Film Review

Thanksgiving (2023) — a fatty but filling slasher

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorises Plymouth, Massachusetts — the birthplace of the holiday

When Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez teamed up for Grindhouse (2007) — their grimy, slimy double feature that paid homage to sleazy 1970s horror — they decided to include a handful of fake trailers to add more ambience. Rodriguez directed the first one, “Machete”, based on an unused screenplay he wrote for Danny Trejo a decade before, and soon filmmakers like Edgar Wright (Shawn of the Dead), Rob Zombie (The Devil’s Rejects), and Eli Roth (Hostel) were gunning for a fake film spot. Roth’s resulting trailer for “Thanksgiving” was a sadistic slasher with sex, dumb jokes, and the shocking sight of a woman trussed up and roasted like a turkey. It was funny, gruesome, and left you satisfied.

More than half of Grindhouse’s fake trailers have now been turned into actual feature films. Thanksgiving is the third to join this list, following Machete (2006) and Hobo with a…