Editorials
Food, Family and Murder: 5 Streaming Horror Titles Perfect for Thanksgiving!
If you’ve already caught up with the Thanksgiving-themed episode of Hulu’s Into the Dark, Pilgrim, and the idea of revisiting the limited Thanksgiving horror titles for the umpteenth time seems more like a chore, we’re serving up a handful of alternatives titles worth watching today. Titles that share the core themes of the holiday, either through the rituals of preparing meals or a sense of family togetherness; these five horror movies aren’t set at Thanksgiving but easily could have been. Even better, they’re all available to stream right now.
Here are five perfect pairings for your holiday horror appetites!
Blood Feast – Shudder
The film’s title says it all. Herschell Gordon Lewis’ first foray into horror also happened to be what many consider to be the first splatter film. A first of many splatter films for the Godfather of Gore. As for the plot, Blood Feast follows Fuad Ramses (Mal Arnold), an Egyptian caterer who moonlights as a serial killer of young women. He harvests their body parts with the intent to bring his beloved goddess Ishtar back to life. Meanwhile, bumbling detectives are trying to crack the case. Ritualistic preparations abound, and there are some definite parallels between Ramses’ modus operandi and the tradition of preparing the classic Thanksgiving day dinner.
Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning – Tubi
While the first Ginger Snaps progresses over Halloween, this prequel entry makes a strong case for Thanksgiving. Set around 1815 in the wilds of Canada, sisters Brigitte and Ginger stumble across a seemingly abandoned Trader’s post and take refuge from the harsh winter. Naturally, the sisters face lycanthropes once again when the post becomes under siege by werewolves. This period piece hearkens back to the early days of settlement, including the presence of Native Americans. It’s a perfect setting for a tale about the bloody bonds of family; in this case, sisterhood.
The Invitation – Netflix
The holidays tend to be about large dinner parties and social gatherings, both of which are catalysts for stress and drama. The Invitation uses that as its basis for its reign of terror. Will (Logan Marshall-Green) is still coping with a tragic loss from two years ago when his ex-wife invites him to her dinner party. She seems at peace, but Will suspects she may have evil intentions. With his mental state, director Karyn Kusama toys with expectations; is it in his head or is there a sinister plan afoot? Either way, this dinner party descends into paranoia and chaos, with unrelenting tension in spades.
Ravenous – Hulu
A group of soldiers at a remote 19th-century military outpost embark on a rescue mission after the arrival of a stranger, who tells them the rest of his wagon party is in danger. After becoming lost and stranded in the wintry mountains, the party leader turned to cannibalism. There’s a bit more to this cannibal tale than initially lets on, and let’s just say that sharing meals and food consumption is a vital component of this quirky period horror movie. Prepare for a lot of laughs to balance the thrills.
We Are What We Are – Prime Video/Vudu/Tubi
After the tragic passing of their mother, daughters Iris and Rose are forced to assume her responsibilities and religious duties. Considering this entails preparing and cooking human flesh, the daughters aren’t so sure they want to continue taking over the custom, putting them at odds with their father. Extravagantly planned family feasts and a whole lot of family tension abound in this quiet, moody creeper. It has all the touchstones of the holiday. If you’ve already seen this 2013 remake, the original 2010 film is also available to stream on Hulu.
Bonus: Mystery Science Theater 3000’s Turkey Day Marathon
If there’s one genre show that’s synonymous with Thanksgiving, it’s Mystery Science Theater 3000. After all, the series premiered on Thanksgiving Day in 1988, and its core concept revolves around a guy and his robot friends being forced to watch cinematic turkeys. MST3K’s annual Turkey Day marathon has become a holiday staple throughout the years, and it’s no different this year. Six fan-favorite episodes will air via the MST3K YouTube page, Shout Factory’s Pluto TV channel, the MST3K Twitch channel, and more starting at 12pm ET!
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Kraus took the literary world by storm back in 2023 with the release of his hit novel Whalefall. A terrifying yet intimate survival thriller with mythological undertones, the book was almost immediately bombarded with offers from movie studios wanting to adapt its claustrophobic imagery to the big screen.
