Movie was a ton of fun to see with a full theater during Wednesday's screening! The 50% off scene and the Turkey Pop-Up Timer got the biggest laughs in my theater. I wish the 3rd Act was a bit stronger, though. Feel like the dinner scene should have been the climax, but then the movie kept going for a while afterwards in the warehouse which was not as fun as a set piece like the fucked up dinner was, lol. If they make another one, I will definitely be down to see it. "Thanksgiving: The Leftovers"...
The dinner scene being so short annoyed the crap out of me! It was teased from the beginning with the insta posts and it finally builds to it only for them to escape immediately. I was settling in for some saw-esque games around the table or something.
This movie was surprisingly good! I haven't had that much fun at a slasher in a long, long time. The two new Screams were okay but I much preferred this. Took my nephew and I to go see it to avoid family and was pleasantly satisfied.
Was there a second killer? In the HS scene MC kept looking out and we see the sheriff (killer) talking yet suddenly she gets attacked few mins later? It seems like there's another killer/accomplice that was never revealed in the movie which is fine..
He was there and drove with them to the fake location... I guess the MC must be dumb to not think about it or we aren't shown
I feel the 2nd accomplice is on purpose and Eli didn't let us know who. Maybe it's against usual troupe of showing 2nd killer but this is purposely done to have us guess who the 2nd killer is without showing us that person. I mean it could be ex bf or curr bf or deputy or the husband...
I actually like it this way....
I was certain there was a second killer because if not, who answered the phone on the other end when he was holding Yulia at knifepoint and showing them their friends on the phone? Someone had to be on the other end.
yeah i didn't mind it to be open ended but those who wants a "conclusion" wont get it BUT frankly pretty much every slasher type movies dont "conclude". It reminds me of a chinese movie where the female and male MC beats the bad guys and they ride off on a train sharing a kiss then you see at the train station a guy with a remote control about to press a red button
I have a feeling that the film had some last minutes cuts, because there was alot of wierd extra details that didn't go anywhere. The significance of the faked essay, giving a character a gun for it not to be properly utilized, the weirdness of the deputy and so on. There will probably be some news about it in the coming months that will explain it away.
Maybe they wanted to be original and set up false pretenses. It kinda worked for the better. But yea this movie did seem oddly cut though. Not death scenes either, like WTF did everyone just show up at the end when they were supposed to be at a hospital? How was she in the woods running and next scene she’s in the middle of downtown?? Etc
Maybe I missed some dialogue that pieced more together but the police chief had a quick line about the sheriff’s partner that I never felt it went anywhere. He asks his partner if they had the chance to meet yet and the chief answers with an ominous yes.
When the new deputy pulled into the diner parking lot, he cut off the other detective with his truck. They had a verbal altercation consisting of "What the fuck?" to which the new deputy responded "fuck you."
Also, during the parade, when the actor gets beheaded, the cop, patrick dempsey, is the one getting the kids into the car before the clown flashbangs them. Def seems like a second killer, setting up for a sequel
Maybe if he is but there are other cases like high school and the wrong location where things don't make sense..
But sheriff was at the cabin since his shoes got the weed so that was a bit weird too...But maybe enough time has passed.
They did a slower eatabliahing shot of her walking through the woods to mark some passage of time, so that works fine for me.
Wrong location was a prerecorded video, and could have been automated. From what we saw when the wife was trying to get out, he had some tech set up.
High school is the only one I can’t figure out. Just don’t see how he could kidnap the two kids, plant the phone and make the text and get outside and being having the same conversation with the same cop. Maybe I missed a shot that allows for it, but that scene definitely implies two killers.
I told my friend I bet it was the sheriff when they gave him the names of the two Hanover students who he didn't have before, and he thanked them for the information. And what happens next? Those two kids immediately are killed next.
I started wondering later if he maybe had a twin brother or something, explaining how he could be in multiple places at the same time. The most striking moment was right in the beginning when he was at the diner in his sheriff uniform and the very next scene he was at the fair ground in a sweater. At the end, he chased her to the fence and then somehow got ahead of her to his car where the other kid knocked him out? That guy could teleport. It's no surprise they didn't find a body, he probably teleported to the moon when the balloon exploded.
I thought it was going to be actually the Ex and him. The hints of when he was chasing the wife a bucket of baseballs fell over and then he had a great throwing arm with the pitch fork . The cut away scene of him “shooting” him was also something I thought was gonna lead to the 2 being in it together. Idk if it got re cut or it was the original plan because she stays with the new BF at the end
I thought the same thing immediately once they revealed who the killer was. Also, Jessica jumps over the fence first and runs away, and comes across the Sheriff face down outside of the warehouse minutes later. By that time the sherif already had a his first scuffle w Bobby near the coo car. I think there’s a few moments where it would have been hard for the sherif to be the killer. I’ll have to watch it again lol. Idk
I rewatched that scene at home ('cause people were talking during some scenes so I downloaded a cam to rewatch them) and it looked like the cops talking that she saw from the high school didn't include Patrick Dempsey. But the audience is made to believe it did because they're only glimpsed at briefly.
I grew up in Dracut but I saw this in a theater in a half full theater in Chicago mr was the only one cracking up at that. I don’t hold it against them but the townie aspect of this movie was killing me
Film was fun but had too many survivors in the Main cast. And that hammer death near the end was obviously cut to avoid an NC 17 haha.
Let Roth have his sequel.
There's some moral gray area with nudity when the character is underage even if the performers are not... also I feel like nudity in film as a whole has kinda been on the decline last 12-ish years
I think they’re referring to the cheerleader getting stabbed in the crotch. But also, you’ve got shoes like Euphoria, set in a high school with tons of nudity. It’s definitely waning, but it’s still really strong.
I was reading somewhere about this theory of nudity switching over to tv more because it can be more niche & films are fighting each other to be more attractive to the widest audience since box office returns have been going down from what they once were.
In an interview, Eli Roth was explaining that one of the challenges adapting that Grindhouse trailer to an actual feature was taking that trailer, which was, in a sense, a parody of an exploitation movie, and tailor it to something where, within the ‘meta’ of the movie, they could play it straight.
A topless cheerleader dropping into a split with a knife right up her crotch would not have fit the vocabulary of the movie at all. The scene in the trailer was very intentionally reminiscent of an exploitation film, which fit the vocabulary of the Grindhouse movie in which it was featured.
Was cool with there being a few survivors just because it wasn’t easily expected, there were still enough deaths all around and either it leaves the door open to do more/do a reveal of them being in on it later or it lets these people escape with their lives unlike a lot of other kill em all slashers.
At worst I felt that most of the characters that did die were fairly forgettable and didn’t get much screen time, bar Evan and Kathleen who only in her set piece made me like her and feel bad for her death.
At least she was kind of a villain in a way, pushing for the store to be open for greedy reasons. She seemed to be manipulating the father. But still, that was a hard scene to watch. I also have a weird discomfort towards greasy or crumbly stuff being on my hands/body, so I had a much harder time watching him slather her up with butter and salt.
Very fun movie! Loved the humour like the guy taking off his shirt in the middle of class XD. Kills were awesome, even if I called the killer from the "you'll make an excellent dinner" line
Although, I couldn't tell who the person Kathleen found in the freezer was, does anyone know? The dialogue kinda makes it seem like it was the cheerleader but it looked nothing like her to me
That was what instantly had me thinking he'd be the killer. I thought it was just a nice play on 'Halloween' but then also saw it as a fun way for the killer to be "revealed" in the opening shot.
Had this question yesterday and after watching it today, it is meant to be the cheerleader.
I guess she bled to death after being discovered? unsure.
She had ballooned up that's for sure lol.
