Thanksgiving is shallow. The gimmicky premise is mildly amusing, but beyond that, little thought was put into this script. It has blunt dialogue, annoying humor, cliches, artificial characters with unnatural relationships, contrived motivations, deus ex machina, pointless scenes, and a repetitive plot. Plus, there's no time spent on developing real emotional connections or exploring possible consumerism themes. Consequently, the narrative feels like a forced collection of hollow formulas. The acting offers passing vulnerability, likability, and chemistry, but is often unconvincing and downright annoying. Ultimately, Thanksgiving celebrates genre tropes in a bare and flimsy story.
Technically, Thanksgiving shows some identity through erratic tones and indulgent kills. The editing can be rushed, redundant, confusing, and clunky, but it adds fair action and anticipation. Its imagery has POVs, focus, angles, depth, handhelds, oners, and inconsistent lighting. The sound offers smash cuts, stings, muffling, risers, violence, emphasis, split cuts, and echoes. Its effects use prosthetics, makeup, stunts, and mediocre CGI for cartoonish gore. The cast is highly replaceable, the music is arbitrary, and the production design is generic (and sometimes cheap-looking). Overall, Thanksgiving executes adequate slasher elements but brings slim creativity or insight.
Writing: 3/10
Direction: 6/10
Cinematography: 7/10
Acting: 6/10
Editing: 6/10
Sound: 8/10
Score/Soundtrack: 5/10
Production Design: 5/10
Casting: 4/10
Effects: 7/10
Overall Score: 5.7/10
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