13 Nights of Shocktober: Thanksgiving

by A.J.

Night 12: Holiday Horror Night

“This year there will be no leftovers.”

Thanksgiving

Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving began as one of the fake trailers that played in between features in the Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino double feature spectacular Grindhouse (2007). The Thanksgiving trailer was the best and funniest of the fake trailers (the others were Robert Rodriguez's Machete, Edgar Wright's Don’t, and Rob Zombie's Werewolf Women of the SS, all of which are pretty funny). After Robert Rodriguez made a full feature out of his fake trailer, Machete, it seemed that these comedic trailers only work as fake trailers. However, the feature length version of Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving is a solid movie and is easily Roth’s best film in a long time. The key to the success of the feature length version is the approach taken by Roth and screenwriter Jeff Rendell. Instead of making a parody, like the trailer, they took a serious approach to the material and the result is a great modern slasher movie.

Set in Plymouth, Massachusetts on, you guessed it, Thanksgiving, a prologue shows us a gruesome and deadly riot at Ritemart, a big box store, that happens after the obnoxious teenager friends of Jessica (Nell Verlaque), daughter of the store owner, who got in early, tease and taunt the massive crowd waiting outside. The crowd charges the store and mayhem and carnage ensue. One year later, the greedy store owner has decided to open his store on Thanksgiving night again but this time he will hire more than two security guards. Jessica and her friends are being tagged in cryptic social media posts. Her ex-boyfriend who mysteriously disappeared after his arm was mangled in the riot–ending his hopes of a baseball career–mysteriously returns, embittered loved ones of the people killed in the riot are protesting the store, a restaurant is handing out masks of John Carver, first governor of Plymouth, and the stage is set for a slasher movie.

If you guess who the killer is way ahead of the reveal, and you just might, that doesn’t spoil any of the fun. It makes sense narratively and Roth and Rendell are more concerned with crafting a good story and entertaining the audience instead of outsmarting them. This is a bloody, gruesome horror movie, so if the violence you see in the riot is too much, then find a different Shocktober movie because the violence only gets more graphic and over the top. This movie does not cut away for effect or leave things up to the viewer’s imagination. We see the gruesome elaborate kills start to finish. And the kills get quite elaborate. The killer dunks one victim in a restaurant sink then sticks her face to the door of the walk-in refrigerator and eventually ends up running her over in an alley so that she is bisected by a dumpster. Yet, Thanksgiving definitely does not have the atmosphere of doom and dread that were a major part of Roth’s Hostel movies and the love it or hate it Cabin Fever. This is like a rollercoaster or amusement park dark ride: the goal is to excite and thrill and even scare you and then deliver you back to the ground where you can laugh off the scares and enjoy the experience you just had.

Nell Verlaque as Jessica Wright is a good “final girl", without feeling like she has been constructed as such. Among the other teens, Tomaso Sanelli as the obnoxious jock Evan deserves recognition for playing a character so believably crass and hateable, but still you don’t really want him to die. Gabriel Davenport as Scuba is also another stand out because he is a hothead who even buys an illegal gun, but then doesn’t know what to do with it. Among the adults, Patrick Dempsey is the stand out and pretty much the star of the movie as the town sheriff. Rick Hoffman is great as the greedy store owner and his redemptive turn midway through the movie is believable. You end up not wanting him to die too–which is impressive since it’s clear he is to blame for the entire fiasco that spawned a revenge driven killing spree. There is a lot of death and a lot of blood but the body count is relatively low. Nothing feels like a foregone conclusion so you never feel like you’re just watching a line up of teenagers/victims die elaborately.

Slasher movies are simple and are something of an oddity as a subgenre. If they are done well they are effective and memorable horror cinema. If they are done poorly they can be just as entertaining, maybe even more so. Thanksgiving is not a parody or a copycat. It does not seek to transcend or redefine the genre, and this is a welcome thing. It is effective, thrilling, gory entertainment in its own right while also being an homage to the genre.

Thanksgiving is streaming on Netflix.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Grindhouse (2007)

 by A.J.

Night 1: Double Feature Night

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are back! But this time they’re Back to Back!