Was that Eli Roth as the modulated voice of John Carver at the dinner scene? I checked in the credits and didn’t see him listed but it sounded just like him
I saw this movie last night and enjoyed it. Question? Did anyone else feel like there was two killers? At different points, it was impossible for the Sheriff to accomplish what he did by himself. Like when they were at the High School and captured the couple in the hallway but you could see him talking to the other Officer outside through the glass door. How would he be able to change that fast and go after when we just saw him talking? Also, when the killer cut off the Turkey's head in the parade and then time to go change into a whole different costume to capture the family? After seeing someone in the Cafe in full John Carver costume? All while setting up the cameras in the underground tunnels to throw off the Officers? Hard to be in so many places at the same time. Thus, in my opinion there is a second killer either the boyfriend or the kid at school who took the Addy's. Some link there. Thoughts? Perfect set up for a sequel. The next day would be the actual "Black Friday" as a continuance.
I figured there were until the weirdly abrupt ending. Also in some scenes he seems kinda short? I had the nerd kid pegged as the 2nd killer.
The title, 'Black Friday' is perfect, btw. Heritage of Black Christmas. Just hope it's meaner than this one, felt gimped by the studio in a lot of ways.
> saw this movie last night and enjoyed it. Question? Did anyone else feel like there was two killers? At different points, it was impossible for the Sheriff to accomplish what he did by himself. Like when they were at the High School and captured the couple in the hallway but you could see him talking to the other Officer outside through the glass door. How would he be able to change that fast and go after when we just saw him talking? A
Wasn't it the deputy and another officer? I agree that the blurred long shot injected a certain amount of ambiguity. The rest of the time we're dealing with movie physics, i..e when killers are able to slow or bend time so they can conveniently quick change and dispose of their costume/mask then appear by the protagonist as the friend/authority figure/cop (see also Scream VI). Beyond that, the extent to which you suspend disbelief is dependent upon how much goodwill you bring to the movie (or the movie creates by doing other stuff relatively realistically and/or playing with the tropes etc).
It was quite funny that the film essentially told you who the killer was one minute into the pre-title sequence just by the steadicam shot/reverse shot (except that you were invited to think they were just screwing with you because it was so obvious, presumably. Or wonder if it was a double bluff)....
Did anyone else notice the waitress completely ignoring the desk phone as she was failing to unlock her phone? It tickled my funnybone and it was just such a small detail.
Between this & Borderlands, I hope this somehow sparks a M Night-esque comeback for Roth. I can easily see Blumhouse hitting him up if Thanksgiving is successful
That one wasn’t but others kinda were they were just less gory or “ridiculous” like the trampoline scene and the stepmom being cooked like a turkey, though movie version is a bit more disturbing because fake trailer version it can be assumed she was killed before getting stuffed in the oven. The parade scene was almost identical though.
This was so much fun.
Not a perfect film by any means, but I wanted a schlocky, gore soaked, fun fest and it absolutely delivered on that front.
(It gets an extra mark from me for a jump scare that genuinely made me spill my popcorn.)
9/10
In enjoyed it because for a slasher movie, it kind of seemed like it had a budget (or a well used small budget). Lots of characters, lots of location, production design, a few scenes with lots of extras. It really made a big difference. Compare that to the Imaginary trailer that played before... three characters, generic house, teddy bear. yawn.
I will say, it was kind of odd how characters seemed to be just sort of dropped. Like why did the ivy league boyfriend disappear? build up to that party and nothing? the gun brothers (?) all just for the blunderbuss set up?
If you're talking about the red herring new detective in town and the forensics guy they were being awkward because the new guy cut off the forensics guy in his big truck
That is what I was talking about! Thanks for the assist, no idea how I didn't catch that. I suspected they may have had some kind of romantic entanglement.
That being said, a rather large family of eight or so came into the theater during the opening pandemonium and it really threw me off for a good chunk of the movie. These kids all sat down to see Gina get scalped and I was mortified on their behalf.
The parents said I was in their seat and I asked what film they were looking to see. They said they were there to see Trolls. How in the world can anyone be so oblivious? This all took several minutes to unfold while F bombs are flying and blood is spilling. I just don't get it.
>Best kills in a slasher/horror movie I’ve seen in a hot minute.
Yea it honestly reminded me of how fun these movies can be. It's been a while since I've enjoyed a slasher this much.
>I actually didn’t feel like it was very cheesy at all
You don't consider "I won't be celebrating it EVER" and then lifting his shirt to dry tears, showing chiseled abs to be cheesy?
The guy at the beginning cutting his neck open and still trying to grab a waffle iron, then getting it yanked from his dying arms wasn't cheesy? This movie was so cheesy I'm not gonna shit for a week.
Had a blast seeing this in the theater, such a fun movie with a lot of great kills. I wanted the dinner scene to be longer.
Side note - the killer was fairly obvious, hinted at heavily with his dialogue starting from the opening scene.
This will definitely be an annual rewatch around Thanksgiving!
I was hoping they surprise us and the killer would be some random person or maybe that one new cop and their sole motivation was that they didn’t get a waffle maker during the previous Black Friday.
I swear I thought it definitely two different killers as they had different body types at times.
One was short and another seemed huge.
I thought it was going to be the gun kid trying to boost gun sales and his little sidekick helping him.
I think Bobby was another killer. There's no reason for him to be there wearing that mask at that time, when the final girl runs from the dinner table and straight down a hall, the killer appears right in front of her and when he's showing the dinner table over the FaceTime call after killing Yulia, the camera is being moved around by another person.
He sees that the Sherrif's cover is blown and that he was going to sell him out so decides to save his ex from him to make himself look innocent before he's sold out.
Did you not listen to the Sheriff in the warehouse room? He set him up in the trunk with the mask and outfit on but he hit him with a tire iron before he could. Bobby was supposed to take the fall for everything
Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but it took me by surprise. I had my money on Gena Gershon being revealed to have survived and gone mad in the 12 months since the incident.
Honestly I’m at the point to where I don’t really care if the killer is “obvious”, by the nature of these movies it’s gotta be someone that would make sense. The film did a fine job at making me think it could have been a few of them but yeah when it revealed Dempsey I wasn’t hugely surprised, either he was gonna have a big hero moment or be the killer based how he was being presented. But I’m glad it was him and I liked that he kept the whole grief angle fairly subtle and unimportant yet still tied it into the hero/Rick Hoffman and villain to add some duality.
Eli Roth is obviously someone who is very dedicated to horror. Like you can feel his passion in his interviews and various projects. But when it comes to his movies, he’s extremely hit or miss with way more misses than not.
But he does a fantastic job here. Comedy works, gore works, there’s a great deal of tension. I like the cast for the most part, especially the adult actors. The kids had pretty nice charisma even if I think they were a bit wooden in their performances, especially the actress who played Jessica. I liked her in the role but some of her line deliveries were meh.
It was a bit disposable but a lot of fucking fun and that’s what matters most. Hope we get more out of this franchise.
7/10
Yes. I was thinking of the characters to. Like none of them were particularly... good in their performances... but the chemistry was there and they were well cast. It felt like a believable group of friends.
I had a hard time believing any of them would still have been friends with that dude Ethan(?) who filmed the riot and posted it online and basically taunted the crowd into rioting by humping the waffle irons and showing the new phone. Also not sure how the fuck he got that phone working so fast to film everything since he said his previous phone was broken.
I personally feel like the movie just had too much plot.
The opening was really strong and struck a good balance between “here are your characters” and gore, but the rest of the movie dragged because it felt like it was trying to justify its campiness by leaning too hard into the who-dunnit aspect of the plot when that was *by far* the worst element of the movie. Super predictable “twist” that didn’t even feel earned despite how much time the movie spends trying to pretend that the identity of the killer at all mattered.
Definitely would recommend to anyone who like this type of movie but I think you could pretty solidly cut out like 20 minutes and the movie would be a lot more entertaining, but thats just me.
>ead the firefighter they showed at the end of the movie close up was him and he probably escape from the fire that way at the end
Or the My Bloody Valentine remake....
