THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Thanksgiving is known to be the kind of holiday that brings families together like Christmas. But sometimes, blessings can be outnumbered by tragedy.
PLOT
Based on a fake Grindhouse trailer, the 2023 film takes place in the city of Plymouth, Massachusetts. RightMart manager Thomas Wright promotes a midnight release of Black Friday shopping for his store, but it goes downright ballistic due to his daughter Jessica being spotted inside earlier due to her friends sneaking in for themselves. When the crowd pushes through, they unintentionally trample a security guard named Doug (Chris Sandiford). And once they're in, a customer gets his neck slashed by broken glass and another woman named Amanda Collins (Gina Gershon), wife of RightMart employee Mitch (Ty Olsson) gets killed in the commotion when her head gets slammed by a shopping cart, before it gets scalped by the same one a customer was using. Jessica's boyfriend Bobby Di Stasi also gets his arm stomped which severely injures him and in turn ruins his aspiration to be a baseball superstar. The frenzy ends when Sheriff Eric Newlon shoots his gun in the ceiling and demanding everyone to stop the madness. A year after this, Mitch protests Thomas for promoting another holiday sale as if nothing happened. With Bobby ghosting Jessica after the incident, she now dates another guy named Ryan Baker. A new wave of problems have begun however because someone posts on social media of plans to kill her and her friends for what happened the previous year. Besides herself, her friends include: Evan Fletcher, his girlfriend Gaby (Addison Rae), his football teammate Claude 'Scuba' Dybing and his own girlfriend Yulia (Jenna Warren). This new serial killer does not target them yet until after vandalizing a historical landmark of the first Plymouth governor John Carver. He begins his killing spree with a waitress named Lizzie (Amanda Barker), who was responsible for Amanda's death as she was shopping recklessly. Dressed as the real life Carver, he attacks her by dumping her face in cold water and sticking her face on a freezer door. This causes her to lose some skin when freeing herself and when she gets outside, Carver finishes her off by slamming her into a dumpster with a car that chops her in half. Newlon begins an investigation when her body is found in display at RightMart, suspecting that the killer will be going after people that were there that shocking night. The teens definitely point fingers at Mitch due to being a vocal hater towards Thomas, but a returning Bobby catches up with Jessica to discover Ryan was talking to Doug before the riots, which he didn't mention in his statement. When this is shown to the sheriff, he suggests not confronting him about it. The next victim ends up being Manny (Tim Dillon), the only other security guard to have left that night, by stabbing him with an electric mixer before decapitating with a garrote. By the next day, Carver kills Hanover student Lonnie (Mika Amonsen) and his girlfriend Amy (Shailyn Griffin) who started the riot when taking the bullhorn from Newlon to get into the store sooner. Once their bodies are found on school campus, this cancels the football game Evan & Scuba were preparing for with their Plymouth High team. Just after the former changes, he & Gaby get abducted by Carver. Wanting to be kept safe, Yulia's father plans to move her to Florida. Bobby confronts Ryan about Doug, only to admit he was scoring Adderall from him. With two of Jessica's friends being taken, she joins Scuba in purchasing a gun to protect themselves. They then rush to Yulia's home to protect her from Carver once they see him live stream his attack on her (after already killing her dad and an officer assigned to watch them until they had left). They don't get there in time because once they arrive, he pushes her into an active buzzsaw that kills her. With the bodies piling up, Newlon declares luring out the killer during the annual holiday parade whereas Scuba and the Wrights participate as bait. It doesn't go as planned because after Mitch protests during the parade, the Carver killer instead dresses up as a clown and decapitates a mascot. As a panic becomes his distraction, a parade driver gets impaled by a displayed boat. This gives him the chance to abduct the other targets. Once awake, Scuba and the Wrights are found in Carver's hideout, back in his original disguise, who live-streams his intent to kill them all for their involvement of the riot. He cooks Thomas' second wife Kathleen like a turkey since she encouraged him to open the store on midnight and tries feeding it to him when cutting off a piece of her. He then smashes Evan's face to a pulp with a tenderizer since he was the one who recorded the incident for attention. When Jessica frees herself and Scuba before the cops find them, the former frees herself too and lures him away from the others. As she runs so far into the woods that she leads to her reaching the parade warehouse, this leads to her finding Bobby there in costume, presuming he's the killer. Newlon catches up only to chase Bobby away. When she is taken into the station, she is told by other officers that her dad and her friends are safe. As she waits with Newlon, she notices the same hem on his clothes when she was chased in the woods. This alone has her deduce the sheriff is the killer. When she confronts him with the truth, he confesses his recent actions including framing Bobby come from his devotion to avenge Amanda, who he was having an affair with and was pregnant with his child which would've been enough for her to leave Mitch. Once Jessica reveals she live-streamed his confession, he chases her to the parade warehouse since she let her friends inside the store, which in turn started the domino effect that resulted in the tragic events the previous year. When Bobby returns to her, they try to escape together in his truck but Newlon is able to hold them down with a support beam. Jessica is able to overcome her tormentor by loading a musket with the bracelet of her late mother and shooting it towards a balloon connected to a tank of gas. The shot summons a blast that engulfs the sheriff in flames. She and Bobby are able to escape, but Newlon is nowhere to be found. As she continues to speak with Bobby and continue her relationship with Ryan, the film ends with her having a nightmare of a flaming Newlon confronting her in his Carver costume.
