Thanksgiving - Movie Review

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY)

Cranky Craig’s Movie Review – Thanksgiving

Just in time for the holiday, we have a slasher film from horror director Eli Roth. Beckoning back to the 1970s and 1980′s that generated slasher films set on or around holidays, i.e.: Halloween and My Bloody Valentine, this film takes on Thanksgiving. Set in Plymouth Massachusetts but shot in Canada (this sometimes is glaringly obvious) – the tragedy that sparks revenge is a Black Friday shopping stampede gone terribly wrong.

It’s not technically Black Friday, it is Thanksgiving night when greedy store owner Thomas Wright (Rick Hoffman) decides to open and let in the barely contained throng of avaricious shoppers. This crowd would stomp on their own grandmother for a free waffle iron handed out to the first ones in the store. Although the store is called Wright Mart, it is obviously a camouflage of an infamous big box store. The violent, gory stampede sequence and its satirical take on Black Friday shopping and consumer greed is my favorite part of the movie. Here and in the town parade sequence, there is sharp wit spearing tradition, consumerism, conformity, and idyllic small-town life. This small town is clearly not idyllic.

There are a few other witty touches and slashes of sharp irony. The mask the killer wears is a “John Carver” mask, apparently a historical figure that played prominently in the first Thanksgiving holiday. Get, it “carver.” Another great visual pun is a doomed victim who cannot unlock her phone using facial recognition for obvious reasons. I also loved the giant inflatable turkey and other holiday symbols that are used effectively.

This film is a gore-fest and that is part of the fun. Decapitation, dismemberment, roasted alive – get it Thanksgiving--but often the gore is meant to be funny, and it isn’t, it’s just gory. For a film that aspires to be scary and despite the carnage, there isn’t a tremendous amount of suspense. When the mask is ripped off and the killer who has been seeking revenge has been revealed you might find yourself creating a flowchart to figure out a timeline that is plausible for where the killer is, and when the killing is done.

America’s Sexiest Man Alive, Patrick Dempsey stars in this film. I am sure People Magazine editors hadn’t watched this film before they voted. It’s hard to see him handsome in this darkly lit film. Usually uniforms make men sexier, but his sheriff’s outfit is so poorly designed that it does nothing for him.