One year after tragedy during a Black Friday riot, a masked killer starts picking off some of those involved, while a group of teens begin receiving online posts about an upcoming Thanksgiving feast…where the are apparently going to be the guests…

Thanksgiving began as one of the trailers that was part of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez Grindhouse project from 2007. Although most likely saw the two films in the project, Death Proof and Planet Terror separately, there were some screenings of the films as a double-bill and as part of that, there were five trailers made be various directors to fit in with the tone of the project. Till now, two of them, Machete and Hobo With A Shotgun had been made into full length films since.

Thanksgiving is the third.

The trailer and film was directed by Eli Roth. I’ve not been a huge fan of Roth’s work. Of the films he has made that I have seen, I thought his Hostel films were okay, thought Cabin Fever the same and Knock Knock was twisted fun. The others I haven’t, not because I have actively avoided them, more, they haven’t piqued my interest enough to watch them.

The story here is by Roth and Jeff Rendell, with Rendell writing the film. Story-wise, it has the same basic elements many, many slasher films have; a tragic event in the past, the anniversary of the tragedy coming up and a killer arriving to punish people for it often in bloody, gruesome and occasionally imaginative ways.

Roth stages the kill scenes impressively, not holding back at times, from an almost Final Destination type opening, where people rather than items set of bloody carnage, to the fiery climax. He draws good performances from his cast, headed by Patrick Dempsey as the town Sheriff, Nell Verlaque as Jessica, daughter of the owner of the store where the tragedy took place, Rick Hoffman as her father, Addison Rae as Gabby, Jessica’s best friend and there is a small role for Gina Gershon. Performance wise, the cast are great.

Story-wise, while it hits pretty much all the beats you would expect from a slasher film, the film does toss in a couple of surprises, in relation to who lives, who dies. However, there are issues with the story too, the most obvious one is that the killer in the film is so glaringly obvious they should have a sign pointing to them when they appear onscreen. Of course, it could be that was slightly intentional, perhaps a nod to slasher films of the past and to be fair it doesn’t detract from the film at all. I would also say to screenwriters that when putting characters together in a film as a couple, it should be at least believable. I couldn’t buy the character Gabby putting up with her boyfriend Evan the way she does. Like-wise Jessica and her boyfriend. It’s a little thing and again, doesn’t detract from the film, just an observation.

But these are little flaws in an otherwise enjoyable, fun slasher film, one that knows what it wants to be and delivers on that. It doesn’t reinvent the format, but then it doesn’t have to.

Thanksgiving was born with that Grindhouse project and it turns out Eli Roth has made the best film connected to it. I don’t think anyone saw that coming.

Rating: *** out of 5