Thanksgiving (2023) [Blu-Ray]

Director: Eli Roth

Cast: Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim

Release Date: January 30, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10

Synopsis:

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan. Will the town uncover the killer and survive the holidays… or become guests at his twisted holiday dinner table?

Please Note: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

THE MOVIE/ REVIEW:

‘Thanksgiving’ joins the local residents of Plymouth, Massachusetts where Thanksgiving is one of the biggest events of the year for the townsfolk, until a horrifying riot during a Black Friday sale one year results in multiple tragedies and terror throughout the community. One year after the tragic events of the riot, the town is trying to recuperate as best as possible, at least until a masked killer dons a popular Thanksgiving costume and begins eliminating a select group of residents while updating and taunting them on the murder and carnage via social media. As the killings continue and the mystery and terror builds, a group of teens who have been targeted will have to uncover the truth of these seemingly connected murders before they are all slaughtered.

Directed by Eli Roth (The Green Inferno, Hostel) from a screenplay written by Jeff Rendell and based on a story by Roth and Rendell, Roth does a magnificent job at the helm of ‘Thanksgiving’ guiding along the wildly gory and amusing fun with a style and edge that never falters or disappoints. The film’s cast includes Patrick Dempsey (Ferrari), Addison Rae (He’s All That), Milo Manheim (TV’s School Spirits), Jalen Thomas Brooks (TV’s Walker), Nell Verlaque (TV’s Big Shot) with Rick Hoffman (TV’s Suits) and Gina Gershon (Emily the Criminal), and each provide decent or at the very least fitting performances in their respective roles and help keep the fun and chaos working as smoothly as it does.

‘Thanksgiving’ is a wildly gory, brutal and hilarious whodunit slasher that serves up a delightfully twisted and amusing good time that never slows down or gets the slightest bit dull or repetitive along its course. Absolutely jam-packed with graphic and carnage heavy kills that will impress even the diehard genre fans, while lacing the brutal violence with a goofy and almost dark sense of humor that results in almost as many laughs as there is graphic violence. The result is a wildly entertaining and rewarding treat of a horror film from Eli Roth and Jeff Rendell that should have fans of their fake Grindhouse intermission trailer (and any other horror fans that aren’t familiar with it as well) which served as its inspiration extremely pleased with this feature take on it.

The film maintains a high level of noticeable tension for most of its duration and everything from the bonkers opening sequence that kicks off the film to the blood drenched showdown that concludes it is approached without any hesitation or punches pulled, all while keeping viewers guessing along the way until the details and involvement is finally revealed in appropriately chaotic fashion, even if the identity of the killer is one of the less important factors when all is said and done. If you’re a fan of Eli Roth or simply tend to enjoy a well-crafted slasher with numerous clever and memorable kills to offer, then ‘Thanksgiving’ should be right up your alley and is definitely one that I wouldn’t suggest overlooking.

OVERALL:

‘Thanksgiving’ is a ridiculously fun, funny and brutal horror film that plays out primarily as a standard slasher flick while still offering some dark humor and other slightly more goofy elements to the mix that honor its grindhouse roots, with enough clever, graphic and over the top kills and carnage to keep diehard horror fans from ever becoming disappointed or underwhelmed. ‘Thanksgiving’ is definitely highly recommended, especially for genre fans, slasher fans and anyone that’s already a fan of Roth’s work over the years. It’s a clever, wildly gory and surprisingly funny ride that any horror fan won’t want to miss out on. If you’re already looking forward to ‘Thanksgiving’ but haven’t yet had had the opportunity to check it out, it should definitely be well worth your time and the cost of a rental, but don’t be terribly shocked if you end up wanting to add it to your collection as well.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Thanksgiving’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks terrific altogether and delivers a clean, sharp and nicely detailed presentation that holds up splendidly from start to finish with no issues or faults to be uncovered along the way. Detail and clarity is sharp and solid every step of the way and character faces, clothing and both interiors and exteriors look clean and crisp, while even the fast moving, darkly lit sequences hold up remarkably well; ensuring that viewers have no trouble whatsoever catching every bloody and grisly detail of the kills. Overall, this is a great high definition video presentation that delivers wonderfully throughout and should have no trouble satisfying fans and first time viewers alike.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack certainly isn’t lacking itself and it serves up a clean, crisp and quite aggressive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly takes full advantage of all five available channels in order to send music, action and vehicle related effects, crowd chatter and panic/ screaming, along with a whole lot more regularly zipping throughout the various speakers, while never resulting in any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously along the way to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a very nice 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that never disappoints and makes a terrific complement to the onscreen fun and chaos.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Thanksgiving’ includes a satisfying helping of extras that fans of the film should enjoy. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Eli Roth and Jeff Rendell’, along with a nice collection of ‘Deleted, Alternate and Extended Scenes’ from the film, some of which also feature gorier versions of a couple scenes (running approximately 34 minutes in length altogether). Also included on the release are some amusing ‘Outtakes’ from the movie (running approximately 5 minutes), plus a couple of Behind the Scenes Featurettes that feature interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘Thanksgiving: Behind the Screams’ (running approximately 4 minutes) and ‘Gobble-Gobble: Gore Galore’ (approximately 3 minutes). The release also features a look at some of Eli Roth and Jeff Rendell’s childhood home movies in ‘Massachusetts Movies: Eli and Jeff’s Early Films’ which also includes optional commentary (approximately 12 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

–

Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10

–

Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Spyglass Media Group, Tristar Pictures & Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

–

You can purchase your copy of the ‘Thanksgiving’ Blu-ray on Amazon Right Here!

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases