The Netflix Gruesome Horror Will Leave You Scared To Walk Into The Kitchen
Most of us associate Thanksgiving-themed movies with the family-oriented comedy genre. However, not all holiday movies fit that category. We have had a veritable cornucopia of Christmas- and New Year-themed horrors, such as Red Snow or Silent Night, and now, Netflix has introduced its audiences to a gruesome Thanksgiving horror that will leave you scared to walk into the kitchen.
We’re referring to Thanksgiving, a 2023 American slasher film directed by Eli Roth.
Black Friday Frenzy
Set in the picturesque town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Thanksgiving starts off with the town’s annual gathering outside the local superstore in preparation for a Black Friday sale. The store owner lets his daughter, her boyfriend, and several friends through the back door into the store, which sends the crowd outside into a frenzy. Doors are kicked down, people are injured, and multiple people end up dead or severely injured as the result of an ensuing stampede and blood-filled melee inside the store.
The Axe-Wielding Murderer
The next year’s preparations for a new Black Friday sale start off with a murder by a figure dressed in black clothing wearing a John Carver mask. Through a series of events, people get murdered. One of the characters gets cooked in an oven by the killer and served to other victims as a Thanksgiving “turkey.”
There’s a major plot twist regarding the killer’s identity. Thanksgiving ticks all the boxes of the slasher genre, bringing both the familiarity and the dread typically associated with Halloween and Friday the 13th.
Thanksgiving Started As A Fake Trailer
Perhaps more interesting than the movie itself is the story of its origin. Thanksgiving originated from an unlikely source, beginning as a fake trailer in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s 2007 film Grindhouse—a double-feature that combined Planet Terror and Death Proof into a single release. The pseudo-trailer, crafted by Eli Roth and featured in Grindhouse, caught the imagination of horror fans worldwide, and its popularity led to the development of a full-length feature starting in 2010.
Thanksgiving Is Well Received By Critics And Audiences
Screenplay writing began in 2012. Principal photography took place between March and May 2023, with Roth leaving the upcoming Borderlands movie early to work on Thanksgiving. Tim Miller was brought in as his replacement on Borderlands, prompting an additional two weeks of reshoots directed by Miller. As for Thanksgiving, the movie was released to an overly positive response; it has an 84 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Stream Thanksgiving On Netflix
Thanksgiving was released on November 17, 2023, in the US under TriStar Pictures, who had acquired the rights to the film in March 2023. It finished fourth at the box office, debuting at $10.4 million, competing against The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbird & Snakes and several other releases. It ended up earning $46.5 million, against a $15 million budget, before it landed on digital platforms in December of last year. January’s Blu-ray and DVD releases were followed by a subsequent introduction on Netflix less than a week ago.
Those interested in Thanksgiving can stream the movie on Netflix.
