Thanksgiving: A Feast for Slasher Fans but Leaves Most Hungry for More

Max Domel ‘26 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Late November, of course, is typically associated with fairly harmless dishes: turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie. But in Eli Roth’s newest slasher, Thanksgiving, he serves up something just a little more sinister for festive audiences. Most dedicated fans of the slasher genre will likely have their palates satisfied by the film’s gory kill sequences, misdirecting jump scares, and plan-hatching teenagers. Despite the thrills and creative approach to the holiday at play, though, Roth’s latest suffers more in the character and pacing departments—preventing it from having that extra firepower to cook up a five-star feast.

Thanksgiving opens on a violent mob rush at a local ‘RightMart’ superstore on Black Friday. Then, a year later, we see that the residents of Plymouth, Massachusetts have found themselves pitted up against a new danger in town: an ax-wielding maniac masked as pilgrim John Carver who seems to be taking down those who were involved that fateful Black Friday night. In particular, a group of high schoolers—Jessica (Nell Verlaque), Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks), Scuba (Gabriel Davenport), Gabby (Addison Rae), Evan (Tomaso Sanelli), and Yulia (Jenna Warren)—become his main targets. As more killings ensue, the group works with Sheriff Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey), RightMart owner and Jessica’s father Thomas Wright (Rick Hoffman), Jessica’s new boyfriend Ryan (Milo Manheim), and Wright’s fiance Kathleen (Karen Cliche) to try and stop Carver’s master plan before it’s too late.

To the film’s credit, it doesn’t try to be much more than an entertaining, thrilling slasher, and it executes those bits well. Roth isn’t afraid to hold back in gruesome moments, allowing for some very memorable and jaw-dropping carnage. Parts of faces are peeled off, bodies are severed in half, and blood splatters everywhere. Indeed, as promotional posters have described, there will be no leftovers. Additionally, while some jump scares throughout may still be cheap, Roth manages to cultivate some fairly strong suspense during the chase scenes, building up effectively toward the slaughters. In particular, there is a sequence involving a Thanksgiving parade where many people in the crowd are wearing Carver masks and it turns into utter chaos unexpectedly. Environmental components of the eerie small-town setting are utilized to heighten the horrors productively. Roth also succeeds at keeping the possible identity of Carver ambiguous between multiple suspects, and in general, the exploration of Thanksgiving through horror and not a more  traditional drama or comedy provides for a refreshing watch.

However, these highlights feel unevenly spread throughout. Many high-tension scenes between Carver and his prey are followed by long, stagnant periods of action where not much plot seems to advance. Characters sit around and talk without offering too much in the way of new insights. A large portion of the main characters feel a little underdeveloped as well. Sheriff Eric Newlon is pretty charismatic, Bobby and Ryan’s rivalry is adequately heated, and Scuba is made very easy to root for, but the rest of the cast—most surprisingly Jessica—frequently disappear into the background of scenes. Perhaps that is by design, though, and the film is meant to be more focused on Carver as the central agent. Jessica still does have a whole backstory involving her late mother that isn’t touched upon in great detail, though.

Characters are also able to get out of sticky situations a little too easily (or fall into danger too easily as well), even for slasher films. These results are often related to usage of modern technology in the plot, which can feel more like convenient cop-outs than meaningful commentary on devices. Dialogue that revolves around some of the thanksgiving-murder humor can come across as slightly cheesy at times but is acceptable, although the acting that comes with it, and overall for certain characters throughout, does feel very dry. The film would definitely benefit from its characters receiving the same focus as the gore and spectacle.

Roth’s Thanksgiving may not fully appetize everyone with a taste for horror. In both cases of plot and character, a handful of ingredients are underwhelming. But the film is still a fun time at the movies, full of quality scares and slasher slaughters. And it’s nice to see an original premise for horror with the backdrop of the Thanksgiving imagery and themes—especially since, at least for now, the film is currently not part of another franchise, too. Thanksgiving may not be one of the best of its kind recently, but it is still an entertaining, creative take on the slasher recipe.