Thanksgiving (2023)
There will be no leftovers
One might think I’d do a nice family friendly movie today, since it’s literally Thanksgiving and that’s what the modern American rendition of the holiday is about on paper. Most would probably argue that consumerism has got it’s greedy little fingers all up in that and it’s now more just a stop-gap before Black Friday, which has pretty much taken over half the month now anyways. Well, I found something better to make you suffer with that might just cover all of that and some even darker elements like murder. Yeah, tonight we going to get a watching of Thanksgiving done before we head off to our own Thanksgiving.
This movie starts with some hard-edged commentary about Black Friday, where a catastrophic combination of elements lead to several deaths and injuries. A year later, the sale is looking to happen again (except this time “way safer”), but things start getting weird around town. A new sheriff, a returning ex-boyfriend, and a whole lot of anti-store hate rise up at the same coincidental time as a string of murders begin. The red line to the murders? The targets all seem to be people involved with the horrible Friday disaster - at least kind of. I mean, it starts with people who were in fact there, but not necessarily directly the causation it all, but either way you get the gist. Also getting the gist and a whole lot of threatening social media tags from the resident unknown pilgrim mascot is our lead teens - and as it escalates things very quickly turn into a goal of survival.
The actors do an alright job here. It’s a pretty bog-standard modern slasher movie when it comes to what it wants out of things, so there are certainly plenty of times people will be yelling at the screen about things - but in this day and age we should be well past the call outs of “people wouldn’t act like that.” Despicable folks can come off despicable, but it doesn’t feel to me like any of the actors are really going out of the way to be watch-breaking about it. There are some spots where the actors can kind of shine - particularly a moment where the actor for Scuba gets to really just nail the broken side of a person. Our lead gal gets to have plenty of range throughout, and nails the deer in a headlights look a few times as well. There’s some decent chemistry between some of the folks, and although I can’t say that watchers will necessarily be stressing about if a certain character will make it to the end,, some of the side characters are kind of played off as though they want you to want them to get offed - which is technically still well acted since they are doing their job.
The characters themselves aren’t anything too crazy. The killer gets motives at the end, all the lead group has their own reason why they do things, and the side characters are side characters. The movie does feel a bit like it’s trying to set up every character it introduces as a red herring as you go, constantly either setting up moments for “well, these two weren’t ever in the same shot” or “that person has plenty of reason” - but i feel like there’s at least one point before the reveal later in the movie that really just puts most the red herring stuff out of the way if a person is thinking about it. Some of the characters aren’t the most likeable - falling into that overly gusto influencer jock type of stereotype, and some of them seem likeable enough and you feel a little bad for them. Some of the characters that had the most potential for something are actually just side characters and only seemingly exist to be fish. I’ve seen worse, but it feels like the movie has more to say about wider concepts then it does specifically it’s characters.
The scooby gang
It’s put together pretty decently as far as a movie goes. It sets up plenty of things throughout, and usually doesn’t leave Chekhov’s gun on the mantle by the time the movie finishes. Costumes are pretty modern affair, so it’s a classic “nothing much to see here” but in turn being a greatly done job since it blends in with that modern expected look. The only thing that really goes out and about is the parade, which in itself is still just costumes you’d see in a circus or parade as well, so everything looks like it’s fitting without standing out to much. The killer has a sort of Guy Fawkes appeal to him - a classic plastic pilgrim mask with a black pilgrim costume. It’s not a bad look - perhaps not the most unique thing to ever exist, but it does wonderful at allowing it to be practically anyone. Props likewise all fit in as one would expect.
The movie can be violent. It’s not really quite to the level of a zombie movie, but it’s definately a modern slasher movie when it comes to effects. You’ll get parts getting lopped off, usually with the spurt-y glory shot afterwards, people getting sawed or hammered. It’s not the only point to the movie, like it feels in some of the Saw movies for example with their traps, but it is in there and it doesn’t hold back too much about it. The effects do all look good though, even if some of them are a bit pull you out of the movie at times. More so than the actual visual quality of them though, some of them are just downright brutal. Fine for the folks that love effects, but perhaps not exactly a good option for Frank’s first horror flick, you know? Probably not the best at-dinner movie for the average person at the least.
Audio is fine, and lines are delivered mostly well. Balancing is good, music is there and doesn’t stick with me afterwards as one would expect of me. The movie does have a few points by the end where you might be wondering how a character might have gotten somewhere so fast and nobody ever noticed and things like that, but if you wanted to most would be easy enough to hand-wave off and not ruin the movie for you. Some of the logical stuff might stump you a bit more, but at the same time nothing here is really hard to track and if your paying attention you’ll know who the killer is rather early on anyways - well before it takes the time to spell it out for you. The thinking folks will appreciate the movie, as we do we have some perceived commentary all over the place here. You want some snide looks at Black Friday, which in turn brings with it the dumbness and cruelty of people? How about a twisted version of bringing everyone together for that nice dinner? Things you should be thankful for - like not getting murdered? Heck, it even squeezes in a mild jab at being popular on streaming stuff. It’s got stuff beyond the normal slasher flick - but you can still go in there and over-analyze all of that stuff too, what with final girls and their entire evolution throughout the genre to get to what they are today.
The killer pilgrim
It might not be my favorite horror movie, but it’s probably a less offensive movie than if I did something like Thankskilling. It’s funny how in a way even Thanksgiving movies are overshadowed by it’s after-sibling Black Friday, but every now and then I need to go off brand an do something that ties in to events on the calendar day. It’s put together pretty decent, the acting is good enough, visually things look good - although some might not stomach the violence as well - and it manages to largely stray from being a too cheesy slasher movie despite having it’s moments of tongue-in-cheek. Everyone have a great turkey day and remember - stay safe out there on the day of Sales Make People Nuts.