Grindhouse

13 Nights of Shocktober 2024 is starting with double feature night and there’s only one movie that fits the bill: the epic length Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez collaboration, Grindhouse. “Grindhouses” were rundown movie houses that would show low budget exploitation movies (horror, action, crime, even kung fu), usually as a double feature. The idea behind this film was to recreate the experience so Rodriguez and Tarantino each made their own modern “grindhouse” movies with Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie, and Eli Roth contributing fake trailers to play before each movie. After Grindhouse did poorly at the box office, the studio behind the movie, The Weinstein Company, split the movies up for the home video/DVD release with extra scenes added to each feature. This is the most common way to find Planet Terror and Death Proof, but the theatrical combination version of each movie eventually made its way to Blu-ray. So, you can play each movie back to back, track down the full Grindhouse version, or only watch whichever one sounds more appealing. The great thing about Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror and Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof is that they work together and separately, so whichever way you choose to watch you’re in for a great time. 

First up is Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, a special effects heavy gross-out zombie movie about a virus that spreads over the course of a single night. The key phrase for this movie is “over-the-top.” The dialogue is ridiculous and there are a lot of things that just don’t make sense, but that’s part of the fun. The most ridiculous thing is also the movie’s signature image: Rose McGowan with a machine gun leg. How does it work? Doesn’t matter. Freddy Rodriguez plays the role of a mysterious former government agent with an intensity and seriousness that might seem out of place, but are actually perfect for the overall comedic tone. My favorite scene is when he’s finally given guns and twirls them with such ferocity that all the other characters are shocked and mesmerized, causing Jeff Fahey to say, “That boy’s got the devil in him.” Unlike a real grindhouse movie from the 1970’s, the special effects in Plant Terror are very well done. They are also very gross. The virus causes people to decay and develop pulsing boils that only get bigger and grosser. So, if the first time a patient shows up at the hospital with a bloody sore and you don’t like it, know that the movie will only get grosser, but also funnier. 

Tarantino noted that grindhouse double features never paired similar movies, even if they were in the same genre. So because Rodriguez already had his zombie movie written, Tarantino decided to come up with a horror movie that could actually happen. Death Proof is Tarantino’s version of a slasher movie but instead of wearing a mask and killing girls with a knife, this killer wears no mask and kills girls with his car. The villain and star is Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike, who stalks two groups of girls throughout the movie. The first group and the first half of Death Proof are located in Austin. We get to know the Austin girls who just hangout and drink, just like characters in the first part of a slasher movie. Then Stuntman Mike actually becomes a big character. Russell brings all of his rugged charm to the role but he also conveys a thinly veiled menace and aggression. Just like Freddy Kruger, he really enjoys toying with his victims and, of course, the ultimate kills. Without giving away a potential spoiler, about halfway through,  Death Proof resets. This is a major weakness if you’re watching Grindhouse because when the second group of girls is introduced you feel like yet another movie has started. Now we have to get to know those girls, all crew members of a movie production, but this is also when Death Proof becomes something special. Again, without giving away too much, this group (Zoe Bell, Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms) turns the tables on Stuntman Mike and show that they are not just the final girls; they are badass protagonists. Stuntman Mike’s personality flip makes for an even better performance from Russell. It’s clear that the second half of Death Proof is what Tarantino was really interested in; all of the grindhouse gimmicks (artificial scratches, missing scenes, color saturation) from Planet Terror and the first half of Death Proof are gone. 

You’ll usually hear that Death Proof is the better movie and I would not argue. However, Planet Terror is a very entertaining and lively experience on every viewing. The jokes still land and the gimmicks still work. When placed before Death Proof , Planet Terror might even top Death Proof since it is clearly the more action packed of the two. However--on its own with additional scenes, or as part of Grindhouse--Death Proof offers a slightly different experience on each viewing. The amazing and ultra thrilling car chase and unexpected ending make up for any lulls in pacing, and if you’re watching Grindhouse it's a great way to close a 3 hour movie. So whether you watch them together as Grindhouse or separately, you’re in for an incredible one of a kind experience.

Planet Terror and Death Proof are available to stream for free on Tubi.