The Big Picture

  • Eli Roth's blood-soaked Thanksgiving promises plenty of scares and themed kills, making it a horror masterpiece for audiences to enjoy.
  • Thanksgiving follows a small town plagued by terror and tragedy after a Black Friday event goes awry, leading to a serial killing spree.
  • Roth's long-awaited Thanksgiving project has been in the works since 2007 and features a killer cast, including Patrick Dempsey and Gina Gershon.

Bust out the butcher’s knife, Eli Roth’s blood-soaked holiday movie, Thanksgiving has just released a new teaser. As we wind down on the spooky season with the end of October quickly approaching, the Hostel and Cabin Fever director promises that there are plenty more scares to come in November. The teaser, which is accompanied by a terrifying poetic voiceover, sees a person in a pilgrim mask stalking members of a small town during its Thanksgiving celebrations. Teasing plenty of jump-scares and themed kills (think fried and roasted turkey), Roth has set out to create a horror masterpiece for audiences to watch alongside fellow classics like A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

In Thanksgiving, terror and tragedy plague a town after a Black Friday event gets gruesomely out of hand. Not out of the woods quite yet, the town finds itself the target of a madman’s serial killing spree. Gathering a killer cast for his latest feature, Roth’s call sheet includes Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy), Gina Gershon (Bound), Addison Rae (He’s All That), Milo Manheim (Disney Channel’s Zombies franchise), Rick Hoffman (Suits), Amanda Barker (Mayor of Kingstown), Jalen Thomas Brooks (Walker), and Nell Verlaque (Big Shot).

Somewhat of a labor of love for Roth and his co-writer, Jeff Rendell, the duo’s work behind Thanksgiving has been in motion since 2007 when a fake trailer of the film appeared in Grindhouse. A collaboration between Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, the two-feature production included a handful of fake trailers from some of the biggest names in the game with Roth’s holiday slasher keeping company with other mock trailers from filmmakers including Rob Zombie, Jason Eisener, and Edgar Wright.

Gina Gershon and Patrick Dempsey in Thanksgiving
Image via TriStar Pictures

Holiday Slashers - A Genre of its Own

While feel-good films like A Christmas Story, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Love Actually, and anything Charlie Brown-themed are an absolute must-watch for many families out there, the idea of holiday horror has been on the rise over the last few decades. Last year was the arrival of How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ slasher spoof, The Mean One, with 2007’s Thankskilling trotting so that Thanksgiving could run. Added to the list are others like Black Christmas, Krampus, The Lodge, Violent Night, and The Nightmare Before Christmas which can arguably be both a Halloween and Christmas film.

As for where and when you can catch Roth’s latest scare-fest, Thanksgiving will serve itself up in theaters on November 17. Check out the piping-hot teaser below.