Thanksgiving is a day of thanks and gratitude. Or so I have been told, a holiday I don’t celebrate is seen as a day of relaxation, and one where all of my favorite stores are closed. However, the only place I can count on to be open is the movie theater, so I decided to go and watch a movie that was fitting for the day, Thanksgiving. I once saw the trailer and knew immediately it was a movie I needed to see. It looked goofy but in the best way. To be honest, I thought it would be one of those movies that are awful but it being awful makes it perfect to watch. In other words, a great movie for my friends and me to make fun of. However, from the first fifteen minutes, I knew right away I was going to love it. Halfway through the movie, I fell in love and thought it was genuinely amazing and will simply go on the list of perfect slasher movies to see.
The movie begins on the night of Thanksgiving, where we are introduced to the main character, Jessic. She and her boyfriend, Bobby, are leaving her family’s Thanksgiving dinner to hang out with their friends Gabby, Evan, Scuba and Yulia. They soon take a detour from their hangout to go to RightMart, where there’s an amazing black Friday sale. One that gathers a large and rowdy crowd. Gabby and her friends can sneak inside due to Gabby’s father being the owner of RightMart and the crowd seeing them inside riles them up. Causing a stampede and a crazy scene of chaos. I would describe this scene as a nostalgic battle scene. One that has you reminiscing on the days people would pepper spray others on Black Friday to get their flat screen TV. This event becomes the catalyst for a pilgrim with an ax who murders those who live in the town.
I love this movie, it is so good and that is quite literally all I could think of as it progressed. It truly didn’t let me down. I feel like the movie understood where it was coming from. It wasn’t trying to be anything bigger than what it already was. I loved the “cheesiness” of it being keen on Thanksgiving. This movie doesn’t let you forget what the holiday is at all. From the title of the movie, the town where this movie is set (which is Plymouth, Massachusetts), the pilgrim murderer, the black friday crisis, etc. The Thanksgiving bombing never ends and I just love that. This movie is gory, which is guaranteed when watching a slasher movie, but truly some of the effects were too much for me to see. I wouldn’t consider it to be a bad thing but just the movie doing its job and being very into detail.
The movie also kept me on the edge of my seat, I kept wondering who the murderer was. This could be because I’m not Nancy Drew, but I would like to give credit to the movie’s ability to give a misdirection. I feel like an actor’s performance can either bring you in or completely take you out of the movie. The acting of the movie wasn’t too cheesy, it was simply good. I wouldnt deem it to be impactful but it was enough to have me locked in while watching. Also, I would like to bring up the cast being so random but in the best way. With a majority of actors I haven’t heard of and a few notable ones such as Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, and the guy from Zombies, Milo Manheim.
I think good horror movies are declining as the year goes on. Nothing amazing has come out other than a handful of movies this year. I would like to add this to the list. Honestly, this movie gave me hope for the future of horror movies and I will most definitely be watching again, most likely on Thanksgiving.