Thanksgiving tells an original story, but it paid off a tease from another horror movie released 23 years before Thanksgiving’s release. Based on the fake trailer of the same name that Eli Roth made for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse project, Thanksgiving is a slasher movie that evokes some of the most notable titles from the slasher genre. Thanksgiving takes the audience to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where RightMart’s Black Friday sale goes horribly, resulting in stampedes and various people dying.
The following year, as RightMart prepares for another Black Friday sale and the parade, a mysterious killer dressed in black and wearing a John Carver mask begins to target and kill some of the people involved in the previous year’s deadly incident. Carver’s main targets were Jessica (Nell Verlaque), the daughter of RightMart’s owner, and her friends, as their actions triggered the chaos at the sale. Thanksgiving also stars Patrick Dempsey as Sheriff Newlon, and through him, it paid off a 23-year-old horror tease that originated in Scream 3.
Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving: 11 Horror Easter Eggs & References
Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving might be a spinoff of 2007’s Grindhouse, but it references several other classic horror movies throughout its run.
Patrick Dempsey’s Detective Kincaid Was A Red Herring In Scream 3
Patrick Dempsey is no stranger to the horror genre, with his first acting role being as an extra in the 1985 satirical sci-fi horror movie The Stuff. However, his most notable horror role before Thanksgiving was in Wes Craven’s Scream 3. Dempsey played Detective Mark Kincaid, who was assigned to investigate the Ghostface murders that were taking place in Hollywood, where a new Stab movie was being filmed. His involvement in the case, along with his knowledge of movie trilogies, made Sidney and the audience suspicious of Kincaid, and this only got worse during the final act, as he arrived just as Ghostface left.
Scream 3 is the only movie in the franchise with just one murderer as Ghostface, and it wasn’t Kincaid. Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), the director of Stab 3, was the Ghostface killer, as well as Sidney Prescott’s (Neve Campbell) half-brother, so Kincaid was nothing more than a red herring. At the end of Scream 3, Kincaid was seen in Sidney’s home, and in the Scream reboot films, it was confirmed that Sidney and Kincaid got married. In Thanksgiving, Dempsey played the sheriff who investigates the John Carver murders, but this role came with a twist.
Instead of being a red herring to keep the identity of the real killer a secret for longer, Sheriff Newlon was the murderer in Thanksgiving. Although there were a couple of clues throughout Thanksgiving that, in retrospect, pointed at Newlon being the one underneath the John Carver mask, Dempsey’s past as Detective Kincaid also served to trick the audience into thinking he was innocent.
What Happened To Dempsey’s Sheriff Newlon In Thanksgiving
Being the John Carver killer wasn’t the only secret Sheriff Newlon was keeping in Thanksgiving. When asked why he did all that, Newlon revealed that he also lost someone at the Black Friday massacre the year before. Thanksgiving opened with Newlon arriving at his friend Mitch’s home for Thanksgiving dinner, where he was greeted by Mitch’s wife, Amanda. Unfortunately, Amanda was killed inside the RightMart during the stampede, and Newlon revealed at the end of Thanksgiving that he was having an affair with her and she was pregnant with his child. Newlon, then, killed to avenge Amanda’s death.
In the final minutes of Thanksgiving, Amanda and Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks) managed to escape from Newlon after Jessica shot a turkey parade balloon attached to a tank of flammable gas, causing an explosion that engulfed Newlon in flames. However, Newlon’s remains weren’t found, and though authorities believed he was incinerated as no one could survive an explosion like that, Jessica believed he could still be alive, and this will be solved in a confirmed sequel.
Thanksgiving
Originally conceived as a parody trailer in 2007’s Grindhouse, Thanksgiving is a 2023 horror-slasher film from director Eli Roth. The movie centers around a serial killer who heads to a small town in Massachusetts that creates a huge event out of Thanksgiving each year with the intent of turning the residents into the main course.
- Director
- Eli Roth
- Release Date
- November 17, 2023
- Cast
- Addison Rae , Patrick Dempsey , Jalen Thomas Brooks , Nell Verlaque , Milo Manheim , Gina Gershon
