Thanksgiving Wiki
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This article is about the first installment in the series. For the series as a whole, see Thanksgiving (franchise).

There will be no leftovers.
— Tagline

Thanksgiving logo is a 2023 American slasher film directed by Eli Roth and written by Jeff Rendell, based a story by the pair, who produced with Roger Birnbaum. Based on Roth's fictitious trailer of the same name from Grindhouse (2007), it is the third feature-length adaptation of a fictitious Grindhouse trailer after Robert Rodriguez's Machete (2010) and Jason Eisener's Hobo with a Shotgun (2011). The film stars Patrick Dempsey, Nell Verlaque, Addison Rae and Jalen Thomas Brooks. It is produced by Spyglass Media Group, Dragonfly Entertainment and Electromagnetic Productions.

Thanksgiving logo was theatrical released in the United States by TriStar Pictures on November 17, 2023. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and has grossed $30 million worldwide.

Plot

In Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the evening of Thanksgiving, Sheriff Eric Newlon arrives at the home of Mitch Collins and his wife Amanda. Also celebrating is Thomas Wright, owner of the RightMart stores, along with his new wife Kathleen and daughter Jessica, who hates Kathleen and is waiting to go to the movies with her boyfriend Bobby and their friends. Mitch, manager of one of the RightMart stores, is dismayed to learn he has been called into work for early Black Friday sales. Jessica and Bobby join their friends – Evan, Gaby, Scuba, and Yulia – for the movies, but Evan decides to take a pit stop to the RightMart. Since Jessica has access inside, the teens try to get into the store before it actually opens. Outside, the mob of customers grows unruly, with a teen from a rival school, Lonnie, instigating a riot as they see the other teens inside and demand to be let in. The teens then see the chaos unraveling, with people being pressed against the cracking glass doors. The moment the doors break, a stampede of customers bursts in, with one security guard named Doug being trampled to death, and another customer gets his neck slashed by broken glass. Bobby tries to help but gets his wrist broken after someone stomps on it. Amanda, who had shown up to deliver something to Mitch, gets knocked over and has her head slammed by a shopping cart, which then gruesomely scalps her. Mitch finds his wife’s body and cradles her in despair, and the madness ends after Newlon fires a shot into the ceiling.

A year after the tragedy, RightMart is getting ready for another sale. Mitch, who has since quit his job, is now rallying against Thomas and the entire company after no arrests were made during the stampede, since security footage had apparently not been working that night. Bobby hasn’t spoken to Jessica or the others since the accident, which ended his career as a pitcher. Jessica has started dating another classmate, Ryan. While at a diner, the teens spot Bobby after his long absence, and they then find themselves tagged in an Instagram post by someone calling themself “John Carver”, after the famous pilgrim. At night at the diner, waitress Lizzie, who was at the Black Friday riot and was the one holding the cart that killed Amanda, is closing up shop for the night. A killer wearing a John Carver mask then attacks Lizzie, slashing her palm and then dunking her head into a sink full of water before sticking her to the frozen freezer door. Lizzie rips her skin off to escape and is unable to call for help. When she tries to retreat to her car, she finds that Carver has already taken her keys and tries to run her over. Lizzie tries to hop inside a dumpster, only for Carver to slam into it, causing the cover to come down and cut Lizzie in half. Carver later displays her bottom half on top of the RightMart sign for everyone to see.

Newlon begins investigating the murder after learning of Lizzie’s involvement in the riot. Jessica helps in the investigation by providing Newlon with security footage that was missing from the night of the riot, and Lizzie is clearly seen in them. The teens also start to pick out suspects, such as Mitch, who is one of the more vocal haters of RightMart, or even Ryan, since he was seen in the footage talking to Doug before the riot began, but he says that he was picking up drugs from him. A security guard named Manny, who ran away as the riot began, is getting ready to go on vacation, when he hears a noise in his house. Although he tries to come off as tough, he is impaled in the stomach with an electric mixer by Carver, who then wraps a garrote around his neck and uses it to decapitate Manny.

Carver then stalks Lonnie and his girlfriend Amy, who was with him during the riot. Amy tries to show off her skills on the trampoline for Lonnie, but Carver sneaks up behind him and twists his neck backwards. As Amy keeps jumping, Carver sticks a knife from under the trampoline, causing her foot to get stabbed before she falls and is fatally stabbed through the neck and back. Jessica later goes with Evan and Gaby to the high school while Newlon and his officers are outside. Jessica separates from the couple, and Carver attacks and incapacitates them. He tries to go after Jessica, but she narrowly manages to escape. Yulia’s father attempts to move her to Florida, with a security guard looking after them. Carver gets into their house and shoots the guard and Yulia’s father before going after Yulia herself. Jessica and Scuba learn she is in danger after seeing her get attacked over video chat. They make it to her house but are too late, as Carver has gotten Yulia and turns on a buzzsaw, throwing her on top and disemboweling her. Scuba holds his girlfriend’s body in shock.

The police decide to lure out Carver during the Thanksgiving parade, with Jessica and her family, plus Scuba, being made to participate since Carver is specifically targeting them. After a brief protest from Mitch, Carver comes out in a creepy clown costume and decapitates a turkey mascot before throwing smoke bombs into the crowd. As everyone runs in a panic, Carver manages to abduct Scuba and the Wrights. Kathleen wakes up in Carver’s basement where he is “preparing” her like a turkey. She manages to free herself and almost escapes, but Carver catches her again and throws her into an oven where she is cooked to death. Carver then brings her roasted corpse out to a horrified Thomas, alongside Jessica, Scuba, Evan, and Gaby. Carver begins a live-stream and smashes Evan’s skull on-camera. Jessica uses a ring she got from a local drug dealer to cut herself free, and she passes it to Scuba so he can go free and attack Carver. Jessica manages to escape and lure Carver away from everyone else.

