Review: Thanksgiving

Image courtesy of TriStar Pictures.

Eli Roth's holiday-themed horror movie "Thanksgiving" - based on the hilariously grim faux trailer of the same name that was included in the 2007 double feature "Grindhouse" - is no turkey. In fact, the director - a member of the so-called Splat Pack due to their penchant for grotesquely gory offerings - serves up what is most likely his best feature with this mostly enjoyable slasher picture.

While the "Grindhouse" trailer made the film look as if it were from the late 1970s or early 1980s and invoked such holiday horror films as "Halloween" or "My Bloody Valentine" - complete with a dose of the absurd and some tasteless jokes, many of which are once again utilized here - Roth's feature film is set in the present and doesn't have the murky photography or throwback vibe of the trailer.

Instead, it satirizes American greed and consumerism in the style of a George Romero film, opening on a chaotic scene outside a big box store in Plymouth, Mass., where the film's action is set. The store has decided to open its doors on Thanksgiving, rather than Black Friday, for a sale and a rowdy crowd has assembled outside. When the guards become reluctant to open the store due to the frenzied behavior of those waiting in line, the crowd begins to go nuts and, in the process, a security guard is trampled to death and others are killed as they break through the store's doors.

A year later, a man dressed in a pilgrim outfit who calls himself John Carver begins picking off various characters involved in the Black Friday tragedy. This includes a cowardly security guard who fled the scene, a waitress who killed a woman with her shopping cart, the store's owners, and a group of teenagers who taunted others in the crowd outside after they were first to get into the store because final girl Jessica's (Nell Verlaque) father owns it. Other characters include the town's sheriff (Patrick Dempsey) and a guy who seemingly exists to sell guns or drugs to whoever needs them.

The film's numerous death sequences become more outrageous and gory as the film goes on, and everything from a dumpster to corn cob pins are used as unlikely weapons. There's an amusing bit after one of the character's bloody demises when the killer takes a moment to feed the victim's cat before exiting the apartment.

This is one of those types of films that leave you guessing as to who the killer is and what their motivation might be. It's obviously someone affected by the Black Friday melee, so there's fun in trying to narrow down the list of suspects, as they are narrowed down by grotesque means. One of the film's flaws is that since there are so many characters in the suspect pool, some of them fall off after a while and are not heard from again and, therefore, only exist to throw viewers off.

My favorite Roth film remains the trailer for "Grindhouse," which beautifully captured the vibe of the old slasher classics in trailer form. His other work has often left me a bit cold - "Cabin Fever," "Hostel," and "The Green Inferno," for instance, all emphasize grossing their audiences out rather than building suspense or making us care about the characters. In "Thanksgiving," the characters have more personality and there are some for which to root.

It's not a great horror movie - but as far as these things to, it's better than average. And it's also pretty funny, which helps lighten the mood in a film that would otherwise be a barrage of blood and guts and familiar genre tropes. It may not be as good as its source material, but "Thanksgiving" isn't half bad. It's a lot easier to digest than some of the director's previous work.