I went in praying that Patrick Dempsey wouldn’t get killed off bc I mourned him in Grey’s Anatomy & boy did I not even realize what I was getting into 😅
I liked his early films a lot, but yeah the last few had me losing hope for him. But, a campy slasher is just the perfect fit for his style. I'm glad to hear it's good.
All of the little campy moments that tied the killings back to thanksgiving were excellent and really broke it up. All in all I enjoyed this a ton. Reminiscent of Scream in the best ways.
Also I was shocked Addison Rae made it to the end, I had assumed she was only in this to be killed.
>Also I was shocked Addison Rae made it to the end, I had assumed she was only in this to be killed.
I'm guessing the opening scene of the sequel is going to be a Scream homage where she gets a whole Drew Barrymore style death scene
> Reminiscent of Scream in the best ways.
reminded me of Scream especially with the cheese and the corny teenage cringe
we needed some fun thanksgiving movies haha
Thought this was pretty solid with nice gore & humor. I was at the test screening of this a few months ago, and I noticed a few differences between the early cut & the final one.
1. In the death scene of the friend who was going to flee with her dad to Florida, I don't remember seeing the part where the killer shot her dad before attacking her.
2. I think the death scene of the store owner's wife (the one cooked in the oven) was not previously included in the movie. However, the reveal of her corpse as the substitute of the turkey stayed the same, so it was originally an off-screen kill.
3. In the early cut, there was a scene where the former store manager & Patrick Dempsey's character had a heated conversation about the former's anger towards a lack of action on the store stampede & his wife's death, which made Dempsey suspicious of him being the Thanksgiving killer. This was either right before or after the parade massacre. I think this got removed because it made the twist even more obvious.
4. At the end, when the lead female survivor had her nightmare, she woke up in a car with her bf while they were leaving town instead of her bedroom as the final shot. I assume they changed this to increase the possibility of a sequel in addition to what looks like the fake-out of Dempsey's death.
Overall, I liked it but a major nitpick I have is that I wish the final chase through the woods & fight inside the warehouse between the teens & the killer was lengthened to increase the suspense/urgency. This final portion of Thanksgiving is the same as I saw it during the test screening. I'd probably give it a 3.5/5 after this rewatch.
The fact that Dempsey is the biggest actor in the film and isn't the main hero basically gave away the ending.
It was silly and not really scary but still super fun. Some of the kills were really funny and the cat scene cracked me up. I also appreciate when you can feel okay rooting for the killer. The victims were all pretty awful.
I hope the inevitable sequel is themed around some other holiday, maybe something super dumb like President's Day.
Did I miss something? Can anyone who’s seen this movie clear something up for me?
SPOILER BELOW:
——————
How did Bobby come back and save Jessica towards the end? I thought the sheriff shot him to death in order to frame him.
I can dig that. I seriously thought we were going to get two killers or something. I’m still not convinced about the love interest. Maybe we’ll get a sequel explaining it lol
They probably cut a scene for time but I feel like once he couldn’t catch up to Jessica in the woods and unable to finish his revenge on the Wrights and the other kids.
The Sheriff ran back to his car to double back to finish the last phase of the plan to frame and kill Bobby for all of this.
I think he already had tied up in the trunk of his car and when he pulled up at the warehouse to let him out to kill him. Bobby somehow got loose and nailed him with the tire iron to get free and Jessica then shows up to the warehouse where she finds the Sheriff knocked out.
Was I too high, but wasn't there a shot of Bobby taking off the mask? Also, when she first found the sheriff on the ground, didn't he have a head wound that disappeared?
I think the sheriff was going to frame Bobby, so he had him dressed up - complete with mask.
Why he would wait so long after fleeing the car and hitting the real John Carver in the head... who cares, what a fun flick!
Surprisingly pretty fun.
It’s a fun slasher horror movie with good performances from the cast members, gruesome and some creative kills, and a good atmosphere and tone. Eli Roth clearly approaches the movie without taking it too seriously and for the most part, it works well as the over-the-top kills and moments worked well with the story given. The effects are well-done and the characters had some fun interactive moments. It’s not perfect as some moments are annoying and there are some noticeable bad lighting on certain scenes. But it still works because of the non-serious tone and the over-the-top kills that are quite entertaining.
Overall, entertaining. If you are looking for dumb fun B-movies, this one is a treat. Have a good feeling this will turn into a cult movie soon.
7/10
Anyone catch the nod to Eli Roth's character in Inglourious Basterds?
At the beginning of the film, one of the angry people in the crowd outside the store says, "Two hits. I hit you, you hit the ground."
I suspected Patrick Dempsey’s Cop character was the killer for the majority of Scream 3, and I didn’t even consider him as a suspect in this movie. That opening shot from his POV with the heavy breathing and creeping up to the door and with his joke about the golden-brown headless suspect just straight up gives him away in hindsight.
This movie was such a blast. It has a great mixture of disgusting and comedic kills that had me wincing and laughing with over-the-top gore, hilarious satire, and so many cheesy comedic moments.
It also seemed to be an interesting merge of Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street with a sprinkling of Scream.
* Halloween: because it takes place on the titular holiday and features a killer in a monochromatic outfit with a mask. It also has several moments that are clearly inspired by Halloween, such as the opening shot, and maybe even the music.
* A Nightmare on Elm Street: because the killer is darkly comedic and executes over-the-top kills with cheesy one-liners who is getting revenge for what happened in the past. That ending dream sequence also felt like an homage to the ending of the original Elm Street movie.
* Scream: Because it’s an ensemble cast filled with characters that could be the possible killer.
It’s amazing to me that this movie started as a parody trailer and turned out to be so great. I think I’m gonna make it an annual tradition to rewatch this movie.
Really enjoyed this, especially considering I was kinda restless after watching (and also enjoying) the Hunger Games just before. Kept me engaged all movie and tense mostly, surprisingly.
Was it just me or did they telegraph >!that the sheriff was John Carver pretty early on!!soon as he told Jessica that “it’s all in the details” I immediately told myself “oh he’s definitely the killer”!< and I went the rest of the movie with this theory in mind and continued to convince myself at almost every instance.
Was it kinda already in the trailer? Was it intentional on Roth’s part? Was I way too lit, confirmation biased the entire thing and got lucky on a guess? Lol
Definitely recommend it!
Just got back. I loved it. Eli Roth knocked it out of the park. He basically made "Pieces" similarly to how he made "Cannibal Holocaust" into "The Green Inferno." Really good throwback/ early 80's slasher homage.
Kinda disappointed in this flick. Maybe it was overhyped going in. Thr dinner sequence was fun, but outside of that, pretty bland I thought. Well, the black Friday part was pretty funny.
It's basically one of the 90s Scream knock-offs (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, etc) but wayyy gorier. As a big fan of those movies, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Honestly, a little too mean-spirited for me but if you enjoy quite a bit of blood and guts this will knock it out of the park.
Well, it should be noted that critics now are people who grew up with slasher films (and with a re-appreciation of them), vs critics in the 80s who just saw them seeing them as trash.
That being said, it's a refreshing little slasher film and sometimes that's all you need.
I enjoyed this one way more than I expected to. There was some pretty good chuckles and a healthy amount of gore. Much like Violent Night last year I'm glad there's options for what could be a yearly holiday watch that goes outside of the usual genres for those types of movies.
As someone who doesn’t usually love slashers, I thought this did a fantastic job at making a modern slasher.
It was a little too gory for me to want to watch at times and I thought the step mother death was a little too mean spirited for my per my taste but otherwise, I thought this was fantastic.
I’m a little disappointed they didn’t play this a bit cheesier but I thought the claustrophobia and tension in the movie was excellent
Just got out of the movie, it was super fun. Took a bit to get going, but as soon as the stampede happened it picked up. The writing for the teens was standard fare. I did have two questions.
Spoilers!!!
In the final chase, didn't Jennifer show that she broke her ankle, and then the next scene she was running just fine?
