Horror Movie Review: The Last Thanksgiving (2020)

Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, New Year… there are plenty of holidays that have seen their fair share of themed horror movies. Yet one that is constantly overlooked is Thanksgiving, and even if it is used, it’s often nothing more than a backdrop, rather than the theme of the movie.

Well, no more do us fans have to crave a slap up meal of Thanksgiving horror, The Last Thanksgiving takes the holiday and puts it front and centre. Unfortunately, it’s about the only thing the movie has going for it.

Written and directed by Erick Lorinc, The Last Thanksgiving stars Samantha Ferrand, Matthew McClure, Tristan Petashnick, Branden Holzer, and Robert Richards Jr. With horror icon Linnea Quigley having a cameo role.

Thanksgiving is the time to be at home with the family, spending time with loved ones, sharing food, and generally being thankful for all those that surround you. Unless you work at a restaurant and for a boss who insists that the place is staying open regardless of the holiday.

Its not just the staff that are unhappy about this, but a local family who see the holiday as sacred and punish those who disrespect it. A family that also happen to be cannibalistic and are looking for victims to ensure their thanksgiving dinner is quite a feast.

It sounds fun, it should have been fun, and it sure tries hard to be fun. However, The Last Thanksgiving doesn’t live up to expectations of fun.

It’s a low-budget horror, but the kind of low-budget horror that looks, sounds, and feels low-budget. When you’ve seen filmmakers do wonderful stuff with no money, there’s simply no excuse for what this movie looks and sounds like. It’s not quite amateur stuff, but it’s not far off it.

That also applies to the cast who are all poor in their own forgettable way. Not helped at all by characters that are either trash or non-existent.

Then we have the horror, which attempts to make up for the shortcomings elsewhere with violence and gore, but doesn’t have the budget for it. Instead, we’re left with fake looking violence, and even faker looking gore. When the blood isn’t even red, you know you’re in trouble.

It’s fair to say that most won’t even get through the entirety of the movie, and no-one can be blamed for turning this off. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets. As one of the few Thanksgiving horror movies out there, The Last Thanksgiving will leave most hoping it stays that way.