Cook review: ‘Thanksgiving’ delivers feast for fans of humor and horror
By Rachel Davis
And to think it all started as a fake trailer.
In 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez created a drive-in-thpe double-feature called “Grindhouse.”
The production featured five fake trailers, and one of them was the “Thanksgiving” slasher-film trailer helmed by director Eli Roth.
‘Thanksgiving’ (IMDb)
Now “Thanksgiving” is a real movie directed by Eli Roth (“Hostel.”) It’s fashioned along the vein (ahem) of the “Scream” franchise. It’s darkly funny, with its over-the-top gore and goofy dialogue. And across the nation, grownups have been packing auditoriums to see it.
Even before you consider going to the theater, you’ll know what you’re getting into when you see the movie’s tongue-in-cheek tagline: “There will be no leftovers.”
The setup is truly clever. The setting is in Plymouth, Massachusetts, at a store similar to Walmart. The town is going crazy before the Black Friday stampede of shoppers who want to get their bargains and their free waffle irons – or at that’s what’s promised to the first 100 people in the door.
A killer is not what results in three deaths; rather, it’s the stampede and brutal chaos in the store that’s both funny and terrifying.
Then, a year later, the question remains: Should the store keep its doors closed for the sake of its employees and out of respect for those who lost their lives in the melee?
That’s when the murderer, dressed like a Pilgrim, gets to work. Part of the fun is guessing who the killer might be.
True to his earlier films, Roth doesn’t hold back on showing us the killer’s grisly slaughters. This is not for children or the faint of heart, as Roth manages to walk the line between humor and horror in every scene.
Horror fans and aficionados of dark comedies will eat this up.
3 ½ stars
Running time: One hour and 46 minutes.
Rated: R for foul language, graphic violence and shocking gore.
In theaters.
Watch the trailer here.
