Thanksgiving (2023)-- Ending Explained with spoilers

 

Plot: A serial killer wearing John Carver’s mask, targets all those who were involved in the Black Friday riot from the previous year. 

When the year is about to end, that is when we have the biggest holidays, and the biggest sales. It’s all ‘End Of The Year Sale’ here and ‘Winter Carnival Sale’ there. And there’s always the pressure to buy things for your family and friends, or at least find a much needed gadget at that special price. 

Sales can be so addicting that shoppers tend to become a little aggressive over it. 

A couple of years ago, there was a Black Friday riot that shocked everyone. The News captured shoppers literally throwing punches at each other for a gadget. It was insane and meme material, and honestly a little scary. 

It’s just a sale. That offer will probably pop up again. Have you checked online for that thing that you want the most? A careful research may just help you land that deal. 

Anyway, that incident provided fodder for several shows and movies over the year until this one movie that made it the core of its plot. 

The opening scene of THANKSGIVING will actually make your stomach churn and send you in shock mode. Can people really get that aggressive over an item? 

Apparently they can. 

THANKSGIVING manages to recreate the Black Friday riot from all those years ago with enough gore and violence to get your heart racing. And since it is directed by Eli Roth, did you actually expect anything different? 

But this is supposedly one of Eli Roth’s tamer horror movies and the story focuses a little too much on the love triangles than the killer. In fact, you will see hints of Pretty Little Liars in there. 

As for the reveal, well, the killer’s identity isn’t too much of a shocker. In fact, you may just guess it from the very first scene. 

But that is not what the movie is about. It is about the killings and it is terrifying, gruesome and imaginative. The movie will make you cringe and sit on the edge of the seat, so what else could a horror fan ask for? And be thankful for?

Thanksgiving is the perfect horror holiday movie, something that has been rare in the recent years. The tension builds up to the very last scene and although you’re not going to gasp at the killer’s identity, you will be pleased to know that a sequel to THANKSGIVING has been greenlit and will release in 2025. 

Considering how it ended, of course there was going to be a sequel. 

For those who remember the double feature GRINDHOUSE, they will remember the faux trailer by Eli Roth in the movie that had fans everywhere waiting for the trailer to become an actual movie. In fact, you will find a lot of scenes from the 2007 trailer, in this movie. You just have to keep your eyes peeled. 

THANKSGIVING Movie Plot

The movie opens with Thanksgiving dinner being hosted by Mitch and Amanda. They have invited Sheriff Newlon, and the owners of RightMart store, Thomas and Kathleen. Along with them, is their daughter Jessica who is struggling to accept Kathleen as her new mother. She is with Bobby and they just want to go out and have fun. 

Mitch receives a call and has to skip dinner and go to the stores to handle the crowd gathered outside for the Black Friday sale. Amanda is disappointed but promises to save him some dinner. Mitch leaves but as is customary for the host to cut the turkey, he stabs it and leaves. If anything, that was a little ominous. 

Jessica and Bobby, go to hang out with Evan, Gaby, Scuba, and Yulia. They are all headed for the movies, on Thanksgiving day and of course they are stuck in traffic. They guys goof around while driving and Amy, who is applying lipstick, accidentally smudges hers. Evan is going on about his rivalry with the other school and how he got into a fight and smashed his phone. 

And so, instead of going to the movies, they head to RightMart store because Jessica has access to the back of the store. There is a crowd gathered inside, but Jessica and her friends get inside and begin picking up things. 

Mitch tries to control the crowd along with his staff but they are getting desperate. Then one of the rival jocks sees Jessica and her friends and demand they get to go in as well. Now, in all fairness, Evan was mocking and inciting his rival, so it is his fault for what happens next. 

The crowd obviously loses it because they want to be inside and picking up deals as well. Pushing turns to shoving. The crowd becomes too violent to control. 

Amanda picks this moment to come with the Newlon to give Mitch his dinner. She doesn’t get to actually give it to him. 

The crowd breaks into the store, and immediately begin beating up each other for a waffle iron. There are curse words being thrown about, punches flying, and Evan standing up and recording the whole thing on his phone. 

