'Thanksgiving' Is More of A Leftover Than A Feast
Thanksgiving is a biting and satirical look at consumerism, social media, and people actually cherishing the meaning of Thanksgiving that overstays its commentary. The day we're supposed to be the kindest to each other is a day where we trample one another to get a plasma television. Making Black Friday the inciting incident, Director Eli Roth comments on America's hypocrisy when it comes to being respectful to each other. Unfortunately, the meaning behind the film's violence isn't enough to keep it consistently entertaining.
Thanksgiving is like countless slashers behind it, where we follow a group of people we could care less for, waiting for them to be axed. The characters in this film are a group of boring and appalling folks. It's an Eli Roth film, so having unlikeable protagonists should be expected. I could have cared less about what happened to the bros in Hostel as much as I cared for what happened to the main character in this film.
There's not a character who's three-dimensional. I'm not asking for a sophisticated character study, but I would like to see something more than the usual typecast roles. Everyone in this film is either an annoying jock, a geek, white trash, or an air-headed cheerleader. Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks) is particularly irritating as he acts like a scumbag wanting to pick fights, and his dialogue is just saying fuck every other second. The vernacular is accurate to how high schoolers speak, but it's not particularly enjoyable when it's so consistent in the film.
The movie follows the plot of a mass murderer who's picking specific targets to kill on Thanksgiving. The premise is interesting, but the execution is boring. It's a slasher with great gory kills; I'll give the film that. But I couldn't stand the characters I was following in the film. I found myself rooting for the killer more than the victims. Perhaps that's the intention, as Eli Roth has a cynical outlook on society in this film. It's a movie where we cheer for the hypocrites to be slaughtered and only want the protagonist to survive. Jessica (Nell Verlaque), unlike the others, is not a fool nor a bastard. There's very little characteristic to describe Jessica other than she's not annoying; thus, we cheer for her to survive. I'm sorry, but that's not enough to have me rooting for her.
Thanksgiving, for better and worse, contains all the elements of a slasher. It's filled with a cast who's blade fodder to the killer. Eli Roth incorporates elements lifted from other horror films. There's an opening POV shot from the killer's perspective, similar to the beginning of Halloween. The plot itself is lifted straight from Scream. It stars a group of high schoolers trying to uncover the mystery of who the killer is. Except this time, it's not through talking about horror movies, but TikTok videos instead. Everyone wants to go viral, and the killer like The Batman's Riddler has a popular social media account. Moreover, the band of teens we follow can't stop posting and sharing on their phones. The Black Friday incident during the film's gruesome opening becomes a viral sensation. Everyone who was in that video becomes a target for the killer.
If only the rest of the film was as strong as its opening. The exaggerated Black Friday pandemonium is a gruesome dream come true. The glass automatic door holding everyone back gets smashed and crushes a man to death, and bodies are thrown like ragdolls. It's a riot to see the riot. Yet the commentary on Americans being materialistic people is made well after the movie's opening. The kills in the film are standard horror executions. They’re creative in their gore, but they lack any real terror. There's the typical jump scare buildup to each murder that is as effective as it is a tired trope. Because there's such a mostly obnoxious cast, we're settled with an unpleasant picture.
Americans are ungrateful jerks who are obsessed with digital likes more than being a good person. The point is made but could have sufficed for a short film centered around the flick's opening incident. After the movie’s intro, the rest of the film is a series of formulaic horror elements that leave little for the audience to invest in. Furthermore, the identity of the killer is terribly predictable. You'd be better off enjoying the leftovers from Thanksgiving more than this film's familiar tropes and plot.
