Summary
- Eli Roth's new slasher film Thanksgiving pays homage to holiday-themed horror movies and centers around a serial killer's killing spree during the holidays.
- Thanksgiving is based on a fake trailer made by Eli Roth for the 2007 film Grindhouse, and it's part of a tradition of adapting these trailers into feature films.
- Roth has been wanting to make Thanksgiving into a full movie for 16 years, but other projects and bigger-budget opportunities came in the way until now.
Eli Roth’s new holiday-themed slasher movie, Thanksgiving, pays off a tease from a Quentin Tarantino movie that came out 16 years ago. Thanksgiving is an homage to holiday-themed slasher movies like Halloween, Black Christmas, and My Bloody Valentine. It revolves around the killing spree of serial killer John Carver, who comes to a small town in Massachusetts for the holidays with the intention of making his Thanksgiving meal out of the town’s residents. Patrick Dempsey stars as the town sheriff, with Gina Gershon, Tim Dillon, and TikTok star Addison Rae all appearing in supporting roles.
The first trailer for Thanksgiving has been released. The idea for Thanksgiving first arose from Roth’s contribution to a Tarantino movie that came out nearly two decades ago. After Roth’s breakout movie Cabin Fever caught Tarantino’s attention, Tarantino executive-produced Roth’s next film, Hostel, and gave him acting roles in a couple of his own movies. Roth’s best-known acting role in a Tarantino film is, of course, Sgt. Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz in Tarantino’s World War II epic Inglourious Basterds. Thanksgiving is the result of one of Roth and Tarantino’s earliest collaborations.
Thanksgiving Is Based On Eli Roth's Fake Movie Trailer In 2007's Grindhouse
Thanksgiving is based on a fake movie trailer that Roth made for the 2007 double feature Grindhouse. Grindhouse consisted of Tarantino’s carsploitation thriller Death Proof and Robert Rodriguez’s zombie-infested actioner Planet Terror. In between the two movies, Grindhouse featured fake trailers for similar B-movie homages by well-known filmmakers. Rodriguez directed a trailer for a Mexploitation mercenary movie called Machete. Edgar Wright directed a trailer for a ‘70s Hammer House of Horror-type movie called Don’t. Rob Zombie directed a trailer for a Nazi werewolf movie called Werewolf Women of the SS.
This isn’t the first fake Grindhouse trailer to be adapted into a feature film. Rodriguez turned Machete into a full-length movie, then gave it a sequel, Machete Kills. A trailer called Hobo with a Shotgun, which won the Grindhouse trailers contest at South by Southwest, was also adapted into a feature with Rutger Hauer in the title role. Thanksgiving is such a lucrative premise for a slasher movie, with a unique holiday setting largely defined by the carving of meat, that it’s no wonder Roth wanted to expand the fake trailer into a real movie.
Why Eli Roth's Thanksgiving Horror Movie Took 16 Years To Make
Roth has been eager to adapt his Thanksgiving trailer into a full movie ever since Grindhouse first came out, but other projects kept getting in the way. After Grindhouse, Roth worked on the first sequel to Hostel, Hostel: Part II, and then moved on to the low-budget thrillers The Green Inferno and Knock Knock. Then, Roth started getting bigger-budget studio jobs like the Death Wish remake and The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Roth was so excited to finally make Thanksgiving that he stepped down from his Borderlands movie and handed the reshoots over to fellow filmmaker Tim Miller.