Amanda ends up being brained by two trolleys. The shoppers don’t even realize they have accidentally scalped a woman. Nope. Who cares? 

Bobby tries to be a hero and save someone who is bleeding to death but also holding onto a waffle maker. Someone stomps on Bobby;s wrist and there goes his career as a sportsman. 

When the sheriff sees what happened to Amanda, he fires a shot and the chaos at least pauses. 

Cue title card. But by this time, did you guess who the killer is?

A year passes and the killer is watching the riot on his computer with funny comments thrown into it. He is in his lair and watching the news as well. There is a protest going on to stop Thanksgiving deals in RightMart. Mitch, who no longer works there is blaming Thomas for what happened. 

But Thomas and Kathleen are now trying their best to repair their damaged image. They are cutting ribbons and sending people to college. The Sheriff introduces deputy Labelle to the waitress, Lizzie. Now Lizzie was one of the women who was holding the trolley that crushed Amanda’s scalp. 

So, yes, she is obviously going to be the first to die. 

Lizzie is handing out John Carver masks just in case anyone wants to use it while they are serial killing someone and need a guise. 

Jessica and Bobby have long broken up and she is with Ryan now. Evan is still being a jerk, and Jessica tells Gabby about someone who has been tagging her on social media. 

Later, the sheriff looks into a house which has been vandalized and has the lettering FIGHTMART on it. There is also an axe missing from the house. Uh-oh…

Jessica is against the sale but her father argues that it is the right thing to do. At the diner, the friends are hanging out and spot Bobby who doesn’t acknowledge any one of them. The friends find themselves tagged in a social media post of a thanksgiving dinner table. They ignore it because they have more important things to do like pass comment on Ryan and how he is ruining the group’s dynamics. They also compare him to an NPC and call him boring. 

They get into a little tiff with Lizzie who shows attitude. This is just so we can consider that one of the friends may be responsible for what happens to her next. It’s an obvious red herring. 

And so the first kill finally happens. It’s Lizzie. The killer is using the video footage to pick his victims. 

At the diner, Lizzie is closing up when the killer comes in, slashes her hand, dunks her head into a basin of water, and then opens the freezer door and pushes her face against it. 

Poor Lizzie has to pull herself out and ends up tearing her skin. She manages to hide in an office but her phone fails to recognize her fingerprints and face because they have been peeled off. She should have just used a pin. 

Lizzie goes running out but the killer comes in his car and rams it against her just as she is about to jump into a trash bin. She is immediately cut in half. 

The next morning, only the bottom half of Lizzie is on display at the RightMart. 

The friends are once again tagged on social media by someone called John Carver. At least its not A right? Like in Pretty Little Liars?

Evan is getting help from another student who is writing all his papers for him. 

Jessica and friends are invited to the McCarty’s party. Since he is known to sell guns, Jessica isn’t sure she wants to be associated with him. The friends are then called to the station and Newlon shows them some video grabs which clearly shows Lizzie as one of the rioters. 

Outside the station, Bobby meets with Jessica and he moans about how his career and life here had taken a tragic turn after his arm broke. He makes a comment about Ryan and then is shocked to find out that Jessica is dating him. 

It is time for the second kill. 

This time it is the security guard Manny who was also responsible for what happened because he ran away before the riots turned ugly. At home, Manny realizes that someone has broken in, especially after he sees the John Carver mask. He asks his cat for help in trying to figure out the whereabouts of the killer. But the cat is no help at all. 

Manny is first stabbed with an electric mixer in his stomach, then strangled and decapitated by a chain. The killer takes only the head in his duffel bag, has second thoughts, and then feeds the cat before leaving. See, this killer cares about animals. How thoughtful of him. 

There is more teen drama going on, more investigations going on. 

The teens suspect Mitch for the killings since he lost Amanda. Another suspect is Ryan because he was seen hugging the security guards. But Ryan reveals that he was dealing in drugs at that time. 

At school, Evan finds out that the kid he was paying to do his homework, plagiarized the essay from the teacher’s blog. 

The friends try to act like detectives, we are shown Ryan in a pilgrim’s outfit just so that we can suspect him of being the killer. His physique clearly doesn’t match the killer’s so there’s no surprise there. 

