I know the first official trailer for the long-awaited Eli Roth’s horror slasher Thanksgiving (2023) and the annunciation of the release date came out almost a week ago, I am late in publishing this little article, but I had the hopes that the movie would premiere in some of the late-summer and fall genre film festivals like Sitges Film Festival or Fantastic Fest but apparently the distributors preffered to focus on the theatrical release. So, after the line-ups for all the festivals are announced and Thanksgiving (2023) is not part of them, here comes the presentation article in case someone didn’t hear about it yet.
The project takes us back over 15 years to the Grindhouse Double Feature experience in 2007 that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez put together to accompany their films Death Proof (2007) and Planet Terror (2007). The experience included a series of fake trailers promoting movies that don’t exist, like Robert Rodriguez’s Machete, starring Danny Trejo, which gained so much popularity that it became a saga of films of its own with Machete (2010), Machete Kills (2013), and the upcoming Machete Kills in Space, Edgar Wright‘s Don’t with his regulars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Rob Zombie‘s Werewolf Women of the SS with Nicolas Cage as Fu Manchu, Udo Kier, and Sheri Moon Zombie, Hobo with a Shotgun which also became a real feature film starring Rutger Hauer directing Jason Eisener in Hobo with a Shotgun (2011), and Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving.
First, it was never intended that Thanksgiving would become an actual film since Roth always took the thing as a joke, but with years passing the trailer became a fan favorite because of the gritty images, the gory scenes, and the thrill of the story that eventually the film became a fact.
The final plot story for Thanksgiving (2023) is set after a Black Friday riot that ends in tragedy when a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the infamous holiday.
Some of the celebrated killings seem to be reproduced in the feature film, as the first official trailer suggests.
Rick Hoffman, Gina Gershon, Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, Nell Verlaque, Karen Cliche, Tim Dillon, Chris Sandiford, Shailyn Griffin, Mika Amonsen, and Jenna Warren form the main cast.
Eli Roth is considered one of the most notorious horror filmmakers of the new century and is a member of the Splat Pack, the group of independent filmmakers who, since 2002, have directed, written, and produced horror films that are notable for their low budgets and extreme violence. He is better known for being behind the hit films Cabin Fever (2002), Hostel (2005), Hostel: Part II (2007), The Green Inferno (2013), and Knock Knock (2015).
Other members of the Splat Pack are Alexandre Aja (Haute Tension (2003), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Piranha 3D (2010), Crawl (2019)), Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II (2005), Saw III (2006), Saw IV (2007), Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)), Adam Green (the Hatchet saga, Frozen (2010)), Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers (2002), The Descent (2005), Doomsday (2008)), Greg McLean (Wolf Creek (2005), Rogue (2007), The Darkness (2016), The Belko Experiment (2016)), James Wan (Saw (2004), Insidious (2010), The Conjuring (2013)), Leigh Whannell (Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015), Upgrade (2018), The Invisible Man (2020)), and Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Devil’s Rejects (2005), Halloween (2007), The Lords of Salem (2012)).
Jeff Rendell, who with Eli Roth wrote the original fake trailer for Thanksgiving (2007), is also the co-writer and producer of the full feature film.
Thanksgiving (2023) is produced by Spyglass Media Group, Cream Productions, Ethereal Visage Productions, and TriStar Pictures, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The theatrical release date is set for November 17, 2023, in most of the countries. Watch the official trailer here.
And, if you are curious enough and want to see the original fake trailer from Thanksgiving (2007), here it is.
