Blu-ray Review: THANKSGIVING

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Jan 31 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

It’s Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and RightMart owner Thomas Wright (Rick Hoffman, Suits) has decided to open his store on Thanksgiving rather than waiting for Black Friday. However, the sale quickly turns into chaos, with people trampling over one another to get their hands on a free toaster. The incident leaves several dead and many more injured. Witnessing the event first-hand are Wright’s daughter Jessica (Nell Verlaque) and her friends—Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks), Gaby (Addison Rae), Evan (Tomaso Sanelli), Scuba (Gabriel Davenport), and Yulia (Jenna Warren).

Cut to one year later, and the town is once again preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving, and Thomas Wright doesn’t seem to have learned his lesson—he is once again contemplating opening his store for a big Thanksgiving sale, thanks in large part to encouragement from his fiancée Kathleen (Karen Cliche). However, someone is still bitter about the events from last year, and starts to take it out on the town’s residents. A killer wearing a mask of John Carver’s face—the first governor of Plymouth Colony—is brutally decapitating and murdering people who had some connection to the riot. He’s also tagging the teens in social media posts, showing some sort of dinner table with their names on the seat place cards—will they be the next victims?! Investigating the murders is Sheriff Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey, Grey’s Anatomy). Anyone in town is a suspect, but looking particularly guilty are former RightMart employee Mitch Collins (Ty Victor Olsson), who lost his wife in the riot and has been very vocal about the incident ever since. And Bobby, whose promising pitching career was cut short after he got badly hurt in the incident—he has been ghosting Jessica ever since. Or could it be Jessica’s new boyfriend Ryan (Milo Manheim, Journey To Bethlehem), who people don’t know much about? As the body pieces start piling up, the teens take it upon themselves to start trying to identify the killer before they end up dead themselves.

Thanksgiving is a thoroughly-entertaining slasher from director Eli Roth, which feels like a throwback to the classic horror movies of the 1980s, both in look, style and feel. Fall in a small New England town is the perfect setting, and it’s filled with lots of quirky and suspicious characters. As a Massachusetts native myself, the actors and filmmakers have nailed the accents and dialogue to really make it feel natural and authentic, while also making the audience laugh. The writing is quite clever, having our John Carver killer deploy very creative, unique and sometimes elaborate Thanksgiving-themed ways of dispatching his victims, that are both gruesome and fun. At the same time, there is this classic feeling to the kills, having fun with the architypes and tropes you usually see in these slasher movies. Roth does an excellent job of providing jumps and scares, but also giving the audience a lot of laughs and humorous moments along the way. This movie is just a blast from start to finish, and does a nice job of keeping the audience guessing as to the identity of the killer. There is also some nice commentary on our society, such as a really fun scene in the opening riot where someone grabs a free toaster off a body when they realize its possessor is dead.

Sony’s has released Thanksgiving on physical media on Blu-ray and DVD, but it is also available digitally in 4K. I was sent the Blu-ray release for review, which features solid picture and sound. There is an excellent level of detail throughout—the picture looks very clean and clear, capturing the beauty of the small town New England setting as well as the more gory and gruesome kills. The audio track provides clear dialogue, a wonderful score and a generally-immersive ambiance—this is especially noticeable in the chaos of the opening Black Friday riot.

The Blu-ray disc resides in standard HD keepcase with a glossy slipcover. An insert provides instructions on how to redeem an HD Movies Anywhere-compatible digital copy of the film. The disc contains a fun audio commentary by the filmmakers, plus over an hour of other bonus material, including behind-the-scenes featurettes, a gag reel, deleted scenes, and more.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:45:59)

1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Audio Descriptive Service, French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French Audio Descriptive Service, Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio/li>
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish

Digital (Limited time offer):

HD digital copy, redeemable via Movies Anywhere or Vudu

Extras:

