Netflix Holiday Horror Film Is A Disturbingly Fun Gore-Fest
Now that we’re officially entering the holiday season, it seems like as good a time as any to start getting your mandatory holiday viewing lists up and running. We all know about classic Christmas films like Home Alone, Elf, and Die Hard, though there aren’t nearly as many Thanksgiving movies to choose from. Luckily, horror icon Eli Roth recently saw to it that a perfect turkey day slasher hit the market, resulting in the modern classic Thanksgiving, which is currently streaming on Netflix.
From Fake Trailer To Surprise Success
Long before Thanksgiving was ported over to Netflix, the film began as a fake trailer for Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s double feature Grindhouse special. Grindhouse, which premiered back in 2007, offered a pair of feature-length films, Rodriguez’s Planet Terror and Tarantino’s Death Proof, with a handful of over-the-top slasher and sci-fi trailers wedged in between them. Professional filmmakers and amateurs alike were encouraged to send in trailers of their own, resulting in some truly fascinating premises that were never initially intended to be expanded into full movies.
Over A Decade In The Making
Since the Grindhouse special did so well, numerous fake trailers from the project have since been adapted into feature films, including Machete, Hobo With A Shotgun, and now Thanksgiving on Netflix. Eli Roth initially intended to expand Thanksgiving into a full movie as early as 2010, though the film underwent numerous behind-the-scenes tweaks, script rewrites, and other developments before it was ready to officially enter production. When it finally premiered in November of 2023, the film offered top-tier performances from the likes of Patrick Dempsey, Ty Olsson, Gina Gershon, Lynne Griffin, Karen Cliche, Tim Dillon, and Suits star Rick Hoffman.
A Modern Slasher
The narrative of Thanksgiving on Netflix centers on a deranged serial killer who terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts, while wearing a mask of John Carver, one of the original colonists who immigrated to America aboard the Mayflower. The film operates as a modern-day take on the classic slasher genre while also serving as a bleak critique of modern capitalism and consumer culture. As John Carver stalks and gruesomely slashes his victims, buyers across the town rush to make Black Friday sales, which sometimes result in stampede deaths of innocent civilians.
Beloved By Critics And Horror Fans
The movie is completely over-the-top, wild, and exactly what you want in a cinematic experience for your next Halloween or Thanksgiving gathering. Though it doesn’t sound like the kind of film that critics would normally take a liking to, Thanksgiving has received mostly positive press and currently touts an excellent 84 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film dominated the box office last Thanksgiving and has since brought tons of new viewers to Netflix, as Eli Roth claims a sequel is already in the works.
Now Available On Netflix
REVIEW SCORE
Those interested in checking out Thanksgiving can do so by streaming the film on Netflix today. It might make for the ideal holiday double feature alongside Planes Trains and Automobiles, which is one of the only real Thanksgiving themed holiday films I can think of off the top of my head. Just be extra careful this year when you’re carving turkey, as you never know when John Carver will strike.
