Holiday horror films have always been the best combinations in which the genre has flourished.Black Christmas,Silent Night,Deadly Night,Terror Train,Halloween, andFriday the 13th: While countless other horror films center around terrifying concepts built around a single holiday, there is one that has not been done right or made commonplace in the hallmark of holiday slasher films:Thanksgiving. Eli Roth would not only give us the answer to that, buthe will now be taking it a stepfurther by making the film trailer a reality, reinventing horror once again.
While films likeBlood RageandThankskillinghave all made a sizable attempt at giving the holiday a certain unique edge, no one would ever pique horror fans' interest more than that of horror visionary Eli Roth. Responsible for gifting the horror genre withCabin Fever,The Green Inferno, andKnock, Knock,Roth has devoted his career to giving horror an unexampled take on the genre that only someone with his imagination and tact can achieve. In 2007, Roth would accomplish this with a fake movie trailer thatwould garner a massive cult following; hoping that Roth would someday turn the concept into a feature-length film.
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The idea would come from creative visionaries Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez after a double-feature screening at his house,Grindhouse. The gritty and leading-edge concept of the 1970s would also include original feature film trailers that would be built into the double-feature film. With each director having their own creative space for their ideas, Rodriguez withPlanet Terrorand Tarantino withDeath Proof, the movie trailers would act as an inventive wrap-around point for the two films.
Roth’s contributing holiday-themed slasher trailer,Thanksgivingwould take usback in time with its distinct grainyfilm quality, resonating with 1970 and 80’s films of the time. Interwoven with music excerpts from the cult classicCreepshow, Roth would create an experience that blended well with iconic slashers such asMy Bloody Valentinewith the campiness of holiday horror classics such asSilent Night, Deadly Night. Many felt that the trailer creation was not only brilliant but a concept so unique it felt almost criminal to be wasted as just a moment in a double-feature experience.
Now Roth has answered the call to horror fans' prayers, and finally, Thanksgiving is getting the full-feature treatment it deserves. While Eli Roth had only given audiences a taste of what a Thanksgiving horror-slasher could look like, the impact it provided for such a small moment in horror history made it a game-changer within the genre. The concept would be a killer dressed as a pilgrim, where multiple murders turn the holiday into a blood-soaked frenzy in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Onecan see from the cinematography standpointthatThanksgivingis meant to evoke a tender sense of nostalgia for the ’70s and ’80s slasher era. But with Roth, it’s never just about creating a certain yesteryear feeling of a bygone era. It involves taking those ideas and turning them into something more compelling by challenging expectations. As Roth would successfully achieve withCabin Fever, he underscored the role of the slasher.Cabin Feverwould have all the ingredients of a traditional slasher experience, yet there was no human embodiment of a killer. The virus became the killer. Roth’s clever use of subversion can only help benefit his take on a holiday horror film. It’s not just about the explicit blood, gore, and violence, that makes this a terrifying concept for a horror film; there are also general grim implications to Thanksgiving that lend a hand to this being a revolutionary and frightening experience.
When it comes to the actual blood and gore,Roth can successfully do both. Films like George Mihalka’sMy Bloody Valentinewere so successful because it towed a grisly line between being a conceptual slasher experience and being comedically engaging at the same time. While the trailer for Thanksgiving only suggests that influences such as these inspired the idea, Roth is not one to shy away from gut-punching, visceral reactions, nor is he afraid to flirt with the idea of satire in his works. His creations such asHostelandThe Green Infernoshow he is not a stranger to such concepts.
Roth’sHostelplays around with the implications of whata place means to others on the outsideversus what it means to people who live there. It’s a theme that would reawaken inThe Green Inferno, but on a larger scale: deforestation and the displacement of native tribes. Thanksgiving has all the qualifications to take Roth’s satirical gore to another level. For many, it’s a time to appreciate family and friends and enjoy great food. On the other hand, the holiday also carries a darker, more mournful, and more sinister tone. Because Roth is familiar with the genre’s contrast between light and dark elements,Thanksgivingcan take holiday horror to new heights with the social guise to back it up.
Roth has had his hands in multiple experiences throughout the cinema and horror industry, fromInglourious BasterdstoKnock, Knock;each has demonstrated a different layerand new role the director has had to slip into to create such successful projects. Although it’s too early to say what terrifying creative realmThanksgivingwill inhabit, the evidence suggests that Roth is capable of pushing the envelope in unheard-of ways. This holiday horror will not only reinvent how we look at holiday horror, but will have a disruptive authenticity that only Eli Roth can pull off.
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