This has been on Netflix for a bit, after being theatrically released last season (didn't get to catch it), and finally watched it today.
Eli Roth's career has been extremely hit or miss, and i won't even get into the inexplicable "borderlands". i still think his best film is his first, "cabin fever". i liked "hostel" more than most and thought "the green inferno" was probably his best more recent film (never saw his "death wish" remake but heard mixed things). he's always been on the edge of brilliant, but his work devolves into sophomoric and scatological humor that makes it lose focus.
"Thanksgiving", as a trailer during the "Grindhouse" films, was his best work that he's ever done. it was hilarious, on point stuff. when i heard he was going to make it into a feature length film, i was extremely apprehensive.
What we get is a decent effort, and a consistently entertaining movie. but something was still missing by the end. it certainly hits all the high points of a comic slasher. has some big laughs, some quality kills of fodder characters.
I think sprinkling the social commentary starts to make it uneven by the climax. The opening sequence is easily the best part of the whole film. But as the social satire starts to disappear in favor of gore and by-the-numbers standard fanfare, it goes from being a slam dunk hit to being...just decent. It's got a rewatchability factor, but there should've been more put into developing some of the characters. when it becomes a who-dun-it, obviously part of the fun is trying to figure out who is behind it all (though it becomes pretty obvious early on, if you've seen enough movies like this). i think that might've also been why the ending is flat. maybe if there was a self-joke about predicable mysteries and that tied into social commentary somehow, it would have driven everything home.
Certainly is season appropriate now. I'd recommend it to fans of its type.
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