Behind the Screams (3:56)
The cast and filmmakers talk about making a Thanksgiving-themed slasher movie. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, home video footage, and interviews with director/writer/producer Eli Roth, writer/producer Jeff Rendell, producer Roger Birnbaum, and stars Addison Rae (“Gaby”), Nell Verlaque (“Jessica Wright”) & Patrick Dempsey (“Sheriff Eric Newlon”).
Gore Galore (3:33)
The cast and filmmakers discuss the film’s gruesome kills, what it took to make them look so realistic, and their favorite kills. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with director/writer/producer Eli Roth, makeup effects designer Adrien Morot, and stars Gabriel Davenport (“Scuba”), Jenna Warren (“Yulia”), Milo Manheim (“Ryan”), Nell Verlaque, Patrick Dempsey, Amanda Barker (“Lizzie”) & Addison Rae.
Outtakes (5:15)
This gag reel finds the cast flubbing lines, making each other crack up, dealing with noise interruptions & misbehaving animals, and just having fun on set.
Commentary with Eli Roth and Jeff Rendell (1:45:59)
Director Eli Roth and writer/producer Jeff Rendell, who have been childhood friends since kindergarten, discuss how they have wanted a Thanksgiving slasher film since they were 12. After some reminiscing of their early love of horror films, they get into a more standard commentary. They talk about how the film came about, using the names of real people, the cast, the crew, the sets, filming the riot, the kills, and more. It’s a fun, entertaining, and informative commentary, with lots of interesting behind-the-scenes stories, though there are several moments where they go silent.
Deleted, Alternate & Extended Scenes (34:26)
Collection of 14 deleted/alternate/extended scenes. Play All, or select from:
- Evan’s Vlog (1:19)
  Evan’s video of the Black Friday riot that can be seen in the film.
- Visitor Log (1:11)
  Deputy Bret Labelle gets the visitor log from a talkative old man.
- Decoy (2:48)
  As Bobby distracts the Wrights, Jessica goes though the security footage.
- Idiot (:49)
  Bobby asks Jessica about her and Ryan.
- Close The Store (1:00)
  As Thomas looks over the parade preparations, he grows stressed out and ponders closing the store, but Kathleen changes his mind.
- Alternate Sequence (5:25)
  Evan and Jessica investigate Mitch’s van. Eric gets a statement from Mitch.
- Games Are Important (1:23)
  Evan is upset the football game is canceled, but Gaby gives him some tough love.
- That’s Weird (:39)
  Gaby and Evan are surprised by John Carver in the school hallway.
- Get Us Killed (:30)
  McCarty warns his father not to leave dangerous stuff lying around.
- Cooking With Carver — Extended (9:44)
  Extended version of John Carver preparing his Thanksgiving “meal” and hunting Kathleen as she tries to escape.
- Tunnel Master (:32)
  The cops plan how to investigate the town’s tunnels.
- Dinner Guests (5:09)
  John Carver gathers his guests for their shocking dinner.
- So Close (1:35)
  Eric explains his motives to Jessica.
- Cooked Turkey (3:34)
  Extended aftermath following the explosive final showdown and alternate return.
Massachusetts Movies: Eli & Jeff’s Early Films (12:03)
Writers/producers Eli Roth and Jeff Rendell provide an entertaining optional commentary over this montage of photos and clips from 5 of the home videos they made together when they were younger.
Previews (7:38)
Trailers for The Equalizer 3 (2:33), The Pope’s Exorcist (2:31) & Insidious: The Red Door (2:32) play back-to-back.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Highly Recommended

Thanksgiving is a wonderful slasher film that is not only great on its own, but is also a fun throwback to the classic horror films of the 1980s. With clever and creative kills, lots of scares and jumps, a mysterious and elusive killer, an idyllic New England town setting, and lots of humor and quirky characters, it just works really well, and is destined to become a classic. I definitely see myself revisiting this film annually during the spooky holiday season. Sony’s Blu-ray looks and sounds great, and includes a solid selection of bonus material. This is a must own for slasher fans, and an easy recommendation for any fan of horror movies or of the cast.