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Thanksgiving is a 2023 American slasher film directed by Eli Roth, from a screenplay written by Jeff Rendell and a story by Roth and Rendell, who produced with Roger Birnbaum. It is based on Roth's mock trailer of the same name from Grindhouse (2007). It is the third feature length film to be adapted from one of the mock trailers in Grindhouse after Robert Rodriguez's Machete (2010) and Jason Eisener's Hobo with a Shotgun (2011). The film stars Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Nell Verlaque, Rick Hoffman, and Gina Gershon.

Thanksgiving was released in the United States on November 17, 2023, by TriStar Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews.

Plot[]

In 2022, during Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts, people are gathering outside the Rightmart superstore in preparation of a Black Friday sale. Jessica, the daughter of store owner Thomas Wright, lets her friends Evan, Scuba, Gaby, Yulia and her boyfriend Bobby inside through the side door. However, the crowd outside sees them and descends into a riot, stampeding into the store, resulting in the deaths of many people including Amanda, the wife of store manager Mitch Collins.

One year later, Rightmart is preparing for another sale, despite the protests of Mitch and several other residents. Meanwhile, Jessica and her friends are tagged in a social media post of a Thanksgiving table with their names around it. A waitress named Lizzie is attacked and killed by a figure dressed in black clothing and wearing a John Carver mask. The police discover that Lizzie was present at the Black Friday riot, which leads them to believe those involved in the massacre are being targeted by "The Carver".

Bobby, who was injured during the riot, returns to Plymouth, much to the chagrin of Jessica’s current boyfriend Ryan. She brings footage of the riot, that her stepmother Kathleen previously tried to destroy, to Eric Newlon, the town sheriff. The Carver claims more victims, including Rightmart security guard Manny and high school students Lonnie and Amy. Evan and Gaby are soon abducted by The Carver, while Jessica narrowly avoids being killed. Yulia’s father decides to take her out of town, but he and the deputy guarding them are knocked out by The Carver, who attacks Yulia. Jessica and Scuba, who were video calling Yulia, drive to her house, but are unable to stop The Carver from disemboweling Yulia with a buzzsaw before he escapes.

The police attempt to lure The Carver out by having the Wright family and Scuba participate in a Thanksgiving parade. However, The Carver deduces their plan and decapitates a turkey mascot before sending smoke bombs into the crowd, causing everyone to scatter in panic and giving The Carver the opportunity to abduct the Wrights and Scuba in the chaos. The Carver cooks Kathleen alive in an oven before serving her as the "turkey" at a dinner table surrounded by his hostages and the corpses of his victims. The Carver then bludgeons Evan to death in a live-stream before Jessica cuts through her bindings and escapes, luring him away from the others. She eludes The Carver by climbing over a fence and running through the woods. Jessica makes it to a parade warehouse, finds Newlon unconscious, and follows a figure wearing the Carver's mask inside; she sees it’s Bobby and directs Newlon to him, who shoots at Bobby, but he gets away.

The police soon arrive and inform them that the survivors are safe, but, after they leave Jessica and Newlon alone, Jessica notices the same brambles that stuck to her on Newlon, and realizes that he is The Carver. Newlon reveals that he was having an affair with Amanda, who was pregnant with his child when she died, leading him to become The Carver and seek revenge on those responsible. To his horror, it’s revealed that Jessica has live-streamed his confession, leading him to attack her until she is saved by Bobby.

The two attempt to escape in a truck, but Newlon hooks it to a support beam. As he approaches them with an axe, Jessica uses a musket to shoot a parade balloon, causing an explosion that engulfs Newlon in flames. By morning, Bobby is taken away in an ambulance and Jessica reunites with Ryan, Gaby, and Scuba. The authorities are unable to find Newlon's remains, leading them to believe he was incinerated in the explosion. However, Jessica continues to have nightmares of a flaming Newlon attacking her from the closet.

Cast[]

Template:Castlist Additionally, Adam MacDonald provides the voice of John Carver

Production[]

Development[]

After director Eli Roth created the fake movie trailer, Thanksgiving, for the film Grindhouse (2007), plans for a feature-length adaptation began.^[5] In 2010, Roth told CinemaBlend that he was writing the script with Jeff Rendell and that he hoped to complete it once he was done with press for The Last Exorcism (2010).^[6] By August 2012, Jon Watts and Christopher D. Ford were set to write the screenplay with Roth and Rendell after they finished writing the Roth-produced Clown (2014).^[7] In June 2016, Roth revealed on Reddit that the script still needed work in order for the film to live up to the trailer.^[8] In February 2019, reports indicated that Roth was slated to direct an undisclosed horror film for Miramax the next month in Boston, Massachusetts. Bloody Disgusting speculated that the film could potentially be Thanksgiving but was unable to verify.^[9]

In January 2023, Deadline Hollywood reported that Spyglass Media Group was producing the film. Roth would depart from Borderlands (2024), passing additional photography off to Tim Miller, in order to direct the film.^[10]

Casting[]

In February 2023, Patrick Dempsey and Addison Rae were the first cast members announced for the film.^[11][12] Also cast were Jalen Thomas Brooks, Nell Verlaque, and Milo Manheim.^[13][14] In March 2023, Rick Hoffman, Gina Gershon, Tim Dillon, Gabriel Davenport, Tomaso Sanelli, and Jenna Warren joined the cast.^[15]

Filming[]

Principal photography took place in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, from March 13 to May 5, 2023.^[16][17]

Release[]

Thanksgiving was released in the United States by TriStar Pictures on November 17, 2023.^[18][19]

Reception[]

Box office[]

In the United States and Canada, Thanksgiving was released alongside Next Goal Wins, Trolls Band Together, and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and is projected to gross $12–15 million from 3,200 theaters in its opening weekend.^[20][3] The film made $1 million from Thursday night previews.^[21]

Critical response[]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 86 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Combining belly-busting humor with delightfully over-the-top gore, Thanksgiving is a feast for grindhouse fans." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 73% overall positive score.^[21]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote "Thanksgiving follows the rules of the slasher genre, but it's got a more charged and entertainingly hyperbolic atmosphere than these movies used to have".^[22] Frank Scheck ended his positive review saying, "There are times you can feel Thanksgiving straining too mightily for a cult status it's not likely to achieve. But it seems a safe bet the film will be trotted out like a turkey on cable channels and streaming services for many Thanksgivings to come".^[23] San Francisco Chronicle's G. Allen Johnson gave the film a score of one out of four and wrote, "Thanksgiving could have been a great horror movie. Instead, it's one of those where if you've seen the trailer, you've seen the film".^[24]

See also[]

• List of holiday horror films

References[]

External links[]

• Template:Official website
• Template:IMDb title

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