloween.
That background makes Thanksgiving feel like a natural fit. The film moves quickly, maintains a substantial body count and delivers death scenes that rank among the decade’s most graphic. At the same time, the performances are stronger than a film this deliberately outrageous strictly requires.
For viewers who have been wary of Roth’s earlier work, the film may still be a difficult recommendation. Its violence is unapologetic, but the pacing, performances and clear slasher structure give the excess a stronger foundation than its fake-trailer origins might suggest.
What happens with Thanksgiving 2?
The film succeeded at the box office, so a sequel is planned. Roth has said production has been slowed by the growing commitments of the cast. Several performers now have multiple television obligations, while Rae spent the first half of the year on a concert tour, making it difficult to assemble everyone for another round of Pilgrim-themed murders.
Even if the follow-up never arrives, Thanksgiving works as a complete film and stands among the more effective slashers of the 2020s. It is also a useful reminder that a deliberately silly horror concept can become a sturdy feature when the filmmaker commits to its premise.
A horror pick for arcade fans
The film’s masked-killer mystery, social-media clues and escalating set pieces have the same immediate appeal as a strong arcade thriller: clear objectives, rapid momentum and memorable hazards. For more gaming and entertainment coverage, browse RETROCADE’s Arcade Blog and Arcade Videos.
If you are building a dedicated games room for movie nights and horror-themed gatherings, compare full-size arcade machines with space-saving bartop arcades. A guide to choosing an arcade machine can also help match the cabinet to your available space.
Thanksgiving is now streaming on HBO Max.
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