The opening sequence of Thanksgiving highlights that the characters have been facing tragedies long before the Black Friday stampede, including the fate of Jessica’s mother. The main cast of Thanksgiving (2023) is led by Nell Verlaque, who portrays Plymouth, Massachusetts teenager Jessica Wright, the daughter of wealthy RightMart owner Thomas Wright. Though Jessica didn’t even intend to be at the store that fateful night, she, her family, and her friends become the target of a serial killer exacting revenge on those he deems to be responsible for the deadly stampede.
In addition to her love triangle with Ryan and Bobby, one of Jessica’s major personal conflicts is her complicated relationship with her father, Thomas, and his new wife, Kathleen. It’s clear in Thanksgiving’s opening 2022 flashback that their marriage was swift, with Jessica and her father growing further apart due to his relationship with Kathleen. This is largely because Jessica is still grieving the death of her mother, whose fate plays an important part in her story through the end of 2023’s Thanksgiving.
Jessica’s Mother Died At Least A Year Before Thanksgiving’s Events
Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving doesn’t reveal the exact cause of death for Jessica Wright’s mother, nor does it explain the time of her death. However, Jessica’s father, Thomas, had already married Kathleen during the movie’s 2022 flashback, so her mother died at least a year before John Carver/Sheriff Newlon’s Thanksgiving killing spree. More specifically, though, it seems that Jessica’s mother died closer to two years before Thanksgiving 2023, given that Thomas already bought a new house and quickly married Kathleen before fall 2022. It’s possible that Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving 2 will finally answer when and how Jessica’s mother died.
The decision to kill Jessica’s mother off-screen before the movie’s timeline is curious, as it doesn’t necessarily play into Thanksgiving’s killer motivation. While Jessica’s stepmother, Kathleen, is positioned as an unlikable character whose greed set the Black Friday stampede into motion, her mother’s death didn’t have any bearing on this. Jessica wasn’t making poor decisions in her grief that led to her involvement in the Black Friday stampede, either. Rather, it seems her mother’s death was a motive to drive Jessica and Thomas apart, potentially increasing the suspicion around him possibly being the killer.
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.
The Fate Of Jessica’s Mother Ties Into A Very Specific Thanksgiving Theme
Thanksgiving doesn’t linger on the cause or timing of the death of Jessica’s mother, but the unseen and unnamed character’s fate does tie into a subtle theme for the movie. There’s a significant lack of mother characters throughout Thanksgiving, with Jessica’s mother dying before the movie’s events, a pregnant Amanda dying in Thanksgiving’s opening sequence, and Yulia’s father being the only present parent with no mention of her mother. The only prominent mother character is Jessica’s stepmother, Kathleen, and she happens to suffer one of Thanksgiving’s most brutal deaths.
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
- Runtime
- 106 Minutes
