Thanksgiving(2023)

Submitted by Evan B

Pooper:
Sheriff Eric Newlon is the killer, getting revenge on all those he blames for Amanda’s death during the Black Friday riot (he was having an affair with her and she was pregnant with his child). He is seemingly killed when Jessica shoots a Thanksgiving balloon, making it explode with fire engulfing Newlon (although his body is never found).

Long Ending:
On Thanksgiving, various families in Plymouth, Massachusetts, sit down for dinner. Jessica (Nell Verlaque) has brought her boyfriend Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks) to her house to celebrate with her dad Thomas (Rick Hoffman) and wealth-obsessed step-mom Kathleen (Karen Cliche). Thomas decided to open his store on Thanksgiving for an early Black Friday sale and is giving away waffle irons as an inducement. This has caused a huge crowd to gather outside the store, and they are growing more agitated (particularly three customers – Amanda, Amy, and Lonnie). This requires store manager Mitch to miss Thanksgiving dinner and go to work. He is met by his wife Amanda (Gina Gershon) and their friend Sheriff Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey), who bring him some packed leftovers.

Jessica and Bobby leave dinner early to meet their friends Evan (Tomaso Sanelli), Gabby (Addison Rae), Scuba (Gabriel Davenport), and Yulia (Jenna Warren). Evan’s phone has broken, so they stop by Jessica’s dad’s store to get a new one. Jessica lets them in through the employee entrance, and the teens begin grabbing lots of items and mock the crowd outside that they are able to buy stuff before they do. This causes the large crowd to riot. One security guard, Manny, runs away, and the other is trampled to death. At least one customer dies, and Amanda is also killed during the riot. Bobby’s arm is also broken during the riot, ending his amateur pitching career.

About a year passes and Thanksgiving is arriving again soon. The town is handing out disposable masks of John Carver – Plymouth’s first governor – in an effort to raise the townspeople’s spirits. Although Jessica was against it, Kathleen has convinced Thomas to do another Black Friday sale on Thanksgiving. Bobby suddenly reappears in town after having left and cut off all contact with his friends since suffering his injury at the Black Friday riot. He is upset that Jessica has a new boyfriend. Bobby, Jessica, Evan, Yulia, Scuba, and Gabby start getting social media messages by someone calling himself the real “John Carver” and inviting them to his Thanksgiving meal. Later, a woman named Lizzie, who took part in the prior year’s riot, is brutally killed by a killer in a John Carver mask, and her body is strung out over Thomas’ store.

Soon, the masked killer also slaughters the security guard (Manny), who ran away during the riot. He sends pictures of the corpses at his dinner table to the teens. Jessica goes to see Sheriff Newlon and he speculates that the killer was probably part of last year’s riot. He convinces her to give him the security footage her dad has of the riot so he can identify potential suspects. Meanwhile, Carver drugs and abducts Gabby and Evan and kills two others who were involved in the riots. Yulia’s dad decides to take Yulia to Florida, while Scuba and Jessica get a gun from a weapons-obsessed friend named McCarty (Joe Delfin). McCarty also gives Jessica a ring that he says will bring her good luck. As Yulia is packing, the killer drugs him and attacks Yulia. Carver video calls Jessica and Scuba as he attacks to mock them. They rush to Yulia’s house in time to corner Carver while he is abducting an unconscious Yulia. They are unable to do much as Scuba doesn’t know how to turn off the safety on the gun. Carver throws Yulia onto a circular saw to distract the teens and escapes into the night as the teens watch Yulia die in front of them.

Sheriff Newlon convinces Scuba, Jessica, Thomas and Kathleen to act as bait to try and lure Carver out. The police put them on a parade float and set up an ambush at the end of the route (assuming Carver will attack them at the end of the parade). Instead, Carver (in a clown costume) beheads a teen in a turkey mascot (who was part of the Black Friday riot) during the parade and then ignites a bunch of smoke bombs. In the pandemonium, Carver manages to drug and abduct the remaining four. Kathleen awakens, finding Carver basting her to put in an oven like a Thanksgiving turkey. She almost manages to escape, but Carver stops her at the last minute and roasts her alive.

