Movies
[Fantastic Fest Review] ‘Black Friday’ Gifts Audiences With Toothless Satire
If there was ever a day of the year that deserved the horror movie treatment, Black Friday is the one. We’ve all seen the news footage of angry, zombie-like shoppers storming retail stores, desperate to get their hands on the latest deals with absolutely no regard for the overworked staffers. While this has been less of a common occurrence in the age of online retailers, it doesn’t make the true accounts of some of these violent incidents any less horrifying. Casey Tebo‘s Black Friday turns the metaphorical zombies into literal ones, making for a horror comedy rife with potential that it doesn’t fully capitalize on.
Ken (Devon Sawa, Final Destination) is a down-on-his-luck father in the midst of a divorce, lamenting his job as a low-level toy store employee at We ♥ Toys. He is prepared for a typically exhausting Black Friday with his fellow overworked crew of staffers, including potential love interest Marnie (Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labyrinth), overachieving Christopher (Ryan Lee, Super 8), handy Archie (Michael Jai White, Spawn, Black Dynamite) perfect employee of the month Anita and new guy Emmett (Louie Kurtzman). Lorded over by their opportunistic manager Jonathan (Bruce Campbell, The Evil Dead) and his acerbic assistant Brian (Stephen Peck), the workers initially struggle with unpaid breaks, a lack of holiday bonuses and the looming danger of trampling-by-shoppers. Unfortunately, they soon find themselves in a cosmic battle for the planet as pink, blob-like aliens begin infecting the shoppers and mutating them into vicious creatures.
Working off of a script written by Andy Greskoviak, Tebo wastes no time getting right to the carnage. Character introductions and dynamics are handled swiftly before the attacks begin. It’s in these early moments that the film is at its best, with characters feeling lived-in and the humor feeling fresh. It turns stale rather quickly, however, with the film repeating the same types of jokes over and over. There are a few quiet moments between sequences of mayhem, with one shared Thanksgiving meal between the survivors offering some nice insight into their relationships and life situations. It’s one of the few genuine moments of pathos in the film that threatens to expand these characters beyond one-dimensional stereotypes, but it’s a threat that goes unfulfilled.
Similarly disappointing is the misuse of the toy store as a setting. This is a fun, colorful locale with plenty of opportunities for creativity when it comes to horror movie set pieces, but Black Friday seems content to treat it as any other drab warehouse. Nowhere to be seen are cleverly shot cat-and-mouse sequences between the aisles and we rarely see the creative use of toys as weapons. It’s all played loud and dumb, which makes for a perfectly acceptable (if not particularly memorable) viewing experience. It’s just unfortunate that you’ll find more bizarre hijinks and better kills in the all-too-brief climax of 2019’s Child’s Play remake.
Black Friday opts to go the surface-level route in its social critique, with a few lines about corporate greed and American consumerism thrown in for good measure. It’s just disappointing that the film refuses to dig any deeper than that, especially when George A. Romero did it so well over 40 years ago in Dawn of the Dead. The lack of wit becomes more and more apparent as the film trucks along. Not every joke is a dud (an elderly employee casually mentioning how they separated shoppers by race during the first Black Friday she ever worked earns a mean-spirited laugh), but they’re all crammed into the first act. This sadly means the rest of the film is filled with a bunch of groaners.
Special makeup effects are provided by the always-outstanding Robert Kurtzman, who gives the infected Black Friday shoppers an appropriately ferocious design, complete with long, sharp teeth a protruding white goo tongue that they use to infect others. It’s appropriately gnarly, but most of the budget seems to have been saved for the admittedly bananas, go-for-broke climax, leaving little room for the eye-popping gore effects we’ve come to know and love from the makeup maestro. Outside of a few arterial sprays, there’s little else here in the way of gore.
Both Sawa and Campbell look like they’re having a lot of fun, with Campbell getting to play the sleazy store manager who cares more about earning the corporate-demanded six figures than the safety of his employees in a monster apocalypse. Sawa has to play the straight man against a diverse cast of likable characters, but none of them do much to stand out with the exception of Peck’s Brian, who quickly becomes the character you love to hate and can’t wait to see die.
There’s a moment late in the film when Ken laments one of his dad jokes, but Black Friday turns out to be a dad joke of a movie: obvious, predictable and corny. It’s unclear how you squander a setting as rife with potential as a toy store, but Black Friday manages to do just that. This isn’t to say that it’s without merit, as anyone who wants to see Campbell and Sawa go toe-to-toe against Black Friday alien mutants will find something to enjoy here. It just won’t blow your socks off.
Screen Media is planning a day-and-date release for Black Friday in November.