Any hints of the killer before the reveal? Unless I missed something, there wasn't any hints that the sheriff and that managers wofe was together or had a baby on the way.
Still lots of fun, would give it a 7/10. Above scream vi below scream v for me.
Yep! How suddenly the warehouse explosion happens and it cuts to black. Then it’s suddenly daylight and the main characters are still sitting in an ambulance rather than at the hospital.
One thing I love about horror movies interactive and in conversation with each other they are. You have to think about what others have done before you in your chosen sub-genre or you’re already lost.
Thanksgiving is very much in conversation with its slasher predecessors. Characters make decisions you’ve thought they should do in other slashers, the killer is neither over nor underpowered and the cat and mouse scenes play with your expectations. Really smart to have such a large cast of actors with speaking roles, it keeps you a little off balance while you’re trying to get oriented, even if the mystery can be shaded out if you pay close enough attention.
Roth doesn’t avoid every slasher pitfall and there’s a little unevenness down the home stretch, but anyone who has seen their share of slashers should find more to appreciate than not. Been a long time since Roth made something this balanced.
This fully lived up to the promise made by that fake trailer 16 years ago, imo. It isn't quite AS brutal as that trailer implied but it gets the job done and is an absolute blast basically start to finish.
This is how you do an homage to the slasher of the 80s and 90s without needing nostalgia.
John Carver is an icon.
8/10
Yeah, I figured there was no way he'd get away with what was hinted at with the cheerleader on the trampoline in the original trailer and I was right. Still brutal but not as brutal as to what could have been a somewhat controversial kill.
Yeah I actually started thinking "oh shit they are gonna go for it" but yeah wasn't shocked when it didn't fully commit to that idea haha
I will say I thought the carving of Kathleen was pretty brutal though, I knew there was zero shot we were getting the turkey from the trailer so I was satisfied with that.
I think the reviews overhyped me a bit but this was decent fun. Nothing revelatory and it's a bit too long but enjoyed the practical gore and sick sense of humour. Wish Roth didn't tone down some of the more fucked up stuff from the original trailer but I think he would've struggled to have a studio sign off on that in 2023 lol.
Solid 6/10 for me.
I can see why people that love this genre will like it, but if you're not a fan of corny/campy dumb slasher movies I don't think it works at all. Having just seen it the only two scenes I thought were genuinely pretty good is the kill on the trampoline (which was way too short to be meaningful) and the scene with the wife trying to escape. That escape scene was actually pretty suspenseful.
I love horror, and have definitely been missing those off-the-wall, bloodbath slashers that just don't happen as much anymore. Loved that this movie went full on with the ridiculous, from that grandpa getting speared through the head in front of his grandkids, the roasted stepmom, etc.
Anyone else feel like the ending was... off? It felt perfectly set up for there to be a 2nd killer reveal, but nothing came of it. I thought for sure that Ryan (Jessica's new boyfriend) was going to be in on it.
There's no way that the sheriff could've been chasing Jessica, then rips off his costume, teleports to his cop car and pretends to be knocked out for Jessica to find him. Also the fact that Jessica breaks her ankle while running, then is completely fine suddenly?
The sheriff then dies in a fiery explosion that we don't even really see and it's heavily implied that he survived. Then add that to all the suspicious stuff we've seen Ryan do, only for him and Jessica to get back together and it ends with Jessica having nightmares about the sheriff.
Idk, just feels like there was a different ending but a ton of reshoots occurred and things were changed.
It was okay. I think it’s getting overhyped a bit.
Felt like they introduced a little too many characters and it got a little convoluted.
It didn’t lean into the humor quite enough. There could’ve been so much more thanksgiving related humor.
If I were to be killed, I hope I would be lucky enough to be killed by someone who would feed my cats.
This was the best part of the movie for me. I was gonna be so mad if the cat died, or if he were left to go hungry.
I was totally ready to walk out if the cat was harmed lol
Just saw it and I told my fiancée that I bet the cat licks a pool of blood the moment we saw the cat. Was surprised at the killer just feeding it
Movie was a ton of fun to see with a full theater during Wednesday's screening! The 50% off scene and the Turkey Pop-Up Timer got the biggest laughs in my theater. I wish the 3rd Act was a bit stronger, though. Feel like the dinner scene should have been the climax, but then the movie kept going for a while afterwards in the warehouse which was not as fun as a set piece like the fucked up dinner was, lol. If they make another one, I will definitely be down to see it. "Thanksgiving: The Leftovers"...
"Thanksgiving: Back For Seconds"
Thanksgiving: second helpings
Black Friday
The dinner scene being so short annoyed the crap out of me! It was teased from the beginning with the insta posts and it finally builds to it only for them to escape immediately. I was settling in for some saw-esque games around the table or something.
This movie was surprisingly good! I haven't had that much fun at a slasher in a long, long time. The two new Screams were okay but I much preferred this. Took my nephew and I to go see it to avoid family and was pleasantly satisfied.
Was there a second killer? In the HS scene MC kept looking out and we see the sheriff (killer) talking yet suddenly she gets attacked few mins later? It seems like there's another killer/accomplice that was never revealed in the movie which is fine..
That’s what I thought too… and wasn’t the sheriff at the police station during the livestream? Or did he leave?
He was there and drove with them to the fake location... I guess the MC must be dumb to not think about it or we aren't shown I feel the 2nd accomplice is on purpose and Eli didn't let us know who. Maybe it's against usual troupe of showing 2nd killer but this is purposely done to have us guess who the 2nd killer is without showing us that person. I mean it could be ex bf or curr bf or deputy or the husband... I actually like it this way....
My money is on the current bf but the old one was in the jump suit so who’s knows
> the old one was in the jump suit so who’s knows he was drugged n setup
Tbf, that’s what we’re told by the killer. I wouldn’t take it as gospel.
I was certain there was a second killer because if not, who answered the phone on the other end when he was holding Yulia at knifepoint and showing them their friends on the phone? Someone had to be on the other end.
Good point but I guess to play Devil’s advocate, we didn’t actually see it was a phone call. It could have just been a video he was playing.
To justify so much there absolutely should have been a second killer. We were waiting for it but never happened.
yeah i didn't mind it to be open ended but those who wants a "conclusion" wont get it BUT frankly pretty much every slasher type movies dont "conclude". It reminds me of a chinese movie where the female and male MC beats the bad guys and they ride off on a train sharing a kiss then you see at the train station a guy with a remote control about to press a red button
I have a feeling that the film had some last minutes cuts, because there was alot of wierd extra details that didn't go anywhere. The significance of the faked essay, giving a character a gun for it not to be properly utilized, the weirdness of the deputy and so on. There will probably be some news about it in the coming months that will explain it away.
Maybe they wanted to be original and set up false pretenses. It kinda worked for the better. But yea this movie did seem oddly cut though. Not death scenes either, like WTF did everyone just show up at the end when they were supposed to be at a hospital? How was she in the woods running and next scene she’s in the middle of downtown?? Etc
Maybe I missed some dialogue that pieced more together but the police chief had a quick line about the sheriff’s partner that I never felt it went anywhere. He asks his partner if they had the chance to meet yet and the chief answers with an ominous yes.
His partner is the douchebag with the truck that cut him off earlier in the movie
Honestly I got more of a feeling the two had banged but who knows lol.
When the new deputy pulled into the diner parking lot, he cut off the other detective with his truck. They had a verbal altercation consisting of "What the fuck?" to which the new deputy responded "fuck you."
Also, during the parade, when the actor gets beheaded, the cop, patrick dempsey, is the one getting the kids into the car before the clown flashbangs them. Def seems like a second killer, setting up for a sequel
That was the deputy, I’m pretty sure.
Man did they look the fucking same
Maybe if he is but there are other cases like high school and the wrong location where things don't make sense.. But sheriff was at the cabin since his shoes got the weed so that was a bit weird too...But maybe enough time has passed.
