Daily Grindhouse | ELI ROTH’S ‘THANKSGIVING’: BLOODY, BRUTAL, HILARIOUS—AND THE GREATEST SLASHER OF THE DECADE

Newton, Massachusetts native Eli Roth brings blood and guts to the table with his long-anticipated feature, THANKSGIVING. Originally conceived as a faux trailer between PLANET TERROR and DEATH PROOF in 2007’s GRINDHOUSE, Roth creates an original modern slasher while paying homage to holiday horror films of decades’ past. The Newton native unleashes an iconic villain, gruesome murders, and killer humor in this bloody love letter to his home state.

THANKSGIVING opens on a chilly Thanksgiving night in historic Plymouth, Massachusetts. Jessica Wright (Nell Verlaque) and boyfriend Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks) share the dinner table with Jessica’s wealthy father and local big box store owner, Thomas (HOSTEL’s Rick Hoffman) and his young, hubristic fiancée, Kathleen (Karen Cliche). On the other side of town, Sheriff Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey) joins friends Mitch (Ty Olsson) and Amanda Collins (Gina Gershon) before Mitch’s Black Friday midnight shift at Thomas’ store, Right Mart. Outside Right Mart, an increasingly vicious and growing crowd of Massholes demand entry. Concurrently, Jessica and Bobby make a pit stop at Right Mart with their friends while en route to the movies.

The mob overpowers the security gates and guards and flood the store. Greedy shoppers carelessly slaughter and injure the innocent over waffle makers and other holiday deals. In the bloodbath, throats are slit, people are beaten and bludgeoned, and Amanda is killed and partially scalped. Jessica’s dopey, callous friend Evan (Tomaso Sanelli) records the massacre on his phone — but a year later, no arrests have been made, and Right Mart remains open.

In the fallout of the tragedy, a serial killer (donning the mask of John Carver, a pilgrim and Plymouth’s first governor) descends upon Plymouth, mercilessly slaughtering anyone he believes is responsible — including Jessica and her friends.

THANKSGIVING is the greatest slasher of the last decade. Roth’s fervency for horror makes watching this flick a damn good time; his over-the-top approach has become iconic and works to his advantage. The HOSTEL and GREEN INFERNO director executes his feature with an unabashed, raw love of splatter films, a surprisingly wholesome habit that’s established him as a master of the genre. He knows how to have fun when creating a picture, and it’s contagious — you feel it right through the screen.

Roth goes with his gut, playing by no rules but his own, only drawing from slashers of the past to inspire him (Wes Craven’s SCREAM and Charles Sellier’s SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT come to mind). THANKSGIVING is rooted in self-awareness and its own absurdity, from the excessive spurting of gore and oozing, glistening innards to the film’s climactic (and cannibalistic) dinner scene. In these disturbing sequences, we see Roth’s eagerness, originality, and his fearlessness — not only as a filmmaker, but as a storyteller, making him stand out as one of the greatest horror filmmakers today.

Roth critiques America’s obsessive consumerism, greed, and classism here. He exposes the ugly parts of the holiday season we all try to ignore. He draws on true horror stories of the past, where people have died in gruesome ways while frantically shopping for the holiday season. By Roth forcing us to face these issues — and our past — he creates an undeniable sense of real dread that leads up to the fictional Black Friday massacre, establishing one of the film’s most memorable scenes.

From the ashes of the tragic sequence, Roth creates a formidable villain in John Carver, a looming, violent, dark figure that made me walk home a little faster after the screening. The silent, axe-wielding maniac recalls the towering, unbeatable eeriness of classic horror icons like Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees, but Carver’s erratic and malevolent nature makes them feel relatively harmless in comparison.

Roth keeps an even balance with a brilliant sense of humor and his love for Massachusetts, a state that is has been previously excluded from slasher films. Roth offers a cornucopia of local mayhem — hilarious south shore accents, references to regional joints like Papa Gino’s, small towns like Hanover and Methuen, and several characters that you’ve definitely seen at your local Dunkin’. A favorite in the film was Joe Delfin’s sleazy yet loveable McCarty, the local guns and booze dealer that aids Jessica in her fight against Carver. By implementing his love for his state through dialogue and characters, Roth gives THANKSGIVING heart.

As a Newton-born Massachusetts native, seeing this film in a sold-out Boston theater was one of my favorite cinematic experiences, and I’ll remember forever.

THANKSGIVING is a gory, perfect concoction of comedy and horror — a landmark slasher that will stand the test of time for its wit, heart, and disgustingly awesome kills.