Between the masked murderers of Halloween movies and the vengeful holiday demons of Christmas movies lie the unassuming antagonists of Thanksgiving horror. The Thanksgiving horror landscape isn’t nearly as bleak as you might imagine, but finding the perfect movies to fill the void can prove somewhat difficult.
Luckily, with some Internet-sleuthing and Tubi-scouring, it’s possible to find a slew of entertaining Thanksgiving horror offerings, extending from cheesy eighties gore-fests to irreverent low-budget horror comedies.
Whether you’re looking for a B-flick to watch with your family or an escape from the aforementioned family, you’ve got plenty of Thanksgiving horror options.
Let’s break down this year’s best Thanksgiving horror watches.
Thanksgiving (now in theaters)
Director Eli Roth’s famous Thanksgiving trailer premiered as part of the 2007 double bill, Grindhouse. It was a campy, R-rated trailer for a nonexistent horror movie. The promise of an unforgiving, retro Thanksgiving slasher stuck in horror fans’ minds, though.
Now, more than fifteen years later, Roth is delivering a full-length Thanksgiving slasher, aptly titled Thanksgiving. It’s one of the most anticipated horror films of the year, and critics and audiences are already raving about it.
Pilgrim (Hulu)
If you’re tired of listening to your Uncle Rodney’s political pontification and you need a short movie that’s clever, slightly cheesy, and a little relentless, you can’t go wrong with Pilgrim. This hour-long film is part of the Hulu exclusive series Into the Dark. It’s also a standalone piece that’s perfect for a quick break between family obligations.
Pilgrim follows a disconnected family, including teenager Cody, whose stepmother is insisting on helping the family bond over Thanksgiving through unorthodox means: hiring pilgrim re-enactors to stay with them over the holiday. The pilgrims, Ethan and Patience, devote themselves fully to teaching the family gratitude—and the results are quite bloody.
Blood Rage is a delightful eighties slasher, replete with oodles of hairspray and campy gore effects. The movie was filmed in 1983, but wasn’t released until a heavily-edited version hit theaters in 1987, under the title Nightmare at Shadow Woods. It’s a classic Thanksgiving film, though—the killer not once but twice tastes some blood and notes “it’s not cranberry sauce.”
Blood Rage centers on two twin brothers, Terry and Todd, one of whom was wrongfully imprisoned for a gory murder that the other brother had carried out years before. On Thanksgiving night, Terry and Todd’s mother receives word that Todd has escaped from the psychiatric institution where he’d been held, prompting his brother Terry to go on a killing spree.
The gore effects are quite fun, the movie is entertaining, and the ending is surprisingly twisted.
The Last Thanksgiving (Tubi)
The Last Thanksgiving is a decidedly low-budget Thanksgiving slasher, but it offers an entertaining and self-aware spin on the holiday subgenre.
The movie riffs on the fact that there aren’t a lot of proper Thanksgiving horror films and takes it upon itself to give you cannibalistic pilgrims, a gory death by gravy vat, and a killer in a warped plastic pilgrim mask.
It’s not great by any means, but it’s a fun little romp that has its moments.
Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County (Xfinity Stream)
Because what says Thanksgiving like aliens? Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County isn’t your traditional holiday fare, admittedly, but it’s an intriguing departure from this list’s murderous pilgrims.
Alien Abduction, also called The McPherson Tape, was a made-for-television movie that aired as pseudo-found-footage purporting to (potentially) prove the existence of alien life. Teenager Tommy McPherson is videoing his family’s Thanksgiving dinner when the power cuts out and the family discovers a UFO outside—and aliens inside.
Kristy (Tubi)
Thanksgiving cults tickle your fancy? In Kristy, a young woman named Justine stays at her school over Thanksgiving break and becomes the target of a murderous cult.
This one’s low on the Thanksgiving content, but if you need an excuse to watch a cult-themed slasher over the break, Kristy’s the one for you.
Thankskilling and Thankskilling (Tubi)
A Thanksgiving horror list would be incomplete without the two Thankskilling movies, but that’s by no means a recommendation to watch them.
The first scene follows a topless pilgrim being chased by a murderous turkey, who, once he catches up, says something horribly offensive and then kills her. It all goes downhill from there.
Admittedly, they’re cult classics, so if you want to get smashed and watch a turkey do wild things, this is your flick. If not, I’d skip.
Bonus Movie! Black Friday (Crackle)
If you’d rather not get squished in crowds and stuck in traffic on the day after Thanksgiving, streaming the horror-comedy Black Friday is the move.
The movie nods to the hellish reality of Black Friday shopping through a parasitic zombie virus that turns retail workers and customers alike into monsters that terrorize a shopping center. It’ll help you laugh through the chaos.
Hopefully these suggestions tide you over until it’s time for Christmas horror. Krampuses (or is it Krampi?) everywhere! Get ready.
Enjoy the cannibalistic pilgrims, and remember that blood is decidedly not cranberry sauce.
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