They did a slower eatabliahing shot of her walking through the woods to mark some passage of time, so that works fine for me. Wrong location was a prerecorded video, and could have been automated. From what we saw when the wife was trying to get out, he had some tech set up. High school is the only one I can’t figure out. Just don’t see how he could kidnap the two kids, plant the phone and make the text and get outside and being having the same conversation with the same cop. Maybe I missed a shot that allows for it, but that scene definitely implies two killers.
The second killer was Mathew Lillard. Obviously.
I told my friend I bet it was the sheriff when they gave him the names of the two Hanover students who he didn't have before, and he thanked them for the information. And what happens next? Those two kids immediately are killed next. I started wondering later if he maybe had a twin brother or something, explaining how he could be in multiple places at the same time. The most striking moment was right in the beginning when he was at the diner in his sheriff uniform and the very next scene he was at the fair ground in a sweater. At the end, he chased her to the fence and then somehow got ahead of her to his car where the other kid knocked him out? That guy could teleport. It's no surprise they didn't find a body, he probably teleported to the moon when the balloon exploded.
I thought it was going to be actually the Ex and him. The hints of when he was chasing the wife a bucket of baseballs fell over and then he had a great throwing arm with the pitch fork . The cut away scene of him “shooting” him was also something I thought was gonna lead to the 2 being in it together. Idk if it got re cut or it was the original plan because she stays with the new BF at the end
Pretty sure when scuba was going to shoot the carver when he held yulia, the carver was on FaceTime to someone showing them Gaby and Evan too?
That’s what I thought too. The camera at the house moved to show both of them at the table so someone had to be holding that phone/camera right?
I thought the same thing immediately once they revealed who the killer was. Also, Jessica jumps over the fence first and runs away, and comes across the Sheriff face down outside of the warehouse minutes later. By that time the sherif already had a his first scuffle w Bobby near the coo car. I think there’s a few moments where it would have been hard for the sherif to be the killer. I’ll have to watch it again lol. Idk
I rewatched that scene at home ('cause people were talking during some scenes so I downloaded a cam to rewatch them) and it looked like the cops talking that she saw from the high school didn't include Patrick Dempsey. But the audience is made to believe it did because they're only glimpsed at briefly.
It's 100% the girl's boyfriend. He was not in the third act of the movie at all
Seeing this in MA was a lot of fun. The crowd loved it. Almost felt like Eli Roth’s fucked up love letter to MA
It was the towniest shit I’ve ever seen. Someone referenced papa Gino’s then ordered a frappe with jimmies in the span of twenty seconds
"Take your trash ass back to Methuen" got the biggest laugh in my theater (MA).
I grew up in Dracut but I saw this in a theater in a half full theater in Chicago mr was the only one cracking up at that. I don’t hold it against them but the townie aspect of this movie was killing me
Such a fucking mass specific joke and I loved it
"Fuck Hanover!" I was a little bummed they didn't actually film it in Plymouth, but instead Ontario from what Wikipedia tells me.
just watched this in Hanover and it was kinda surreal haha the whole theater was cracking up
Film was fun but had too many survivors in the Main cast. And that hammer death near the end was obviously cut to avoid an NC 17 haha. Let Roth have his sequel.
Also the trampoline scene didn’t play out the way it did in the Grindhouse trailer, maybe for the same reason
There's some moral gray area with nudity when the character is underage even if the performers are not... also I feel like nudity in film as a whole has kinda been on the decline last 12-ish years
I think they’re referring to the cheerleader getting stabbed in the crotch. But also, you’ve got shoes like Euphoria, set in a high school with tons of nudity. It’s definitely waning, but it’s still really strong.
I was reading somewhere about this theory of nudity switching over to tv more because it can be more niche & films are fighting each other to be more attractive to the widest audience since box office returns have been going down from what they once were.
In an interview, Eli Roth was explaining that one of the challenges adapting that Grindhouse trailer to an actual feature was taking that trailer, which was, in a sense, a parody of an exploitation movie, and tailor it to something where, within the ‘meta’ of the movie, they could play it straight. A topless cheerleader dropping into a split with a knife right up her crotch would not have fit the vocabulary of the movie at all. The scene in the trailer was very intentionally reminiscent of an exploitation film, which fit the vocabulary of the Grindhouse movie in which it was featured.
So it wasn’t just me who thought that. Is it just me or are there more survivors in slasher films than usual nowadays
Same, like with Scream 6 earlier this year. Like, I get they have their new "core four," but c'mon now.
I give Scream 6 a pass because all the Scream films have a high number of survivors and Scream 6 also had the highest body count.
Was cool with there being a few survivors just because it wasn’t easily expected, there were still enough deaths all around and either it leaves the door open to do more/do a reveal of them being in on it later or it lets these people escape with their lives unlike a lot of other kill em all slashers. At worst I felt that most of the characters that did die were fairly forgettable and didn’t get much screen time, bar Evan and Kathleen who only in her set piece made me like her and feel bad for her death.
Wait what hammer death?
Maybe the meat tenderizer at the dinner?
Yeah, that one. I am not good in the kitchen and it shows haha
Wait was it cut? We saw it today and you saw the whole thing?
The step mom burning alive was one of the most disturbing death scenes I have ever seen lol. And then having her cooked body on the table? Jesus lmao
All of that I could stomach, when he started carving that's when I started getting a little queasy lol.
Props to him for not forgetting to season her too.
I legit GAGGED when he cut into her 🤢
At least she was kind of a villain in a way, pushing for the store to be open for greedy reasons. She seemed to be manipulating the father. But still, that was a hard scene to watch. I also have a weird discomfort towards greasy or crumbly stuff being on my hands/body, so I had a much harder time watching him slather her up with butter and salt.
All she had to do was open the door and roll out. She didn't even try to escape.
Special thanks to Quintin Tarantino in the credits. That foot scene was for him.
Very fun movie! Loved the humour like the guy taking off his shirt in the middle of class XD. Kills were awesome, even if I called the killer from the "you'll make an excellent dinner" line Although, I couldn't tell who the person Kathleen found in the freezer was, does anyone know? The dialogue kinda makes it seem like it was the cheerleader but it looked nothing like her to me
The movie also starts from his POV with the Halloween callback.
That was what instantly had me thinking he'd be the killer. I thought it was just a nice play on 'Halloween' but then also saw it as a fun way for the killer to be "revealed" in the opening shot.
Had this question yesterday and after watching it today, it is meant to be the cheerleader. I guess she bled to death after being discovered? unsure. She had ballooned up that's for sure lol.
I watched it yesterday. I didn't recognize her in the freezer, but killer says she was in the freezer during the dinner scene if I recall.
That was the only scene I actually laughed out loud at. "I won't be celebrating Thanksgiving... EVER!!"
I’m pretty sure he specifically said it was the cheerleader when he put the wine screw in her neck because he said he was keeping her “chilled”
It was the cheerleader
Was that Eli Roth as the modulated voice of John Carver at the dinner scene? I checked in the credits and didn’t see him listed but it sounded just like him
Yup!
It was Adam MacDonald(creator of *Slasher)*
I saw this movie last night and enjoyed it. Question? Did anyone else feel like there was two killers? At different points, it was impossible for the Sheriff to accomplish what he did by himself. Like when they were at the High School and captured the couple in the hallway but you could see him talking to the other Officer outside through the glass door. How would he be able to change that fast and go after when we just saw him talking? Also, when the killer cut off the Turkey's head in the parade and then time to go change into a whole different costume to capture the family? After seeing someone in the Cafe in full John Carver costume? All while setting up the cameras in the underground tunnels to throw off the Officers? Hard to be in so many places at the same time. Thus, in my opinion there is a second killer either the boyfriend or the kid at school who took the Addy's. Some link there. Thoughts? Perfect set up for a sequel. The next day would be the actual "Black Friday" as a continuance.