Fast forward to June of 2026, and we finally got our first glimpse at Brian Duffield’s long-awaited adaptation of Whalefall, starring Austin Abrams as our unfortunate lead who gets swallowed alive by a sperm whale. While this two-and-a-half-minute teaser only covers the beginning of the story, it’s already been making waves online (and in-person at select 4DX promotional screenings) as one of the most stressful cinematic experiences of the year.
In fact, my own wife had to cover her eyes and exclaim, “You’re definitely not dragging me to watch this one” when we saw the whale’s jaws begin to close in on Abrams, with this incident alone already leaving me convinced that this will likely be one of the biggest genre hits of the year. With that in mind, I’d like to invite you to take a closer look at the teaser in order to break down interesting details and get a better idea of what’s in store for genre fans when the movie finally comes out this October.
Of course, as usual, don’t forget to comment below if you noticed something we didn’t!
Now, without further ado, here are five things we learned from the Whalefall trailer!
5. Austin Abrams Performed Many of His Own Stunts
Much like in his previous film, No One Will Save You, Duffield insisted that this visceral experience should be grounded by our main character’s believable reactions, regardless of the plot’s effects-heavy setup. That’s why the camera always makes sure to linger on Abrams through his diving mask, so we know that it’s really him going through this ordeal alongside the audience.
While plenty of CGI was used in order to bring this larger-than-life story to the big screen without killing our leading man, Abrams apparently insisted on performing many of his underwater stunts himself (several of which are visible in the trailer) – much to the chagrin of a worried Duffield and the flick’s stunt coordinator, Shauna Duggins.
4. The Film Seamlessly Transitions Between the California Coast and Underwater Sets
Duffield obviously wasn’t about to drag his crew out to the middle of the ocean and shoot inside a real sperm whale, but it’s reassuring to see the filmmaker blend on-location footage with the underwater tank segments and the literal belly of the whale set.
There may be plenty of CGI stitching these elements together, but the trailer shows us that only the truly impossible shots are completely digital, meaning that the filmmakers didn’t take the easy way out when it came to adapting this unique story.
3. The Whale is Only Part of the Story
Book adaptations tend to leave out inner monologues and the occasional flashback in order to streamline the narrative (which is one reason why it’s so difficult to translate Stephen King novels to the big screen), but a claustrophobic parable like Kraus’ Whalefall would get a bit dull after a while if the whole thing was entirely set within the creature’s stomach.
That’s why it’s such a relief that the trailer hints at how Duffield will also be adapting many of the book’s introspective moments chronicling our protagonist’s harsh upbringing under his troubled father. Not only do these inclusions give the audience some much-appreciated breathing room, but they also give Josh Brolin a chance to shine as a truly complicated character.
2. The Movie is Keeping the Book’s Scientific Accuracy…
While Kraus’ novel was inspired by a viral video of kayakers nearly being swallowed by a humpback whale, the writer ended up consulting with marine biologists about exactly what kind of situation might lead to a whale actually eating a human being alive.
The answer was surprisingly specific, as cetaceans are almost universally known to be friendly towards humans. However, even a gentle giant can make mistakes, and as we see in the trailer, Abrams’ unpleasant fate is more of an accident than anything else – with the massive sperm whale only trapping the poor diver in the first (and thankfully acid-free) chamber of its stomach due to a mix-up involving a giant squid.
Fortunately for the film’s special effects artists, they can now reference the first-ever footage of a real-life sperm whale chowing down on one such squid, as this freaky recording was released late last year.
1. …With a Catch!
Duffield may be doing his best to recreate the grounded (or is it submerged?) thrills of Kraus’ novel, but there are limits to what can be depicted onscreen while still guaranteeing an entertaining movie. That’s why it’s no surprise that Whalefall will take advantage of certain cinematic parlor tricks as the director tests the limits of both physics and biology so we can actually watch his movie.
For starters, the innards of the whale itself have been greatly exaggerated so there’s enough space to make out the action, and in the spirit of movies like Neil Marshall’s The Descent, there also seems to be plenty of non-diegetic lighting meant to show us what’s going on even if Abram’s character wouldn’t necessarily be able to see anything.
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