 What's going on guys and welcome back to the channel critical overload here So this will be a spoiler free review for Thanksgiving. I was supposed to see this on Wednesday, but things changed I was able to see it last night. This was a surprise I was talking about in my previous video because I know a lot of you following me on Twitter We're expecting me to drop this sometime next week after Wednesday, but things changed I was able to see it last night had a good time But don't mind getting that right out of the way because yep, this is one of the better slasher films I've seen this year, but Thanksgiving we know is directed by Eli Roth It is from a screenplay by Jeff Rendle. It is starring Patrick Dempsey, Addison Ray, Nell Verlach or Verlaki, Gina Grishan, Rick Hoffman and several others Now the story here is revolving around a group of friends who after a Black Friday ride ends in a tragedy a mysterious Thanksgiving inspired inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts the birthplace of the holiday picking off residents one by one and again It's centered around this group of friends what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger sinister holiday plan So I would say that Thanksgiving is a decent enough holiday slasher that carved its way into my little horror Addicted heart wouldn't really say it was great But it's a solid not to 80s 90s and even early 2000s horror movies like final destination and cabin fever Which also I believe is Eli Roth what it lacks in lackable characters Well, I would say mine is one or two is excuse or I should say made up for with the memorable kills that it offers several intense chase scenes a lot of cat and mouse and A consistent blend of horror and the right amount of humor that never fails out of place Jeff Rendle's screenplay has more success in the departments. I just mentioned in regards to the chase scenes Humor commenting on how desensitized Black Friday cells seem to make us every year or how violence against each other Isn't even taken seriously in today's climate, but instead we use it to garner attention online Uh in the name of going viral There's also some very solid Solid clues surrounding the killer that I don't want to spoil And a nice twist just for those of us who think we have it all figured out as predictable as the story might be In some regard in jeff's screenplay I always say ask yourself this if you're someone like me who has seen a lot of who done it Is it really that predictable or were you just too smart to be fooled because there's so many people who have no idea Or not that they have no idea, but they're not very familiar with who done it's this would shock them Uh, the more who done it's you watch you just have to ease up a little bit because it's it's hard to really shock me I will be quite honest. I think the last who done it that genuinely shocked me I think I want to say was I see you even that wasn't really framed as a who done it though, but Going back into Thanksgiving. I will still commend the Sensible logical and coherent reveal that we got with a reasonable motive as well Sadly the characters are just very forgettable And I don't mean our lead jessica who is way more likeable and relatable than her friends Who are basically very paper thin and hard to connect with the character dynamics are clear But there's not a lot of development there is all i'm trying to get at Jess is saving grace as she acts like she has a soul She doesn't really like her stepmother and is still holding on to the past while trying to also put another recent tragedy behind her A year later, and she's also Kind of not in the same boat where her father is who is the owner of right mark And his attitude towards The events unfolding even after what happened Last Thanksgiving on black friday So she's a lot more humanized than her peers and those around her So we can connect with her and relate to her and want to see her survive this bloodbath, uh What I would say here with her friends They're just like check off the list type of characters in a slasher And in a lot of ways as a fan of slashers I still dug that because it made me nostalgic for those type of films that I grew up on I believe her friends were named gabby Bobby who is her ex boyfriend Ryan her current boyfriend scuba Yulia and gabby's boyfriend who I simply can't care to remember You have your two jocks pretty blonde who really does nothing the whole film but act scared and then there's Jessica the one who we can connect with and again hope to see her survive the bloodbath She's hands down like just one of the better characters in the film and you will see that very clearly They're just not very likable people outside of Jess herself Also, I would go into some of my favorite kills definitely would be the oven kill And the trampoline kill and the dumpster kill all of those were iconic to me um All the kills honestly are over the top but from what I've seen from eline roth in the past It's in line with past projects. So nothing too shocking there The john carver slasher might be an icon in the making but time will tell All the nods to films like I know what you did last summer urban legend house of wax even found this nation like I referenced earlier Because there's there's this scene going to house of wax really quick There's this scene where a character is playing like mannequin if you will while hiding in front of the killer And it just reminded me of the house of wax leader chase. That's all But all of the nods were a great touch. It's a pretty straightforward screenplay with enough Enough to satisfy a slash for him like like myself and many of you who watch me now the acting To me that was subpar to decent at best with patrick dimsey being the standout It's just at times the acting isn't very convincing and it's frustrating because nel Nelver lock who stars as jessica. She did great to me But her friends were the problem sometime addison ray was great as well And so was patrick dimsey like I mentioned so for clarity when I say subpar to decent I mean everyone else but them and a genie grishan She wasn't bad and a few others that I just didn't mention outside of the ones I named is being great Eli roth did a fine job directing it otherwise There's great tension building suspense and even adding an anxiety feeling to the whole experience Thanks to that wild opening sequence at right mark A lot of the gore is captured in a way that always made me wince or squirm in my seat Just a smidge one kill in a bedroom definitely had me on the edge Just for the focus on objects that the character was using they had a lot of focus on objects before the kill even came So I was already dreading it before it even happened. So job well done there and again those chase scenes They really keep the intensity high for this film the best one definitely involving what leads to our oven kill That was the best chase scene in the movie. I didn't even care about the care but the character But that sequence was so well executed that I was disappointed that it didn't make it out I think the score was good. It chimed in at all the right moments amplified the intensity of the chase scenes Solid pacing again when it comes to them building suspense and tension They don't just kind of squander it. They let it marinate. They let it kind of just sit there and get under your skin And there's a lot of cool camera work and solid Editing in the film very coherent to follow Sometimes with a lot of films these days the editing really just bothers me So I would have to commend them here definitely in the editing department Uh, I would have to give thanksgiving I want to give it a seven and a half. I want to give it a seven and a half I will say this this is kind of like a sidebar comment I am very disappointed that Addison ray was not our final girl I just think that when I saw her and when I saw how she was doing She probably if they gave her a different role They could have had like a cold final girl role going on there with those two being like these tight best friends like a sisterly bond almost So I was kind of disappointed at her usage But other than that it's a very good film and I hope you guys enjoy it when you see it Let me know what you think about this down in the comment section below if you haven't already of course make sure you subscribe Turn on post notification numbers video in the description. I'll have links to my social media accounts I'm on facebook, twitter and instagram you can message me there, of course Let me know if there's any movies news or reviews like me to cover in the future and with all that in mind guys I will see you in the next video