Small town, masked killer, tormented teens: the latest seasonal slasher trades in tropes, writes Zarina Ahmed
During a time of gratitude, it’s sometime difficult to pinpoint exactly what we’re supposed to be thankful for.
Thanks, then for Thanksgiving, which confirmed how thankful I am that I won’t have to watch it again.
The holiday slasher is another addition to Eli Roth’s notable works, such as Cabin Fever and Hostel, which cements the impression that the movie will be just as good. And although it doesn’t try too hard to be anything other than a light-hearted gorefest, it isn’t anything spectacular, either.
The movie serves up a classic horror trope, with a group of teenagers being tormented by a masked killer. This one’s avenging those who died in the previous year’s Black Friday stampede.
It opens with a flashback scene of the said accident and shows, at one point, a woman’s scalp being torn off – the first of many unnecessary gory visuals. The teenagers, made up of vapid and insufferable teens, are friends of Jessica, our main protagonist whilst the other townsfolk they interact with rotate in a series of red herrings. Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) plays the character of a sheriff and is the only one who does not want you to root for the murderer.
In addition to famous faces, such as Rick Hoffman (Suits) and internet sensation Addison Rae the cast is largely built of fresh faces – not only appealing to everyone watching for famous members but also appealing to those who couldn’t care less.
At times, though, the limited experience of the less-seasoned cast members can seem apparent, such as one of the first scenes in which they taunt a crowd before the public storm into a store.
Interestingly enough though, that lack of experience can be a plus, as it helps them come across as their characters, adding extra substance the way the dramatisation of the movie could be excused as it’s about dramatic, high school kids, too.
The group of teens continue to be taunted by the killer on social media until, one by one, they find themselves victims.
Throughout this all, Jessica becomes wary of who to trust as a series of events lead any of her loved ones to be suspicious in the gory scene’s wake.
The movie doesn’t take itself too seriously so some scenes are creative and clever enough to not reduce the movie to something generic and cheap, either. It certainly didn’t take the chance of being cheap and unnecessary when the killer feeds his victim’s cat instead of killing it for comedic purposes – one of the finer moments in the film.
But the the excessiveness of gore is a letdown. It runs deeper than the storyline and the predictability of the slayer turns this into a generic, trifling slasher with characters that have no depth.