THOUGHTS
Eli Roth has had a track record in making bombastic entertainment ever since his debut with Cabin Fever and as I get down to it, this has to be the best thing he's ever done. He grew up in the 80s where slasher movies were a big cash grab for horror and this was his ultimate homage to it. The fact that it takes place in such a holiday that has had its events in bringing joy to the world but has had instances of bringing unusual tension. With strong cinematography by Milan Chadima and impressive editing by both Michele Conroy & Michel Aller, the tension never stops even when you think it does because you know someone is displeased in how society functions as in no dealing with consequences in mistakes they make. With a sequel on the way, the John Carver killer is building the ranks of being an icon to the sub genre because with his ruthlessness of each kill he commits, which is brought to life by fantastic practical effects by Adrien Morot & Kathy Tse, he uses his costume to twist the message of peace into terror due to his own trauma. And in this whodunnit setting, the motive calls out those who care more about themselves than others that they don't care who they harm in one way or another. The opening sequence seals the deal in such a message and it pays off in following all the characters that may or may not reflect on what they've done. Obviously, the one who reflects the most is the killer who is extracting revenge. A common twist in whodunnits are discovering the kindest of souls to become so corrupted once what they care about is taken from them and Newlon should be a prime example of that. With a fantastic performance by the likable Patrick Dempsey, the twist works because we believe in him wanting to do good even when the cat is out of the bag. However, his actions are just too far because we all know it won't change what happened. The fact he survives his ordeal and is on the loose, he's gonna keep trying to get his message across until he thinks it's done. One by one, many of the people deserved a comeuppance since most of them were caught up buying something they'd likely replace once worn out like a fucking waffle iron. It blows me away how accurate it depicts consumerism because I couldn't tell it apart from an actual riot taking place in the holiday. So when you look at people like Lonnie & Lizzie, they definitely had it coming for ignoring the consequences that came from their actions. Manny gets his for giving up when he shouldn't have. Tomasso Sanelli makes a big douche out of Evan since he is vocally in denial on what he did. He was already selfish for snatching a phone, but then likely still using the same one after what happened is disgusting. Noticing that, he didn't have my sympathy and it gets hard to root for Scuba because Gabriel Davenport shows him to be too loyal of a friend to call him out whereas Gaby and Yulia are aware they shouldn't have been there. But the big problem is that Carver doesn't consider there are people who do have regrets for what came about that night. Rick Hoffman has a big 180 from when he first worked with Roth on Hostel because here as Thomas, he's a simple businessman who didn't think twice about the possibility of a riot. He was blindly insensitive because the death of his first wife made him become such a workaholic until Kathleen made him happy again. Once the bodies continue to pile up, he chose to not repeat history by closing the store. It definitely is a challenge to have any interest on his second wife at first because Kathleen's intent on encouraging the store to open earlier was a bigger way for him to be successful and the more he is successful, the wealthier the family is. She is even too protective of his image when deleting original footage of the incident but on the other hand, Karen Cliche gave us a vibe in wanting to respect her since not only did she go that far for someone she loves, but wants to build a genuine connection with Jessica despite not knowing where to start. You also can't blame her in not saving a captured Amy because it would've taken too long for both of them to escape. Either way, it wasn't enough to escape the cruelest fate depicted here. As for the final girl, Nell Verlaque makes her the most likable because she's the more remorseful and kind hearted of people who regrets letting her friends go to the store when she could've tried harder to prevent them. Add this with the grief she had over her mom dying and her dad moving on so quickly, it was hard for her to find her place that it's a miracle for her to still have morality. Thankfully, that was all that it took to survive the holiday and with all the nightmares coming her way, this could keep her prepared for another batch of terror. To think with so much going on, you would think she would not be in the middle of a love triangle until she did. They don't even try to hide it that Ryan is an asshole since Milo Manheim makes him self centered in his own right because he doesn't explain what he sees in her, whereas she makes it clear to Bobby he's a rebound in his absence. And because of her kindness, she ain't gonna dump him on the fly in heartless fashion. Back to Bobby though, Jalen Thomas Brooks showed him as a guy who lost his mojo after his injury. He was called the 'Golden Arm' because that's how talented he was beforehand and he was so embarrassed of what happened that he chose to keep a distance to the one person he loved the most. He came back because he regretted acting that way and we're all on his side when it came seeing right through Ryan. With his past being noted, it was easy to misinterpret him to be the killer until the truth came out. Since his heart is still intact, it'll be good to continue seeing him have Jessica's back as long as he can. This movie is very well made, but good stuff like this still have moments that will not make any sense as time goes by. So I’m only irritated with Evan snatching a phone for himself that makes the riot possible, but I’m fuming beforehand when he said he was gonna use it during a movie. For the love of god, please not use a phone during a fucking movie because there is no fucking point in watching a movie when doing that. And let’s be honest, how are there only two guards on duty when there should’ve been more before the cops get involved in assistance? I mean Thomas should’ve hired more and that house he lives in proves he can afford it. John Carver is a smart villain covering his tracks when getting to the cameras at the diner, but when does he do that exactly once he kills Lizzie and how are there no cameras at the landmark or the school? For a guy so precise, it’s a surprise we don’t get a complete answer on the how. The same goes on when he is able to get inside Manny’s home so quietly. Also for a workaholic, it’s wild Thomas doesn’t tell Jessica about the commercial on the day of because if he wanted her to be a part of it, he would’ve told her long before discovering the landmark to be vandalized. And personally, Jessica and her friends should’ve gone to witness protection once Carver started making cryptic posts on social media. Had that happened, Newlon would’ve had a harder time trying to kill them all. And if Newlon is the killer, how does he hide his disguise while on the job investigating Lonnie’s death? It sounds like a challenge since other cops patrolled with him that day. And how did he not change his boots in the end? That alone would’ve thrown off Jessica and he would’ve gotten away with it. Ignore this, then you’ll still have a blast the way I did. In short, 2023’s Thanksgiving is a standout for the genre due to it being Roth’s most grounded narrative to date. If you like slashers, see this now.
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