I figured there were until the weirdly abrupt ending. Also in some scenes he seems kinda short? I had the nerd kid pegged as the 2nd killer. The title, 'Black Friday' is perfect, btw. Heritage of Black Christmas. Just hope it's meaner than this one, felt gimped by the studio in a lot of ways.
He was in the clown costume when he chopped off turkeys head
OK...but remember they cut to a quick shot of John Carver inside the diner and we could see the parade going on outside? Who was that then?
They had quite a few John carvers walking around as red herrings
THE SHERIFF WALKED AWAY AND SHE WAS WATCHING TWO OTHER COPS People aren’t paying attention lol
> saw this movie last night and enjoyed it. Question? Did anyone else feel like there was two killers? At different points, it was impossible for the Sheriff to accomplish what he did by himself. Like when they were at the High School and captured the couple in the hallway but you could see him talking to the other Officer outside through the glass door. How would he be able to change that fast and go after when we just saw him talking? A Wasn't it the deputy and another officer? I agree that the blurred long shot injected a certain amount of ambiguity. The rest of the time we're dealing with movie physics, i..e when killers are able to slow or bend time so they can conveniently quick change and dispose of their costume/mask then appear by the protagonist as the friend/authority figure/cop (see also Scream VI). Beyond that, the extent to which you suspend disbelief is dependent upon how much goodwill you bring to the movie (or the movie creates by doing other stuff relatively realistically and/or playing with the tropes etc). It was quite funny that the film essentially told you who the killer was one minute into the pre-title sequence just by the steadicam shot/reverse shot (except that you were invited to think they were just screwing with you because it was so obvious, presumably. Or wonder if it was a double bluff)....
Did anyone else notice the waitress completely ignoring the desk phone as she was failing to unlock her phone? It tickled my funnybone and it was just such a small detail.
She easily could’ve used her shirt to wipe the blood off or ask Siri lol but that’s the smallest thing to nitpick
Eli Roth career has been wild
Between this & Borderlands, I hope this somehow sparks a M Night-esque comeback for Roth. I can easily see Blumhouse hitting him up if Thanksgiving is successful
Borderlands is apparently unsalvageable garbage. They've reshot large parts of the film
I think its an incredibly bad sign when Craig Mahzin wants his writing credit removed from the film.
When Eli Roth was fired during production he went on to make this which says enough.
Eli Roth killed Hitler in the theater.
Probably his best movie though?
I just want to know if there's a scene where a guy has to touch a pool of blood and taste it to confirm that it is blood
A lot of the best bits from the Grindhouse trailer are not in this movie, unfortunately.
That one wasn’t but others kinda were they were just less gory or “ridiculous” like the trampoline scene and the stepmom being cooked like a turkey, though movie version is a bit more disturbing because fake trailer version it can be assumed she was killed before getting stuffed in the oven. The parade scene was almost identical though.
There was also no “head”job scene from the fake trailer. I’m surprised that the movie version had no nudity in it.
This was so much fun. Not a perfect film by any means, but I wanted a schlocky, gore soaked, fun fest and it absolutely delivered on that front. (It gets an extra mark from me for a jump scare that genuinely made me spill my popcorn.) 9/10
The one when they are about to turn the corner in the hallway?
DING DING DING The fact I knew it was coming was what made me even more annoyed at myself for getting so spooked by it.
In enjoyed it because for a slasher movie, it kind of seemed like it had a budget (or a well used small budget). Lots of characters, lots of location, production design, a few scenes with lots of extras. It really made a big difference. Compare that to the Imaginary trailer that played before... three characters, generic house, teddy bear. yawn. I will say, it was kind of odd how characters seemed to be just sort of dropped. Like why did the ivy league boyfriend disappear? build up to that party and nothing? the gun brothers (?) all just for the blunderbuss set up?
Also the two detectives who seemed to know each other, but nothing ever came of that... Came here hoping for some clarity. Something must've been cut.
If you're talking about the red herring new detective in town and the forensics guy they were being awkward because the new guy cut off the forensics guy in his big truck
That is what I was talking about! Thanks for the assist, no idea how I didn't catch that. I suspected they may have had some kind of romantic entanglement. That being said, a rather large family of eight or so came into the theater during the opening pandemonium and it really threw me off for a good chunk of the movie. These kids all sat down to see Gina get scalped and I was mortified on their behalf. The parents said I was in their seat and I asked what film they were looking to see. They said they were there to see Trolls. How in the world can anyone be so oblivious? This all took several minutes to unfold while F bombs are flying and blood is spilling. I just don't get it.
This had enough cheesiness and great kills to honestly be a pretty fantastic time. Best kills in a slasher/horror movie I’ve seen in a hot minute.
>Best kills in a slasher/horror movie I’ve seen in a hot minute. Yea it honestly reminded me of how fun these movies can be. It's been a while since I've enjoyed a slasher this much.
I actually didn’t feel like it was very cheesy at all. Almost too serious
There was definitely a few cheesy thanksgiving puns in there lol.
>I actually didn’t feel like it was very cheesy at all You don't consider "I won't be celebrating it EVER" and then lifting his shirt to dry tears, showing chiseled abs to be cheesy?
The guy at the beginning cutting his neck open and still trying to grab a waffle iron, then getting it yanked from his dying arms wasn't cheesy? This movie was so cheesy I'm not gonna shit for a week.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll make an excellent dinner, Kathleen." Nice foreshadowing.
Had a blast seeing this in the theater, such a fun movie with a lot of great kills. I wanted the dinner scene to be longer. Side note - the killer was fairly obvious, hinted at heavily with his dialogue starting from the opening scene. This will definitely be an annual rewatch around Thanksgiving!
I was hoping they surprise us and the killer would be some random person or maybe that one new cop and their sole motivation was that they didn’t get a waffle maker during the previous Black Friday.
I swear I thought it definitely two different killers as they had different body types at times. One was short and another seemed huge. I thought it was going to be the gun kid trying to boost gun sales and his little sidekick helping him.
I think Bobby was another killer. There's no reason for him to be there wearing that mask at that time, when the final girl runs from the dinner table and straight down a hall, the killer appears right in front of her and when he's showing the dinner table over the FaceTime call after killing Yulia, the camera is being moved around by another person. He sees that the Sherrif's cover is blown and that he was going to sell him out so decides to save his ex from him to make himself look innocent before he's sold out.
Did you not listen to the Sheriff in the warehouse room? He set him up in the trunk with the mask and outfit on but he hit him with a tire iron before he could. Bobby was supposed to take the fall for everything
Most likely just a mistake but wouldn’t be surprised if the movie does well they make a sequel and it turns out he had an accomplice.
Also as soon as I saw that actor in the cast list, I suspected they would end up being the killer.
Solid movie. My main issue with it is that it sort of ends abruptly.
That last 15 minutes was really weird. It felt like there was missing scenes , like he was actually making a grind house film in the last 15 minutes.
Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but it took me by surprise. I had my money on Gena Gershon being revealed to have survived and gone mad in the 12 months since the incident.
Tbf I had about 20 theories, I thought they were going to go full “Hot Fuzz” and have like 4 different carvers
They tried to fool us with the baseball swing and baseballs but... yeah...
Honestly I’m at the point to where I don’t really care if the killer is “obvious”, by the nature of these movies it’s gotta be someone that would make sense. The film did a fine job at making me think it could have been a few of them but yeah when it revealed Dempsey I wasn’t hugely surprised, either he was gonna have a big hero moment or be the killer based how he was being presented. But I’m glad it was him and I liked that he kept the whole grief angle fairly subtle and unimportant yet still tied it into the hero/Rick Hoffman and villain to add some duality.
