Eli Roth's Thanksgiving: What We Know About The Movie

Almost every major holiday has a horror movie associated with it — the most obvious examples being Halloween (which is synonymous with one of the most beloved horror franchises ever) and Christmas (there are almost as many scary movies set around the winter holidays as there are set on October 31st). Yet, there are even a few that may surprise you, like all the romantic thrillers that are perfect for Valentine’s Day or all the other celebratory seasons covered in the fun horror anthology movie, Holidays. However, one that I believe does not get quite as much attention from the horror genre as it should is Thanksgiving, which is why I am looking forward to Eli Roth’s next project.

To be perfectly honest, Thanksgiving will only be the latest in a handful of flicks that put a deadly spin on the otherwise heartwarming holiday, which include 1987’s Blood Rage, the campy Thankskilling movies, and the two November-released installments of Blumhouse’s Into the Dark on Hulu, most notably. However, with a filmmaker of Roth’s notoriety involved, a few A-listers set to star, and years of anticipation built-up already, this is looking to be the definitive thriller for horror-obsessed families to chow down on together each Turkey Day. See for yourself what we mean in our breakdown of all there is to know about this upcoming horror movie so far.

What Is The Thanksgiving Release Date?

According to a tweet from Sony Pictures, Thanksgiving has gone into production as of March 17, 2023, but still does not have a confirmed release date at the moment. However, I am going to go out on a limb here and predict that it might come out some time in November. Whether that means it will pop up on our 2023 movie release schedule or if fans will have to wait until the fall of 2024 to witness the carnage has yet to be determined.

Jalen Thomas Brooks And Nell Verlaque Lead The Thanksgiving Cast

Historically, horror movies have served as a breakthrough for many up-and-coming actors — some of which have gone on to be considered icons of the genre — and Thanksgiving could be yet another example. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be led by The CW’s Walker cast member Jalen Thomas Brooks making his feature film debut, and Nell Verlaque, who is best known for the Disney+ original TV show, Big Shot.

The biggest names confirmed to be in the Thanksgiving cast, however, are Emmy-nominated former Grey’s Anatomy cast member Patrick Dempsey (whose last horror movie was the third installment of the Scream franchise in 2000) and TikTok star Addison Rae, who made her acting debut in 2021 with Netflix’s He’s All That. Also set to star — according to Deadline — are Showgirls’ Gina Gershon, comedian Tim Dillon, Suits’s Rick Hoffman (who last worked with Eli Roth on Hostel), and Milo Mannheim (whose last experiences with "horror" are Disney Channel’s Z-O-M-B-I-E-S movies and Paramount+’s School Spirits.

Thanksgiving Is Based On A Fake Trailer From Grindhouse

While Thanksgiving was only confirmed to be going into production in January 2023, fans have been waiting to see the movie since they saw the trailer… in 2007. The upcoming slasher is actually a feature-length adaptation of a faux teaser that was made specifically for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s tribute to B-movie double features, Grindhouse, and shown in between the filmmakers’ respective, full-length segments, Planet Terror and Death Proof. See a taste of how this movie might “scare the stuffing out of you” by checking out the original, over-the-top short on YouTube.

Thanksgiving will, technically, be the third fake Grindhouse trailer to be made into a real movie if you count both 2010’s Machete — which spawned the 2013 sequel, Machete Kills — and 2011’s Hobo with a Shotgun, which is based on a short only shown with Grindhouse in Canada. It was in the same year that Rodriguez’s first Machete movie came out when Roth confirmed a feature-length version of his trailer was in the works. Only took 13 years for it to escape development hell and get fans excited to see blood hit the screen again.

Eli Roth Is Directing Thanksgiving

As established above, the director of Grindhouse’s Thanksgiving segment was Eli Roth, who also has a cameo in the trailer as a very convincing looking teenager who loses his head while receiving… well, the same thing. Anyway, we are happy to know that the self-proclaimed horror obsessive and filmmaker behind Cabin Fever and the Hostel movies — the latter of which Tarantino produced — is, indeed, returning to helm the feature-length version of his original short.

This will actually be the first horror movie Roth has directed in nearly a decade — the last being 2015’s Knock Knock, which he followed with a remake of Death Wish starring Bruce Willis in 2018, a family movie called The House with a Clock in Its Walls the same year, and a Discovery+ original documentary about sharks called Fin in 2021. Actually, according to Deadline, the director had to hand off directorial duties for reshoots on his adaptation of the video game Borderlands to Deadpool director Tim Miller in order to get started on Thanksgiving.

Eli Roth Is Also Co-Writing Thanksgiving

The original fake Thanksgiving trailer was also written by Roth, along with Jeff Rendell. Well, we can also be thankful to know that — according to Deadline — the pair has also handled the script for the full-length adaptation, in addition to both producing the film with Roger Birnbaum.

This will mark Roth’s third collaboration with Rendell, who also appeared in Cabin Fever as a “Fake Shemp” — a term used to describe an on-set body double, coined by Evil Dead franchise creator and Three Stooges fan Sam Raimi — and played the killer in Thanksgiving. The pair also shared a Spike TV Scream Award win for Best “Screenplay” with Tarantino, Rodriguez, Edgar Wright, and Rob Zombie for their collective Grindhouse segments.

I guess, when you really think about, Grindhouse is an anthology horror movie with two segment that happen to be about ten times longer than the rest. It has been cool seeing some of its faux trailers be given the same feature-length treatment over the years and especially exciting to see Thanksgiving receive the honor after much anticipation. Be sure to save room for when the slasher comes to a theater near you.