Movies
‘Tha Rae: The Exorcist’ Review: Gory Thai Possession Horror Faithfully Adheres to the Tropes [NYAFF 2026]
Possession films are an exceedingly common subgenre in horror to the point that far too many of them feel far too familiar. This is a generalization, obviously, but it too often seems that someone is possessed, a representative from the area’s dominant religion is called in, and a fierce spiritual battle comes to a dramatic conclusion. The idea that the demon in question always happens to be of the exorcist’s faith and denomination is simply chalked up to plot necessity.
Tha Rae: The Exorcist adds an intriguing wrinkle into that trope by introducing a demonic entity that rebuffs both a Catholic priest and a local Yao shaman. It’s only when the two join forces that they’re able to put up a fight against the evil being.
The film opens with a Catholic exorcist out of options. A possessed child writhes before him, pustules and other signs of devilish control wracking the little girl’s body with snarls and contortions. Unable to beat the demon, and unwilling to let it grow stronger and move to another host, the priest convinces the child’s mother that death is the only choice left – so they plunge a knife into the girl’s heart.
Forty years later, it’s that same priest, Ming (Thaneth Warakulnukroh), who’s become possessed to the point of attacking and trying to eat other villagers. His daughter Malee (Nichaphat Chatchaipholra) arrives to check in on her father, but she too soon falls prey to a possessive entity with a taste for flesh. Two exorcists with wildly differing faiths and styles are called in – Sopha (Phiravich Attachitsataporn) is a self-described Yao witch doctor and TikTok exorcist who uses props, dance, theatricality, and ancestral spirits to combat the forces of evil, while Father Paolo (Jirayu Tangsrisuk) is entrenched in the traditions and rituals of the Catholic Church.
Photo: © 2025 SAHAMONGKOLFILM INTERNATIONAL COMPANY LIMITED ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. North American Premiere
There’s both tragedy and betrayal at play in the narrative of Tha Rae: The Exorcist, but director/co-writer Taweewat Wantha puts the thematic focus on the collaboration and understanding required to go toe to toe with a deviously malevolent force. It’s an interesting spin on the expected formula, and while the rest of the film stumbles in its supporting players and follows more traditional beats – albeit with some fun, gooey gore – that core element is enough to make it stand apart from the crowd.
Wantha broke onto the film scene with 2004’s memorably titled Sars Wars: Bangkok Zombie Crisis and continued that trend with oddball genre comedies like The Sperm and Kindergarten War, but he found major success with the one-two horror punch of Death Whisperer and Death Whisperer 2. His latest is more in line with those hits as jump scares and local mythologies play into his creepy tale of possession and generational punishment.
Tha Rae: The Exorcist arguably has more personality and humor, and both are due in large part to the character of Sopha and the playful but sincere performance that brings it to life. Where Tangsrisuk is saddled with the more straightlaced priest, Attachitsataporn’s witch doctor enjoys his local celebrity and has fun while aiding his community. Sopha’s social media followers expect a show, and he delivers, but there’s an engaging dynamic at play within him.
Photo: © 2025 SAHAMONGKOLFILM INTERNATIONAL COMPANY LIMITED ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. North American Premiere
Sopha’s grandmother was the original witch doctor, and he was just her apprentice. When she passed – and subsequently became the primary ancestral spirit that he calls upon during his rituals – Sopha took up the mantle. For one reason or another, continuing her legacy requires him to carry on with his more feminine foot forward. Makeup, costumes, and a feminine lilt to the way he walks and talks are all part of the show. He apologizes to Paulo for it, but there’s no shame in his words or tone as he embraces the gifts he holds and the power he wields.
There’s no disdain between the two even as they seem initially unimpressed by each other’s efforts. Eventually, though, after each has struck out in dramatic and painful fashion, they realize a combined approach to fighting this particular demon is the only way forward. It’s here where the film shines brightest with the idea that beliefs can intermingle and co-exist without the need for disdain or dismissal.
The two of them are the heart of Tha Rae: The Exorcist, but the meat and potatoes of the genre come in the form of creepy antics and a bit of the ol’ gut munching. Intestines are nibbled, a feral man bursts through floorboards to terrorize young girls, and the possessed have a generally unsettling look about them. Wantha too often neuters his atmosphere and mood, though, by jumping quickly to the gore. It cuts into the horror of it all, leaving the film to work in fits and bursts rather than as a cohesive, propulsive whole.
Shortcomings in both the script and direction prevent the film from coming close to denser, more memorable, and atmospheric possession horrors like It Comes or The Wailing, but its main theme and dual lead characters still offer up an intriguing combination.
Genre tropes exist for a reason, but Tha Rae: The Exorcist is a good reminder that they also exist to be twisted, teased, and, when necessary, torn to shreds.
Tha Rae: The Exorcist made its North American premiere at the 25th New York Asian Film Festival.
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