Movie Review: ThanksKilling

When it comes to Thanksgiving and horror, there is not that much to choose from. There is Home Sweet Home from the early 1980's, a slasher that doesn't seem to have a lot going for it, but I still need to see it. There is also that Eli Roth directed Thanksgiving trailer from Grindhouse, would like to see that get mafe, Aside from that, the only one I have come across is the 2009 low budget turkey (sic) ThanksKilling. This wonderful little gem doesn't even make it to 70-minutes, and that is fine by me. This terrible movie does a lot of things right (believe it or not), and one of them is not belaboring its point and staying on past its expiration date.



The movie opens just after the first Thanksgiving with the lingering shot of a lone Pilgrim breast. It pulls back to expose the exposed chest of a frightened Pilgrim. This is gratuitous nudity for the sake of getting some breasts in the film, and if you ask me they could have chosen better. In any case, the frightened woman goes bounding in seemingly slow motion through the woods. She predictably trips and her assailant is revealed to be a turkey, well, a rubber headed puppet turkey anyway. It is said because of disrespect to Native Americans, a curse was placed on a turkey that it would kill the white man for his transgressions. A side effect of said curse allows the turkey to talk in sarcastic and vulgar one-liners.

The story jumps head in time and picks up in the present day. A group of college students are heading home for Thanksgiving break and they may hold the record for most mismatched group of friends ever in a movie. They cover the standard cliches, jock, nerd, slut, survivor girl, and fat guy. There car breaks down and they encounter the killer turkey. One by one they get picked off.

This is not a movie that has anything to say. It feels like a bunch of friends found an old turkey puppet and got the bright idea to try and make a movie. They succeeded, plus they helped fill a hole that needed some stuffing, Thanksgiving horror, that is. Anyway, the dialogue is laughable, the acting is atrocious, and the turkey, well, the turkey is actually kind of funny. There is also this one scene with the turkey wearing Groucho glasses and a guy in a turkey costume that leads into an homage to Silence of the Lambs, I loved the ridiculousness of it.

In all seriousness, he only people that need apply are those looking for a comedic holiday horror fix and those who love the cheapies. I won't lie and say I hated it or snobbish enough to look down on it, as a matter of fact I found it pretty easy to watch, It is fun to make fun of it, some of the comedy is a little bit clever. I can see this becoming an annual tradition until something better comes along.

Mildly Recommended.