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5 Thanksgiving Horror Movies We Should All Be Thankful For

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Of all the horror movies centered on holidays, and there are many, Thanksgiving gets the shaft. Sure, Thanksgiving is a celebration of food and family, but that also makes the perfect recipe for terror. Stressful holiday preparations aside, there’s nothing better than curling up on the couch to binge on horror films after a large meal. Maybe that’s just me.

While Blood Rage wins the prize for being perhaps the most definitive genre film for the holiday, here are five more horror films to be thankful for…


You’re Next

You're Next

So, technically not a Thanksgiving centered movie, but it checks off so many boxes that it might as well count. Lead heroine Erin (Sharni Vinson) accompanies her boyfriend Crispian (A.J. Bowen) for a family reunion. Awkward family interactions, tension between siblings and underlying resentments all sounds on par for a typical Thanksgiving gathering. Most holiday themed of all, though, is the explosive dinner where things really begin to spiral out of control for the Davison family. Humorous as it is tense, You’re Next is a fun reminder that your holiday could always be worse.


Blood Freak

Blood Freak

If you’re looking for something particularly strange to watch this Thanksgiving, then this is the one for you. A weird anti-drug horror movie that was originally rated X for content, the plot sees a biker following a girl home to a turkey farm run by her father. The father just happens to be a mad scientist who experiments with the turkey meat. The poor biker finds himself with a giant turkey for a head after eating said tampered meat, and subsequently goes on a killing spree for revenge. That the movie is played straight and not for laughs makes this an even stranger viewing. Giant murderous turkey head screams Thanksgiving, right?


Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County

Alien Abduction Incident in Lake County

A pseudo-documentary horror film that originally aired on UPN in 1998, prior to the release of The Blair Witch Project, this one stirred up quite the controversy upon airing as viewers thought the film was based on factual events. The fictional story follows teenaged son Tommy, who sets out to make a home video of his family during Thanksgiving dinner but captures the family’s abduction by aliens instead. The script isn’t so great, and neither is the acting, but the Thanksgiving setup gives a legitimate reason to keep the camera rolling and the subtle moments of the aliens lurking in the background are creepy. If the scares in Signs got under your skin, this is worth the watch.


Kristy

Kristy Satanic Random

Originally set for release in 2013 by Dimension Films, this Thanksgiving set horror film was relegated to a Lifetime channel airing in 2015. A sad fate considering it’s far better than expected. For college student Justine, the Thanksgiving break proves to be horrific when she’s terrorized by a group of masked outcasts throughout a very empty college campus. It’s not without flaws, but Haley Bennett makes a great final girl and Oliver Blackburn really delivers on atmospheric suspense. Sure, it may be a little tough to believe that a college campus could ever be that empty over the Thanksgiving holiday, but it makes for a very eerie setting. It’s well shot, the action sequences deliver tension, and the long stretches without dialogue make this a worthy Thanksgiving viewing.


Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

Directed by Nettie Pena, this Thanksgiving set slasher sees an escaped mental patient stealing a car and terrorizing a family during their Thanksgiving gathering, giving us an alternative Thanksgiving set slasher to choose. I wouldn’t call this a great slasher by any means, but boy is it entertaining. The characters are often extremely inept, like finding a corpse in the driveway and still not getting clued in that something is amiss, and the kills are inventive. It also marks the first role for actress Vinessa Shaw (The Hills Have Eyes, 2006). If you only have room for one slasher this Thanksgiving, well, it should probably be Blood Rage. But if you have room for two, or would really like something upbeat and quirky, Home Sweet Home is the best bet.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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