“Thanksgiving” review: a slasher film that satirizes North America

Director Eli Roth precedes his fame. Not only because he is a protégé and student of Quentin Tarantino. And for its ability to defy the expectations of horror fans. Something that has turned rental house— which he wrote, directed and produced — takes a fresh look at ultraviolence.

The film, which became a cult classic, combined paranoia, collective terror and conspiracy theories into a brutal plot that terrified even devotees of body horror. He also made it clear that the director was committed to reinventing the idea of ​​the macabre.

In Thanksgiving there are many opportunities for the director to push boundaries and make people feel uncomfortable. To begin with, this is a meta-referential experiment dedicated to the most dedicated horror cinema. The idea for the film was taken from a fake trailer presented in 2007 along with Grindhouse, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. So what started out as six scenes of bloodshed and apparent beheadings now becomes a story that hits the same spot. But Eli Roth has the skill to analyze this argument from its most innovative angles.

Bad day for shopping

Let’s start with the fact that the film is adapted to the traditions of the main holiday, which it cruelly ironizes. The story, set in Plymouth, Massachusetts, wastes no time in making it clear that its goal is violence. But not killers – not immediately or exclusively – but in something more detailed. So the first sequence begins like a stampede of shoppers driven by greed that ends in large-scale violence.

The director’s camera never stops moving from side to side and creates the feeling that cruelty is not alien to any of his characters. He uses mobile camera recording for the occasion, with enough experience to make the proceedings increasingly unpleasant and claustrophobic. But the film doesn’t want to preach and isn’t particularly interested in any ethical issues. The angry mob that turns traditional Black Friday shopping into collective horror is ruthless and anonymous. It was as if it was an announcement about a serial killer hidden among her.

In fact, this idea becomes more evident than ever when an event goes viral and takes over the media. For the director everything is clear. Evil and gluttony are not limited to marginalized or extreme beings. Over and over again the film will repeat its message, like a legion of film buyers the ordinary aspect was the announcement of a bloodbath – and this is not an exaggeration – close to the plot.

Horror and gore that will make you laugh

After a shocking opening sequence, the plot moves forward a year to reveal that the owner of the store where the tragedy occurred has learned little from the incident. In fact, he plans to reopen, even though his daughter – and all the sensible people around him – insist he doesn’t. Eli Roth then plays with the possibility of further dehumanizing the idea of ​​brutality and unfettered violence.

Thus, the appearance of the master killer (in the appropriate John Carver mask) seems to be a consequence and a form of twisted justice. But again, Jeff Rendell’s script has no interest in teaching lessons about how to be a good citizen. So he turns his killer into a killing machine. Unstoppable, wielding a variety of amazing weapons and, without a doubt, thirsting for blood more than any real purpose. Unless it’s murder in the most painful way to everyone who experienced what happened in the first scene.

Best Slasher of the Year

It’s obvious that thanksgiving perfectly timed to meet the expectations of the fictional project Grindhouseand turn it into an independent universe. The idea works to the extent that the director sticks to the aesthetics of the film it comes from and the film’s ability to laugh at itself. Not only is it not taken seriously. What’s more, he transforms the collection of severed heads, dangling organs and panicked screams into a sort of sinister sequence of satirical horror. From the very red blood splashing even on the camera, it is clear that the film is a dark joke that becomes increasingly depraved as the plot progresses.

Of course, there’s also room—and material—for making a murderer disguised as a pilgrim into a scripted play on his identity. The plot follows various clues and turns figuring out who is behind the mask into a joke. To celebrate Thanksgiving and as well as to morality, which the film ironizes at every opportunity.

In the final scene, which foreshadows the sequel, one thing is clear. Eli Roth turns his killer into an unintentionally mocking, dark creature. And his film, a rare mixture of satire and horror, is so cruel that it seems almost repulsive. Perhaps the calling card of his filmography.