Thanksgiving Review: Eli Roth’s Faux Trailer Becomes A New Slasher Classic

In 2007, Eli Roth pitched Thanksgiving via Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse opus, filming a faux trailer that played in between the two topline director’s entries in the experimental double feature. It was a grisly mix of low-grade visuals, cheap kills, and a concept that had long felt outdated. Now, 16 years later, Roth’s is the second faux trailer to be made into a full-fledged feature (Danny Trejo’s Machete being the first). Like its predecessor, Thanksgiving is a recipe for success, and it should take its place among the greats of the Holiday Horror subgenre. Thanksgiving is special in the way all good slashers are — it’s funny and gruesome, with a trashy B-movie energy and a solid whodunit at the center of it all.