Thanksgiving Is A Reminder To Watch This Overlooked Horror Movie From 2023

Thanksgiving chronicles a killer donning a John Carver mask terrorizing a small town during the late November holiday, and one underrated horror movie released the same year bears similar qualities. The 2023 slasher film, directed by Eli Roth, is based on Roth’s fictitious trailer of the same name from the 2007 movie Grindhouse, which was structured as a double feature with fake previews, including one for Thanksgiving, before each segment. Although the story began as only a fictitious trailer, Roth decided to turn it into an actual film, which aptly premiered a week before Thanksgiving in November 2023.

The crew and cast of Thanksgiving, which includes Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Nell Verlaque, Rick Hoffman, and Gina Gershon, began filming the holiday-themed slasher in March 2023 and finished production a couple of months later. Meanwhile, other actors had already completed their work on a different (yet similar) horror project, but it would go on to premiere around the same time as Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, it didn’t receive as much attention as Roth’s movie, but it is worthy of praise, as well.

Thanksgiving’s Growing Popularity Is A Reminder To Watch 2023’s Dark Harvest

Thanksgiving

R

Horror

Thriller

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

Writers

Eli Roth , Jeff Rendell

Cast

Addison Rae , Patrick Dempsey , Jalen Thomas Brooks , Nell Verlaque , Milo Manheim , Gina Gershon

Thanksgiving received positive reviews from critics upon its release. It grossed $46.5 million at the box office against a $15 million budget, resulting in the development of a sequel (which the studio scheduled for a 2025 premiere). However, the film didn’t gain much significant notoriety until Netflix acquired Thanksgiving‘s streaming rights and added it to its catalog in February 2024. Roth’s movie jumped to the top of the charts, and people discovered how great the slasher truly is. However, another 2023 horror film — Dark Harvest — deserves the same resurgence.

The overlooked Dark Harvest shares many qualities with Thanksgiving, but their most significant similarities lie in their basic foundations. Both horror movies take place in small towns and revolve around specific traditions, like the Black Friday sale and Thanksgiving parade in Thanksgiving and the annual Halloween “Run” in Dark Harvest. Of course, the two films are not carbon copies of one another, but if someone watched Thanksgiving on Netflix and enjoyed it, they will probably also like Dark Harvest.

Related

9 Clues To John Carver’s Real Identity That You Might’ve Missed In Thanksgiving

While director Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving was one of 2023’s better slasher movies, the horror movie did give away its killer early with a lot of clues.

Dark Harvest Was Based On A 2006 Book But Takes A Fantasy Approach

While Dark Harvest is similar to Eli Roth’s slasher, one characteristic separates it from the movie. The 2023 horror film, directed by David Slade and written by Michael Gilio, is based on Norman Partridge’s 2006 novel of the same name. The book, and subsequently, the movie adaptation, ventures into the fantasy genre through its central conflict (a battle between two teenage boys and a mythical creature named Sawtooth Jack). So, unlike Thanksgiving, Dark Harvest heavily relies on fantasy to move its plot forward.