Although director Eli Roth’s 2023 slasher Thanksgiving was disappointingly toothless, this could secretly be a good thing for its sequel, Thanksgiving 2. Thanksgiving is a 2023 horror film based on the 2007 fake trailer of the same name Grinder. Directed by HostelEli Roth, Thanksgiving tells the story of a group of teenagers who are targeted by a masked killer a year after playing a shameful role in a Black Friday shopping stampede that leaves countless innocent people dead. ThanksgivingThe ending of explains how these deaths connect to the film’s masked killer, but only after multiple murders.
Surprisingly, these murders are not as numerous as viewers might expect, given Roth’s reputation as a horror filmmaker. There are many clues to the identity of the killer in Thanksgivingincluding a very obvious hint in the killer’s opening minutes. However, ThanksgivingThe cast of characters provides many red herrings, and the fact that the killer barely kills any of the film’s main characters makes it much more difficult to discern who the killer is. Despite taking inspiration from the brutal slasher revival of the 90s, Thanksgiving leaves five of its seven main characters alive.
Thanksgiving 2 Could Kill Off Thanksgiving Survivors
Jessica, Bobby, Gaby, Scuba and Ryan survived Thanksgiving
Keeping almost all Thanksgivingliving main characters might be worth it Thanksgiving 2as the horror sequel could be as relentless as the original film promised. Thanksgiving 2A release date has not yet been announced, but the original film grossed over $45 million on a budget of just $15 million and earned Roth the best reviews of his career thus far. This is particularly impressive since Thanksgiving is surprisingly bloodless, saving its nastiest deaths for secondary characters and ensuring that almost none of the main cast die.
When the time comes Thanksgiving 2 happens, Gaby, Scuba, Bobby, Jessica and Ryan will have survived a massacre, so it will be difficult to predict who will survive.
Although Yulia and Evan suffer rather unpleasant deaths, the five remaining members of the film’s main cast survive the story. The last girl, Jessica, and her two love interests manage to survive, as do Gaby and Scuba. While ThanksgivingThe horror’s disappointing body count was a disappointment in the original film, which could make the deaths of these supporting stars much more impactful in the sequel. When the time comes Thanksgiving 2 happens, Gaby, Scuba, Bobby, Jessica and Ryan will have survived a massacre, so it will be difficult to predict who will live and who will die.
Thanksgiving 2’s Opening Scene Could Bring Back an Eli Roth Tradition
Hostel 2 began by killing the Hostel’s only survivor
Although Roth’s previous film Hostelwas significantly more unpleasant than Thanksgivingits 2007 sequel Hostel 2 had one thing in common with the 2023 slasher. Hostel 2the opening scene was dead Hostelthe only survivorensuring viewers knew that no one was safe in this dark sequel. Thanksgiving 2 now we get to see Roth revisit this sequel tradition as the killer kills one or more of the original film’s stars in his opening sequence. As Scream proven in 1996, there are few things more disarming than killing off a big star at the beginning of a horror film.
Friday the 13th Part II famously began with the death of Friday the 13ththe last girl, while Scream 3 open with Scream 2Cotton Weary’s survivor was brutally killed in the sequel’s best sequence. ThanksgivingThe many references to classic horror films prove that horror is steeped in the history of the genre, and Hostel 2The Darkly Comic Opening Scene Has Already Been Referenced Friday the 13th Part IIthe first death. As such, Thanksgiving 2 needs to do justice to this slasher tradition.
Thanksgiving 2 should be darker and harsher
’90s Thanksgiving Slasher Pastiche Left Many Characters Alive
While Thanksgiving was met with critical and commercial success, that doesn’t change the fact that Thanksgiving 2 needs to be darker than its predecessor. Thanksgiving It featured surprisingly few major character deaths, undermining the Destroyer for significant stakes in a rewatch. Roth even acknowledged this when the director admitted that the film was less of a grindhouse homage and more like a ’90s teen slasher. While it’s fun to revisit both distinct eras of horror, Thanksgivingthe lack of truly shocking moments would actually be improved if Thanksgiving 2 it was a tougher film with more important deaths.
The death of Kathleen, who is cooked alive like a turkey on Thanksgiving, suggested the franchise’s potential for boundary-pushing shocks.
The fact that ThanksgivingThe killer’s predictable reveal made it harder to ignore the film’s lack of substantial scares, while Thanksgiving 2 can go further with its blood and shocks. The film could feature more sequences like the Thanksgiving parade, a genuinely shocking and gleefully mean-spirited display of violence that highlights the potential of the over-the-top killer premise. The death of Kathleen, who is cooked alive like a turkey on Thanksgiving, also hinted at the franchise’s potential for boundary-pushing shocks. Now, Thanksgiving 2 simply needs to provide the unrelenting horror that Thanksgiving was unexpectedly reticent to retract.