Thanksgiving by Eli Roth has brought back slasher horror to the same degree as Scream, with a dash of Halloween. When Roth was twelve years old, the violence and gore shown in Thanksgiving were initially envisaged.
The apparently typical Massachusetts town of Plymouth is currently coping with the fallout from a Black Friday event that went tragically wrong the year before. As Thanksgiving draws near, a John Carver mask-wearing serial murderer emerges from the shadows. Ellen Verlaque’s character Jessica quickly learns that John Carvers is pursuing all those connected to the Back Friday slaughter.
As explained in Dexerto’s review, Thanksgiving was a feast of gory terror that left even the most ardent viewers stunned. Roth is, after all, a horror maestro who created hits like Hostel. The film was about guts and gory murders in plenty. It alters one’s perspective on roasted turkey.
How did Roth come up with all the many, intricate murders on Thanksgiving? The concepts were conceived long before he rose to prominence as a horror filmmaker.
Eli Roth has been planning Thanksgiving since childhood
The director revealed in an interview that he and Jeff Rendell had all the intense kills planned out since they were 12 years old. They just didn’t have a plot to go with them.
It’s a little overwhelming to think that, at such a young age, Roth has been conjuring up macabre horror concepts. It’s a warning sign for someone who needs assistance before becoming a serial murderer in most crime dramas.
In an interview with GamesRadar+, Roth said, “To be honest, I’ve wanted to do this since I was 12 years old.” My closest buddy Jeff Rendell and I watched every horror film together as children and realized that all the holidays had passed and that just Thanksgiving remained. However, we were in Massachusetts, where Thanksgiving is celebrated with great vigor. Thus, we had always desired to produce a horror film around Thanksgiving.
They “had the kills, but we sort of had no plot,” Roth further stated to Collider. Roth and Rendell began viewing wild Black Friday films ten years ago. It created the foundation for Thanksgiving, which they could go back to and utilize as the trigger for the killings of John Carver.
The holiday is all about being grateful for what we have, for our health, and for our family, but the theme of the event is actually materialism, greed, and the fear of not acquiring something before someone else does. Two hours later, you’re stepping on someone to get a flat-screen TV,” Roth added.
When it comes to some of his favorite kills – the corn cob in the ears is a fun one. “I wanted a fun movie. I didn’t want it to be an endurance test and a grueling, punishing movie. I wanted one where the kills were great, and they were scary, and they were gory, and satisfying, but one where people were leaving the theater with a big smile on their face,” said the Thanksgiving director.
