Greetings, welcome back to October Horror Fest! Today, I decided to lean a little bit more into the “fallfest” of Horror Fest! It is fall after all, and what’s better than a fall horror movie! That’s right, although ALL OF US LOVE Halloween, let’s take a look at the other holiday in this amazing season, that being… Thanksgiving. Without further ado, sit back, relax, turn off the lights, grab some Candy and Popcorn, and let’s review…

Thanksgiving

Our film starts with a MASSIVE opening scene, where the details of what is to come are revealed. We see a CRTV screen with footage of RightMart, the local superstore which will soon become the singularity of this entire movie. It’s Thanksgiving, of course, and the entire town is outside for a Black Friday sale. Cutting away from the chaos, we see an extremely posh family eating dinner. These are the Wrights of Rightmart, and they are RICH. Jessica Wright, who is the daughter of the owner Thomas Wright, heads into a car with her friends to get away from the house and into the store. They’re teenagers, hotheaded and wild, and begin to drive toward the store. In the car with Jessica are our main group of teens. Jessica, Gaby, Bobby, Evan, Scuba, and Yulia. The teens are let into the store before anyone else, and some of the teens begin to taunt the outside crowd. The outside crowd becomes more and more aggravated, and they start running toward the store. One of the security guards even runs away. The crowd grows louder and louder, and eventually, they break the front glass doors, killing a security guard. The blood shed begins. Amanda, the wife of Newlan, is killed brutally on the ground with a piece of her brain being removed. Yeah, not wasting any time. A customer is also killed, and Bobby’s arm is broken. Evan begins to record the entire thing, as the bloodshed grows. The chaos continues, until a police officer fires a shot into the air, and our title card fades in.

It’s a year later, and we’re watching Evan’s YouTube video of the event. We learned that Bobby moved away in the time since the event. Sheriff Eric Newlan sits with Detective Peter Chu at a bar. They sit and talk about the holiday, as we catch up with our teens. RightMart is preparing for the next Black Market sale, and it’s getting tense. The teens head to a diner after the preparations are set in stone, and they see Bobby walking out. Right as Bobby is seen, the phones of all the teens are ringed. It’s a post from someone named “John Carver”, with a photo of a Thanksgiving table. They ignore it, but are nervous. The teens leave, and we cut to night in the diner. One of the waitresses, Lizzie, is there after closing, and finds a John Carver mask. Lizzie walks through the diner cautiously, when she is suddenly attacked by John Carver. He’s dressed in black with a mask, and the scene grows BRUTAL. He attacks as Lizzie runs, and blood flies everywhere. Lizzie is SPLIT IN HALF by Carver, and the next day, Newlan finds her legs on top of the RightMart sign. It’s a disaster, and Carver is out for blood.

Carver makes a new post, and it catches the teens off guard at school. They realize that each of their names are at Carver’s table. He’s coming for them. Jessica sends phone footage of the riot to Newlan to see if she can help. Through the footage, we find that Lizzie was involved in the riot. Carver is coming for revenge. She was the one who killed Newlan’s wife at the riot. Jessica goes to the police office to try and help, and as she leaves, she finds Bobby. He’s back in town, and he apologizes, wanting to walk with her. He tries to explain himself, and the two are able to rekindle their relationship, until Jessica’s boyfriend Ryan appears. Bobby is of course heartbroken, and heads into the station with Newlan.

We cut to the apartment of the security guard that ran away, Carver is ready for his next victim. He is trying to find his passport to run away. Manny, the name of the guard, is stabbed in the stomach by a rotating knife, and Carver makes his move, slicing his head off and taking it in an absolutely insane scene. But, as all good serial killers do, he feeds and pets Manny’s cat before leaving. We see Carver begin to assemble the table. Manny’s head rests on a plate, as the upper half of Lizzie’s body is on the seat across from him. Jessica wakes up to a new tag from Carver, showing the carnage at the table. Carver continues the killings, slicing up two students that were involved as well. This is ANOTHER crazy scene, with the head of the male student being twisted backwards, and the cheerleader being sliced through a trampoline. At the school, Carver appears. In an intense scene, he abducts Evan and Gaby. The remaining teens escape, but they’re shaken. Later in the night, Carver begins his biggest attack yet, invading Yulia’s home and killing everyone. He finally gets to Yulia, as Scuba and Jessica call her. Carver attacks,and shows the entire thing to Scuba and Jessica. Yulia tries to crawl away, but she is grabbed and pulled by Carver. The friends arrive at Yulia’s house with her being held hostage. Scuba can’t get a clear shot with his gun, as Carver shows live footage from the table with the hostages.