Carver then ties up Thomas, Jessica, Evan, Gabby, and Scuba and seats them at his table to attend a “Thanksgiving meal” (where he serves them roasted Kathleen as “turkey” and blood from another victim, Amy, as “wine.”). He says he killed the others for being greedy but wanted to punish the remaining victims more because not only were they greedy, but their decisions caused the riot. As Carver is talking, Jessica realizes there is a secret knife hidden in the ring McCarty gave her. She uses it to free herself and Scuba, but not in enough time to save Evan (who Carter kills with a meat tenderizer). The teens surprise attack Carver, and Jessica manages to escape from the Carver’s lair. She flees to a warehouse, where she finds Carver inside. She watches in horror as Carver removes his mask, and Bobby is underneath. Sheriff Newlon suddenly arrives and shoots at Bobby, but Bobby runs off. Sheriff Newlon has the police rescue Thomas, Scuba, and Gabby and bring them to a hospital.

After Sheriff Newlon interrogates Jessica, he starts walking out to give her some alone time. As he leaves, Jessica realizes that Newlon is wearing the same shoes Carver had. Newlon realizes she recognizes him and prepares to kill her. She asks him why he’s doing this, and he explains that he was having an affair with Amanda. In fact, Amanda was pregnant with his child. He blames all the victims for Amanda’s death and uses the security footage she gave him to identify the people he didn’t know were responsible for the riot. Jessica then reveals she was secretly live-streaming Newlon’s confession. Despite the fact that he’s been outed as the killer, he tries to kill Jessica anyway. Bobby (who saw the livestream) returns and helps Jessica fight Newlon. Although Newlon traps the teens, Jessica is able to use a musket to shoot a parade balloon. The flammable gas inside ignites and seemingly vaporizes Newlon. Emergency services arrive and note that while they didn’t find Newlon’s body, nobody could have survived the blast. The film ends with Jessica in bed next to her boyfriend and having a nightmare that Newlon is alive and still trying to kill her.

Order of Deaths:

1. Doug – Pinned under a door and trampled to death by rioters during the Black Friday sale.
2. Random customer – While pushing his way into the store during the riot, he accidentally slits his neck open and bleeds out while clutching a free waffle iron.
3. Amanda – She is pushed to the ground during the Black Friday riots. Two customers (Lizzie and the Teen in a turkey mascot costume) hit her head with their respective shopping carts at the same time, snapping her neck.
4. Lizzie – Carver attacks her in a restaurant, freezing her face to a freezer door while he readies his axe. She manages to pull herself free (leaving flesh behind on the door) and runs out. As she tries to climb inside a dumpster to hide, Carver drives a car into the dumpster. The lid slams shut on Lizzie and severs her body in two.
5. Manny – Carver stabs Manny with an electric carving knife and then garottes his head off with a wire.
6. Lonnie – Carver sneaks up behind him and snaps his neck while Lonnie is watching Amy jump on a trampoline.
7. Amy – Carver sneaks under a trampoline Amy is bouncing on and sticks his knife through the trampoline fabric. She is injured when she lands on the knife several times, maiming her. She is later found by Kathleen tied up in Carver’s wine fridge. At Carver’s dinner, he finally finishes Amy off by stabbing her in the throat and filling a wine glass with her “chilled” blood.
8. Teen in the turkey mascot costume – Carver (wearing a clown costume) approaches the teen in the parade and beheads him in front of all the spectators. This causes pandemonium.
9. Float Driver – Slams on the brakes of the truck, pulling a float during the pandemonium that ensues when Carver kills the teen. The float jerks forward and smashes through the cab, with a long wooden piece impaling the driver through his head.
10. Yulia – Carver stabs her in the ears with corn cob holders and then tries to abduct her. Scuba and Jessica arrive to stop him and aim a gun at him. To escape, he turns on a circular saw and throws
11. Yulia onto it. She is sawed to death despite her friends’ efforts to save her.
12. Kathleen – She almost escapes after being abducted by Carver. However, he throws a pitchfork at Kathleen as she flees, and it impales her. He then throws the butter, salted, and peppered Kathleen into an oven where she’s roasted alive like a Thanksgiving turkey.
13. Evan – At Carver’s “Thanksgiving dinner,” Carver bashes his head in with a meat tenderizer.
14. *Carver/Eric Newlon* – While he pursues Jessica and Bobby to kill them, Jessica shoots a giant Thanksgiving balloon, and it explodes, seemingly vaporizing the serial killer. *His body is never found.*