Here’s what’s cooking: Thanksgiving (2023) was originally a mock trailer placed in the film Grindhouse (2007). Writer/ director, Eli Roth, has now expanded the trailer into a full length feature and we couldn’t be more excited. So, we took our heart monitoring equipment into the theater to see how scary this new holiday horror could be.
SYNOPSIS:
After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the infamous holiday.
Where to Watch: In theater
Test Subject: Beverly
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Fears: Obesophobia or Fear of gaining weight
Resting HR: 60-65bpm
Walking HR: 80-85bpm
ANALYSIS:
The early stress and anxiety caused by a black Friday fiasco produced a slow increase of physiological effects in our subject which eventually got her heart racing to an impressive 82bpm. Quick instances of gore had her writhing. These moments set in motion the tone of a film that she was not prepared for. Like many slasher films of the past, Thanksgiving builds to impressive kill scenes then dips quietly into mystery solving before the next attack. Individual spikes are noticeable on our scale, showing exactly where the kills are placed. It is a great formula and it works. The first kill, we noted as the ‘diner dumpster dive’ comes at 24:00. A suspenseful lead-up creates enough tension to produce an 86bpm peak from our subject’s resting average 65bpm just ten minutes prior. Some of the kills were quick, preventing the fear to build but that didn’t prevent them from shocking our subject into 80bpm territory. Like a true slasher movie, each kill becomes increasingly gory. One of our favorites was at 48:00 which caused our subject to physically jump out of her seat. It was this jerking and cringing that assisted in raising her heart rate to 92bpm. As shown in our FearScale, the film keeps getting worse for our subject but more exhilarating for us. A wildly chaotic finale drops one of our highest recorded spikes in recent years. It was the culmination of gore, excitement and suspense that rocketed our subject’s heart rate to 101bpm at 1:25. She had a tough time relaxing after that, even through the credits her pulse was still visibly throbbing.
CONCLUSION:
Thanksgiving (2023) is a disturbing new thriller capable of producing extremely elevated heart rates due to a healthy serving of suspense and gore. Share on X There were mystery solving lulls slowing the pace but similar to the Scream franchise, the kills were properly placed to effectively make the heart rate climb throughout the film. Thanksgiving creates a hip new slasher icon who knows how to cook. Imaginative kills combined with over the top humor and gore make Thanksgiving one delicious holiday horror.
Thanksgiving (2023): Burns an average of 294 Calories
Corn on the Cob (with butter): 155 Calories
How many Fear Calories did you burn watching Thanksgiving (2023) ? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