Jessica runs through the woods and comes across a parade warehouse. Newlon is found outside unconscious, and when Jessica goes inside, she sees Bobby walking around, making her think he is Carver. Although they try to go after him, Bobby is nowhere to be found. The police show up and inform Jessica that her dad and friends are safe. When Newlon is left alone with Jessica, she sees brambles on his shoes similar to the ones she went through in the woods, which tells her that Newlon is the real John Carver. He admits to it, saying that he was fueled by revenge because he was having an affair with Amanda, who was pregnant when she died. He also says he drugged Bobby to make them think he was Carver. Jessica then reveals she was live-streaming his confession. Newlon then goes after her. Bobby returns to save Jessica, but as they try to get away in his truck, Newlon has already hooked it to a support beam to prevent them from leaving.

Jessica exits the truck and starts to inflate a parade float. She waits for Newlon to walk near it before shooting the float, causing a massive explosion that engulfs Newlon in flames. In the aftermath, Jessica is reunited with her friends, while police believe that Newlon was definitely killed in the explosion since all they found was ash. Jessica then sees who she thinks might be Newlon as a masked firefighter holding an axe walks out.

Jessica later sleeps in bed with Ryan, where she has a nightmare that a flaming Newlon emerges from her closet to attack her.

Cast and characters

Production

Development

On November 19, 2007, after Eli Roth created the fake movie trailer, Thanksgiving, for the 2007 film Grindhouse, plans for a feature-length adaptation began.[7] On August 24, 2010, CinemaBlend revealed that Roth was writing the script for the early development Thanksgiving feature-length film, with Jeff Rendell. He stated that in mid-September 2010, the duo would "fly to California, and bang out the script."[8] By August 23, 2012, Jon Watts and Christopher D. Ford were set to write the screenplay with Roth and Rendell after they finished writing the Roth-produced Clown (2014).[9] On January 7, 2023, Roth was revealed to be going ahead with Thanksgiving. Shooting was set to begin in March with a script by Jeff Rendell, with Spyglass behind it. Roger Birnbaum and Roth are producing.[10] On March 9, 2023, TriStar Pictures acquired Spyglass Media Group's Thanksgiving, with Jeff Rendell producing. Spyglass chairman and CEO Gary Barber and president of production Peter Oillataguerre will serve as executive producers alongside Cream Productions Inc.’s Kate Harrison. Oillataguerre and SVP Production & Development Chris Stone will oversee the film on behalf of Spyglass. Caellum Allan and Kelseigh Coombs will oversee for TriStar.[11]

Filming

Principal photography began on March 13, 2023 in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario. Filming concluded on May 5, 2023.[12][13]

Casting

In February 2023, Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Nell Verlaque and Milo Manheim joined the cast.[2][5][3][6] In March 2023, Rick Hoffman, Gina Gershon, Tim Dillon, Gabriel Davenport, Tomaso Sanelli, and Jenna Warren joined the cast.[4]

Release

In March 2023, TriStar Pictures acquired the United States rights to the film.[11] Thanksgiving was released in the United States on November 17, 2023.[1] It was released on digital platforms on December 19, 2023, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release on January 30, 2024.[14] The film began streaming on Netflix on February 17, 2024.[15]

Reception

TBA

Sequel

On November 30, 2023, Sony’s TriStar Pictures greenlit a sequel to the smash hit Thanksgiving logo, which TriStar will release theatrically worldwide in 2025. The original film grossed $30 million globally in its first two weeks of release with an impressive second week hold at -31%. It also marks director Eli Roth’s highest-rated film to date as it is Certified Fresh at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.[16]

Notes & Trivia

  • TBA

Gallery

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Eli Roth’s Horror Pic ‘Thanksgiving’ To Feast During Pre-Turkey Weekend
  2. 2.0 2.1 Patrick Dempsey Circling Starring Role In Eli Roth’s Feature Version Of His ‘Grindhouse’ Trailer ‘Thanksgiving’
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Eli Roth’s Horror Thriller ‘Thanksgiving’ Finds Its Stars in Jalen Thomas Brooks, Nell Verlaque (Exclusive)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Gina Gershon, Rick Hoffman And Tim Dillon Round Out Cast Of Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ At TriStar And Spyglass
  5. 5.0 5.1 Addison Rae Lands Lead Role In Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ For Spyglass Media
  6. 6.0 6.1 ‘Zombies’ Star Milo Manheim Joins Eli Roth Horror Thriller ‘Thanksgiving’ (Exclusive)
  7. Director Eli Roth Serves up a Side of Faux Film Schwag for Thanksgiving
  8. Eli Roth Confirms He's Working On A Thanksgiving Movie
  9. Eli Roth Promises Thanksgiving Is "Gonna Happen" with Writers Jon Watts and Christopher D. Ford
  10. Tim Miller Steps In For Eli Roth To Handle ‘Borderlands’ Reshoot As Roth Cooks Up Feature Version Of ‘Grindhouse’ Trailer ‘Thanksgiving’
  11. 11.0 11.1 TriStar Pictures Lands ‘Thanksgiving’, Inspired By Eli Roth’s Legendary Fake ‘Grindhouse’ Trailer
  12. What's Going On Here? Movie featuring Patrick Dempsey filming in Waterdown
  13. Current Production and News
  14. Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ Slashes Onto DVD and Blu-ray in January 2024
  15. Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ Slashes Onto Netflix This Weekend
  16. Eli Roth Back For Second Helping Of Horror With ‘Thanksgiving’ Sequel
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