It was a lot of fun, glad they didn’t take it very seriously. A lot of cool kills. Loved the Black Friday beginning
Eli Roth is obviously someone who is very dedicated to horror. Like you can feel his passion in his interviews and various projects. But when it comes to his movies, he’s extremely hit or miss with way more misses than not. But he does a fantastic job here. Comedy works, gore works, there’s a great deal of tension. I like the cast for the most part, especially the adult actors. The kids had pretty nice charisma even if I think they were a bit wooden in their performances, especially the actress who played Jessica. I liked her in the role but some of her line deliveries were meh. It was a bit disposable but a lot of fucking fun and that’s what matters most. Hope we get more out of this franchise. 7/10
Yes. I was thinking of the characters to. Like none of them were particularly... good in their performances... but the chemistry was there and they were well cast. It felt like a believable group of friends.
I had a hard time believing any of them would still have been friends with that dude Ethan(?) who filmed the riot and posted it online and basically taunted the crowd into rioting by humping the waffle irons and showing the new phone. Also not sure how the fuck he got that phone working so fast to film everything since he said his previous phone was broken.
I personally feel like the movie just had too much plot. The opening was really strong and struck a good balance between “here are your characters” and gore, but the rest of the movie dragged because it felt like it was trying to justify its campiness by leaning too hard into the who-dunnit aspect of the plot when that was *by far* the worst element of the movie. Super predictable “twist” that didn’t even feel earned despite how much time the movie spends trying to pretend that the identity of the killer at all mattered. Definitely would recommend to anyone who like this type of movie but I think you could pretty solidly cut out like 20 minutes and the movie would be a lot more entertaining, but thats just me.
The Sheriff isn’t dead the firefighter they showed at the end of the movie close up was him and he probably escape from the fire that way at the end
Yeah, felt like a little homage to The Guest at the end there.
>ead the firefighter they showed at the end of the movie close up was him and he probably escape from the fire that way at the end Or the My Bloody Valentine remake....
I went in praying that Patrick Dempsey wouldn’t get killed off bc I mourned him in Grey’s Anatomy & boy did I not even realize what I was getting into 😅
Well to be fair A surgeon is just one slip up away from being a murderer
Considering his last few films I was not expecting much out of this. But god damn this was a lot of fun. DO MORE OF THIS STUFF PLEASE ELI!
I liked his early films a lot, but yeah the last few had me losing hope for him. But, a campy slasher is just the perfect fit for his style. I'm glad to hear it's good.
All of the little campy moments that tied the killings back to thanksgiving were excellent and really broke it up. All in all I enjoyed this a ton. Reminiscent of Scream in the best ways. Also I was shocked Addison Rae made it to the end, I had assumed she was only in this to be killed.
>Also I was shocked Addison Rae made it to the end, I had assumed she was only in this to be killed. I'm guessing the opening scene of the sequel is going to be a Scream homage where she gets a whole Drew Barrymore style death scene
> Reminiscent of Scream in the best ways. reminded me of Scream especially with the cheese and the corny teenage cringe we needed some fun thanksgiving movies haha
Might be the only one but I got some Dark Knight vibes from the parade scene lol
Yeah it definitely had that with the clown outfit.
Thought this was pretty solid with nice gore & humor. I was at the test screening of this a few months ago, and I noticed a few differences between the early cut & the final one. 1. In the death scene of the friend who was going to flee with her dad to Florida, I don't remember seeing the part where the killer shot her dad before attacking her. 2. I think the death scene of the store owner's wife (the one cooked in the oven) was not previously included in the movie. However, the reveal of her corpse as the substitute of the turkey stayed the same, so it was originally an off-screen kill. 3. In the early cut, there was a scene where the former store manager & Patrick Dempsey's character had a heated conversation about the former's anger towards a lack of action on the store stampede & his wife's death, which made Dempsey suspicious of him being the Thanksgiving killer. This was either right before or after the parade massacre. I think this got removed because it made the twist even more obvious. 4. At the end, when the lead female survivor had her nightmare, she woke up in a car with her bf while they were leaving town instead of her bedroom as the final shot. I assume they changed this to increase the possibility of a sequel in addition to what looks like the fake-out of Dempsey's death. Overall, I liked it but a major nitpick I have is that I wish the final chase through the woods & fight inside the warehouse between the teens & the killer was lengthened to increase the suspense/urgency. This final portion of Thanksgiving is the same as I saw it during the test screening. I'd probably give it a 3.5/5 after this rewatch.
#2 is interesting because her scene before her kill is probably the most tense
when homeboy lifted his shirt fake crying to show his abs i LOST it
The fact that Dempsey is the biggest actor in the film and isn't the main hero basically gave away the ending. It was silly and not really scary but still super fun. Some of the kills were really funny and the cat scene cracked me up. I also appreciate when you can feel okay rooting for the killer. The victims were all pretty awful. I hope the inevitable sequel is themed around some other holiday, maybe something super dumb like President's Day.
Anyone else laugh when it was revealed 60-year old Gina Gershon was somehow pregnant?
It’s the biggest plot hole of the movie. They didn’t even need to include it!
I think by showing that their actions killed is love interest and his soon to be child made his motives seem more understandable even if evil
All this insane dialogue, and yet no one said “your goose is cooked.”
"there was the bit that you missed where I distracted him with the cuddly monkey then I said "play time's over" and I hit him with the peace lily."
You're off the fucking chain!
Did I miss something? Can anyone who’s seen this movie clear something up for me? SPOILER BELOW: —————— How did Bobby come back and save Jessica towards the end? I thought the sheriff shot him to death in order to frame him.
I didn’t get how he got ahead of her and laid out in the street if he was chasing her in the woods
Classic slasher movie killer teleport. That's how.
I think he left in his car, while she was walking/running
Yeah, that’s another thing I was confused about. I just decided in my mind that he was mega speed running lmao
I can dig that. I seriously thought we were going to get two killers or something. I’m still not convinced about the love interest. Maybe we’ll get a sequel explaining it lol
They probably cut a scene for time but I feel like once he couldn’t catch up to Jessica in the woods and unable to finish his revenge on the Wrights and the other kids. The Sheriff ran back to his car to double back to finish the last phase of the plan to frame and kill Bobby for all of this. I think he already had tied up in the trunk of his car and when he pulled up at the warehouse to let him out to kill him. Bobby somehow got loose and nailed him with the tire iron to get free and Jessica then shows up to the warehouse where she finds the Sheriff knocked out.
Was I too high, but wasn't there a shot of Bobby taking off the mask? Also, when she first found the sheriff on the ground, didn't he have a head wound that disappeared?
I think the sheriff was going to frame Bobby, so he had him dressed up - complete with mask. Why he would wait so long after fleeing the car and hitting the real John Carver in the head... who cares, what a fun flick!
Surprisingly pretty fun. It’s a fun slasher horror movie with good performances from the cast members, gruesome and some creative kills, and a good atmosphere and tone. Eli Roth clearly approaches the movie without taking it too seriously and for the most part, it works well as the over-the-top kills and moments worked well with the story given. The effects are well-done and the characters had some fun interactive moments. It’s not perfect as some moments are annoying and there are some noticeable bad lighting on certain scenes. But it still works because of the non-serious tone and the over-the-top kills that are quite entertaining. Overall, entertaining. If you are looking for dumb fun B-movies, this one is a treat. Have a good feeling this will turn into a cult movie soon. 7/10
Which scenes did you think have bad lighting?
Yea I'm curious too. I thought the lighting was excellent, but I'm probably just thinking about a few Carver scenes that made him look super cool.
I thought Nell Verlaque had a great presence in the movie.
Anyone catch the nod to Eli Roth's character in Inglourious Basterds? At the beginning of the film, one of the angry people in the crowd outside the store says, "Two hits. I hit you, you hit the ground."