It is now time for the third kill and this one is from the trailer that was released in 2007. 

We see a cheerleader taking Lonnie to see her jumping on the trampoline. The killer comes up behind him and twists his neck around. He was the guy who had incited the crowd during the riots. 

The cheerleader is busy jumping on the trampoline when the killer attacks from under the trampoline. 

Evan gets into a fight and Gabby tries to placate him. Jessica waits for her friends to return while the Sheriff is outside. 

Just then Jessica is lured away from the exit doors and finds herself being chased by the killer. She manages to hide in a room where kids are probably being taught all about hairdressing. She pretends to be a mannequin and barely manages to escape. 

Yulia is taken away by her father because he wants to protect her from whatever is happening in town. 

Scuba and Jessica decide to find a way to protect themselves and get a gun from McCarty. 

Yulia is packing and getting ready to go but the killer has broken into the house. He has gotten into the room and you wonder if he has done something to her contact lens or her cotton swabs. 

Turns out it is neither. The second Yulia looks away, the killer comes up behind her and stabs both her ears. 

Scuba and Jessica arrive at Yulia’s to find the killer holding her. He also shows them a video of Gaby and Evan at the Thanksgiving dinner table, all tied up. 

Scuba doesn’t know how to operate a gun and this gives the killer a chance to throw Yulia on the buzzsaw and make his escape. Poor Yulia is gutted. 

It is now time for the parade. There was a parade scene in the trailer too. 

A man in a clown mask decapitates the turkey mascot. Utter chaos ensues. Smoke bombs are thrown, the float driver is stabbed through the head. Jessica, along with her father and Scuba lose consciousness because of the smoke. 

Kathleen wakes up to find herself tied up and being prepared like a turkey. There’s literally seasonings and salt being sprinkled on her. She tries to make a run for it but is caught by the killer, stabbed with a thermometer and thrown into the oven. 

If you remember the trailer, you know what is going to happen. And its gross. 

More investigations are going on and the police officers end up at the wrong location. 

Meanwhile, the family wakes up to find themselves all tied up to chairs around a thanksgiving feast. Evan is the first one to be killed. His head is smashed because of his insensitive video upload of the riots. 

Jessica uses the sharpness of the ring she is wearing to cut through the ropes while Kathleen is brought in. 

THANKSGIVING Ending Explained

While the killer is slicing up Kathleen the turkey, Thomas is trying hard not to throw up. Jessica passes the ring to Scuba who tries to cut through the ropes as well. 

Jessica and Scuba burst through the door and find themselves at the cabin which had been vandalized. While Scuba gets injured, the killer gives chase to Jessica who just about makes it over the fence and find the sheriff laying unconscious in the middle of the road. 

Jessica and the Sheriff find Bobby acting suspiciously and the blame is thrown on his for a moment but he manages to vanish. 

Later, at the station, Jessica notices the bramble on the sheriff’s shoes that is similar to the ones she has on herself from her running around in the woods. She suspects the sheriff is the killer. 

Realizing that he has been caught, he admits that he is the killer. He reveals his affair with Amanda and the fact that she was carrying his child. He wanted revenge for the people responsible for killing his lover and child. 

Jessica reveals she had been live streaming him all along. Bobby comes to save her and there is some more running about. 

Jessica and Bobby end up at the warehouse where the parade things are stored and Jessica uses the inflatable turkey to her advantage. Once it fills up with gas, and the sheriff is right in position, she shoots at the float. The entire warehouse is engulfed in flames. 

But we didn’t exactly see the sheriff die, now did we?

Later, Jessica is giving her statement while watching the firemen come and go. She suspects one of the firemen in masks as being Newlon. Because of his walk? His physique? 

That night, Jessica dreams of waking up and checking her closet. She’s still sleeping next to Ryan so let’s see what happens between her and Bobby in the sequel. 

The next instant, Newlon, all burned up and flames behind him, grabs her. 

Jessica wakes up and it is morning. It was all a dream. 

The movie ends with a cut scene that shows Thomas giving his scene but not given a cut for a long time. 

THANKSGIVING is a fun holiday slasher movie that though not suspenseful, still manages to hold your attention until the very end. 

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