The gun jams, and Yulia is thrown onto a table saw, being horrifically sliced in a brutal scene. Scuba is in shock, holding the mutilated body of Yulia. The next day, after everyone is shaken, the police try to lure out Carver with a parade that the Wrights will be in. However, it goes horribly wrong. Carver appears in a different disguise, even though Newlan’s best efforts are at play. Carver begins to decapitate several parade goers and kill everyone in a HORRIFIC manner. He even throws bombs. The parade devolves, and it is absolutely horrific. Carver is dressed as a clown, and is able to tranquilize all of the Wrights, driving away undetected from the chaos. Kathleen, Jessica’s stepmother, wakes up at Carver’s hideout. He is dressed in his normal disguise once again, and begins to paint Kathleen with egg wash. He wants to cook her. Kathleen is able to run, and her best efforts to escape begin. Carver’s face is even burned, but he doesn’t stop. He finds Kathleen, and throws her into the oven, alive and screaming. It’s horrific. Absolutely horrific. She screams, as Carver walks away. Carver activates a livestream, and the police begin a plan to take him down. Newlan tries his best to help. We finally see the table, and all of our teens and the Wrights are tied up. The police break into what they think is the hideout, but no. It’s not.

In one of the most insane scenes in the film, we see that it was just a monitor, with a livestream being cast onto it from the actual table. Carver is smart. Too smart. He takes the cover off Kathleen’s roasted body, and the teens scream. Carver then puts a hole in the cheerleader, and puts her blood in a glass. Carver taunts the table, including Thomas. Carver tells Evan to go first and say what he is thankful for, making sure to stream. He says that his video is what inspired Carver at first. It’s his fault. Carver slams a hammer down, and Evan is brutally killed. Jessica and Scuba are able to break out of their ropes, and they run. Carver chases them into the woods. Jessica comes out of the woods and finds Newlan’s body. He’s bloodied, and battered. She finds Bobby in the Carver costume, and she runs. Eventually, she finds Newlan. He’s somehow alive, and tries to defend Jessica.

Newlan tries to attack Bobby, but his body isn’t found. Newlan and the cops take Jessica into a room to talk. Newlan tries to comfort Jessica, but she notices the exact same seam on Newlan’s pants that is on Carver’s. Newlan is the killer. Newlan is Carver. Newlan reveals his motive, saying that when Amanda was killed, he also lost his unborn child, born of Wedlock. Newlan began targeting everyone involved with her murder. Newlan abducted Bobby, and revealed that he was drugged and forced to be Carver. Jessica is horrified, but she turns the tables. She’s been streaming Newlon’s entire confession.

Newlan is absolutely shocked, and he is enraged. He attacks once more, but Bobby intervenes, attacking. She uses a musket from within the storehouse to blow up a gas can, launching a massive fireball toward Newlan. The entire room is engulfed in flames, as the teens run. Bobby is taken to hospital, and Jessica reunites with Gaby and Scuba. However, just before it’s all over, the police are unable to find Newlan’s body. That night, Jessica has a nightmare of a flaming Newlan attacking her from within her closet. Jessica wakes up, and stares at the closet once more…

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING! This movie was really good, but for some reason I can’t put my finger on it. I’m not in love with it. This movie had everything. It had the gore, it had the twists, but I just didn’t love it. HOWEVER, TOTALLY GIVE IT A WATCH! I thought it was great, but I don’t think it’ll make my top 10 this Horror Fest. And, remember everyone, there will be. no. leftovers…