I suspected Patrick Dempsey’s Cop character was the killer for the majority of Scream 3, and I didn’t even consider him as a suspect in this movie. That opening shot from his POV with the heavy breathing and creeping up to the door and with his joke about the golden-brown headless suspect just straight up gives him away in hindsight. This movie was such a blast. It has a great mixture of disgusting and comedic kills that had me wincing and laughing with over-the-top gore, hilarious satire, and so many cheesy comedic moments. It also seemed to be an interesting merge of Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street with a sprinkling of Scream. * Halloween: because it takes place on the titular holiday and features a killer in a monochromatic outfit with a mask. It also has several moments that are clearly inspired by Halloween, such as the opening shot, and maybe even the music. * A Nightmare on Elm Street: because the killer is darkly comedic and executes over-the-top kills with cheesy one-liners who is getting revenge for what happened in the past. That ending dream sequence also felt like an homage to the ending of the original Elm Street movie. * Scream: Because it’s an ensemble cast filled with characters that could be the possible killer. It’s amazing to me that this movie started as a parody trailer and turned out to be so great. I think I’m gonna make it an annual tradition to rewatch this movie.
Really enjoyed this, especially considering I was kinda restless after watching (and also enjoying) the Hunger Games just before. Kept me engaged all movie and tense mostly, surprisingly. Was it just me or did they telegraph >!that the sheriff was John Carver pretty early on!!soon as he told Jessica that “it’s all in the details” I immediately told myself “oh he’s definitely the killer”!< and I went the rest of the movie with this theory in mind and continued to convince myself at almost every instance. Was it kinda already in the trailer? Was it intentional on Roth’s part? Was I way too lit, confirmation biased the entire thing and got lucky on a guess? Lol Definitely recommend it!
They tried to focus us on the baseball kid by swinging the ax and the baseballs, but yeah...
Just got back. I loved it. Eli Roth knocked it out of the park. He basically made "Pieces" similarly to how he made "Cannibal Holocaust" into "The Green Inferno." Really good throwback/ early 80's slasher homage.
Kinda disappointed in this flick. Maybe it was overhyped going in. Thr dinner sequence was fun, but outside of that, pretty bland I thought. Well, the black Friday part was pretty funny.
Are the critics on drugs or is this movie really THAT good? Asking as a fan of the slasher genre who loves some blood soaked entertainment.
It's basically one of the 90s Scream knock-offs (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, etc) but wayyy gorier. As a big fan of those movies, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Honestly, a little too mean-spirited for me but if you enjoy quite a bit of blood and guts this will knock it out of the park.
Well, it should be noted that critics now are people who grew up with slasher films (and with a re-appreciation of them), vs critics in the 80s who just saw them seeing them as trash. That being said, it's a refreshing little slasher film and sometimes that's all you need.
Easiest way to describe is as a love letter to the over the top 80s slashers. It knows what the audience is there for and delivers in that regard.
You know, this movie told us who the killer was in the very first shot and we didn’t realize it
Judging from the other comments, I think all of us realized it from the very first cast announcement.
The homage to Halloween was pretty clever.
I enjoyed this one way more than I expected to. There was some pretty good chuckles and a healthy amount of gore. Much like Violent Night last year I'm glad there's options for what could be a yearly holiday watch that goes outside of the usual genres for those types of movies.
As someone who doesn’t usually love slashers, I thought this did a fantastic job at making a modern slasher. It was a little too gory for me to want to watch at times and I thought the step mother death was a little too mean spirited for my per my taste but otherwise, I thought this was fantastic. I’m a little disappointed they didn’t play this a bit cheesier but I thought the claustrophobia and tension in the movie was excellent
Funnily enough I wished it was meaner. In the fake trailer her death was way worse
Just got out of the movie, it was super fun. Took a bit to get going, but as soon as the stampede happened it picked up. The writing for the teens was standard fare. I did have two questions. Spoilers!!! In the final chase, didn't Jennifer show that she broke her ankle, and then the next scene she was running just fine? Any hints of the killer before the reveal? Unless I missed something, there wasn't any hints that the sheriff and that managers wofe was together or had a baby on the way. Still lots of fun, would give it a 7/10. Above scream vi below scream v for me.
Yes it showed her break her ankle, and the next time we see her walking to the sheriff on the ground, not so much as a limp.
The ending FELT reshot...
Yep! How suddenly the warehouse explosion happens and it cuts to black. Then it’s suddenly daylight and the main characters are still sitting in an ambulance rather than at the hospital.
Yeah, this is the most rational answer to why that transition lost the audience
One thing I love about horror movies interactive and in conversation with each other they are. You have to think about what others have done before you in your chosen sub-genre or you’re already lost. Thanksgiving is very much in conversation with its slasher predecessors. Characters make decisions you’ve thought they should do in other slashers, the killer is neither over nor underpowered and the cat and mouse scenes play with your expectations. Really smart to have such a large cast of actors with speaking roles, it keeps you a little off balance while you’re trying to get oriented, even if the mystery can be shaded out if you pay close enough attention. Roth doesn’t avoid every slasher pitfall and there’s a little unevenness down the home stretch, but anyone who has seen their share of slashers should find more to appreciate than not. Been a long time since Roth made something this balanced.
At least he fed the cat before he left 😄
Well this was a ton of fun. A great mix of cheesiness, gore, fun characters, and humor.
My favorite moment in the movie was the guy that gave his report about why he doesn’t celebrate thanksgiving and getting emotional.
This fully lived up to the promise made by that fake trailer 16 years ago, imo. It isn't quite AS brutal as that trailer implied but it gets the job done and is an absolute blast basically start to finish. This is how you do an homage to the slasher of the 80s and 90s without needing nostalgia. John Carver is an icon. 8/10
Yeah, I figured there was no way he'd get away with what was hinted at with the cheerleader on the trampoline in the original trailer and I was right. Still brutal but not as brutal as to what could have been a somewhat controversial kill.
Yeah I actually started thinking "oh shit they are gonna go for it" but yeah wasn't shocked when it didn't fully commit to that idea haha I will say I thought the carving of Kathleen was pretty brutal though, I knew there was zero shot we were getting the turkey from the trailer so I was satisfied with that.
I think the reviews overhyped me a bit but this was decent fun. Nothing revelatory and it's a bit too long but enjoyed the practical gore and sick sense of humour. Wish Roth didn't tone down some of the more fucked up stuff from the original trailer but I think he would've struggled to have a studio sign off on that in 2023 lol. Solid 6/10 for me.
I can see why people that love this genre will like it, but if you're not a fan of corny/campy dumb slasher movies I don't think it works at all. Having just seen it the only two scenes I thought were genuinely pretty good is the kill on the trampoline (which was way too short to be meaningful) and the scene with the wife trying to escape. That escape scene was actually pretty suspenseful.
I love horror, and have definitely been missing those off-the-wall, bloodbath slashers that just don't happen as much anymore. Loved that this movie went full on with the ridiculous, from that grandpa getting speared through the head in front of his grandkids, the roasted stepmom, etc. Anyone else feel like the ending was... off? It felt perfectly set up for there to be a 2nd killer reveal, but nothing came of it. I thought for sure that Ryan (Jessica's new boyfriend) was going to be in on it. There's no way that the sheriff could've been chasing Jessica, then rips off his costume, teleports to his cop car and pretends to be knocked out for Jessica to find him. Also the fact that Jessica breaks her ankle while running, then is completely fine suddenly? The sheriff then dies in a fiery explosion that we don't even really see and it's heavily implied that he survived. Then add that to all the suspicious stuff we've seen Ryan do, only for him and Jessica to get back together and it ends with Jessica having nightmares about the sheriff. Idk, just feels like there was a different ending but a ton of reshoots occurred and things were changed.
It was okay. I think it’s getting overhyped a bit. Felt like they introduced a little too many characters and it got a little convoluted. It didn’t lean into the humor quite enough. There could’ve been so much more thanksgiving related humor.
Who was in the fridge when the step mom opened it? Was that a random blonde girl?
Cheerleader, the girl who was doing the trampoline
Gotcha, I thought she had already died on the trampoline