Thanksgiving - Limited Edition 4K UHD SteelBook

Holiday horror films are such a delight. These films get to play at least once a year when someone's favorite holiday comes around whether it be Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, or in this case Turkey Day with a new film titled Thanksgiving from filmmaker Eli Roth. Serving as the third movie to make it to feature film land from Tarantino and Rodriguez's Grindhouse double feature, this faux trailer has now received the big-budget treatment with a new slasher entering the horror landscape. What looks to be a run-of-the-mill slasher flick turns into a wonderfully, funny, suspenseful fight-fest that goes all the way with its absurdity and awareness that serves up a great recipe for a Thanksgiving meal of blood, guts, pilgrims, and axes.

Roth knows the horror genre inside and out. With his simple, laid-back style of terror in Cabin Fever and Hostel that has transformed into more gore with Green Inferno and everything else in between- Roth feels at home inside this fan-favorite world. Now it's his turn to show his slasher chops while showcasing those darkly funny societal moments that everyone is guilty of during Thanksgiving. When this holiday starts its celebration every year, turkey and dressing are not at the top of everyone's mind. It's the shopping and waiting early in lines to get a chance to purchase that item at a steep discount. This element starts Thanksgiving with a town full of people waiting for the local big superstore to open on Black Friday where a mob of people storm the store before it opens, resulting in a riot and people being trampled to death. While it's funny to watch and horrifying at the same time, these things have happened more than once in real life.

Fast forward to one year later and the anniversary of the riot and the deaths of the townspeople are on top of everyone's brains. Just like in every slasher flick, someone turns up dead via a masked killer. This time, it's a mysterious person dressed up as a Pilgrim where not only the protagonists are safe but anyone in town could be served up as leftovers after Thanksgiving in several gruesome ways. And this is where Roth and the film succeed. Not with the half-baked story of who could be the killer or their motive, which is absurd, but rather when the film pushes you towards one story plot and tone and completely chops the head off of the narrative and goes full John Wick mode both literally and figuratively against the setting of a Thanksgiving Day parade. It's a beautiful, bloody sight to breathe in, as it is infectious to watch the actors and director just have a ball with the carnage on screen.

Patrick Dempsey leaves his McDreamy icon status at the door and fully commits to his sheriff duties here with grit and raw nerves. Gina Gershon is a delight in everything and even in her small role here, turns in a fantastic performance. But the trick is that everyone is in on the joke and is aware of their surroundings and the tone of the film and it carries over to every brutal death sequence and conversation that is had, no matter how over-the-top. In quite a few Roth films, the director waits until the final act to put the pedal to the metal, but in this exquisite slasher movie, there are quite a few bloody bits that are peppered throughout, giving a fast-paced run-time and narrative that feels fresh with all the gooey trimmings of body parts and guts. Thanksgiving is a rare treat, especially in this day and age where almost every slasher flick feels stale and rote. Luckily, this little horror movie is fresh and dripping with delicious horror sauce. So much in fact, that there will be a sequel.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Thanksgiving carves its way to 4K + Blu-ray + Digital Code via Tristar Pictures with a beautiful new Steelbook. The two discs are housed inside a black steelbook that has an image of a roasted Thanksgiving Turkey with a bloody axe shoved on top. The backside features the killer's mask. There are two inserts, one of which is the digital code and the other is the letter from Eli Roth.

Thanksgiving serves up a brand new 2160p UHD 4K transfer with Dolby Vision making this 4K Steelbook the ultimate way to view this carnivorous flick. In fact, an insert located inside the Steelbook includes a handwritten letter from Eli Roth discussing the new transfer. In so many words, Roth states that Thanksgving is now mastered in 4K and is the highest quality and the most spectacular viewing experience short of crawling inside the actor's skin. It's a funny note to the viewer, and he rest assured that this is the ultimate way to watch the film.

The 1080p HD version already looked immaculate, however, this 4K master upgrades a lot of the color and black levels during the film. Those early shots of the blue and yellow colors inside the shopping center look exquisite with deeper blues and brighter yellows that mix well with the fluorescent lights above. The warm interiors of the houses during the holidays always look incredible with varying shades of browns, ambers, yellows, oranges, and golden food that looks delicious. Black levels are inky and rich throughout without any murky shadows. The red blood is the spotlight of the film though. There are so many examples of blood, guts, bone, muscle, and more popping out of heads and bodies that it might all blend together. That's not the case with this 4K image with Dolby Vision has many shades of light red blood to the darkest blood liquid that splatters all over the screen. Skin tones are natural as well.

The detail is even more vivid and sharper this time around where close-ups reveal countless practical effects of facial wounds and bodily harm. The guts and glory of a body being ripped apart never looked so beautiful as it does here. The facial pores, beads of sweat and blood, individual hairs, and textures in the costumes, and food all look marvelous. Wooden handles on weapons and metallic shine on blades look sharp and amazing. Wider shots never look soft, rather, they explore the nostalgic film grain of the '80s and '90s with some excellent graininess. That shot of the town in a complete panic is a great example of this where everyone looks sharp, having a ton of depth rather than the whole image looking soft. There are no signs of banding, aliasing, or heavy video noise. This is one pitch-perfect video presentation.

This new 4K release comes with the famous Dolby Atmos track that stuns. The previous Blu-ray release only came with that 5.1 option, however, with the Dolby Atmos mix, this audio landscape carves up a ton of bloodshed. It would be a winning bet that the sound designers had a blast working on this movie because the boisterous and robust sounds of weapons cutting through flesh, skin burning, bone crunches, and blood splatter all sound exquisite and gooey. And now with the Dolby Atmos working in its favor, it all sounds seamless throughout every speaker that has the levels turned up to a high volume that allows for that terrifying and gross impact of kills. Ambient noises of cooking in a kitchen, shopping in a market, and screams around a town square all are amazing, which creates a state of horror immersion. The bass tackles the low end with heft and ferocity during the bigger action moments without any rockiness. The height speakers bring down more screams, murder, and mayhem, along with other ghastly sounds. The score always adds to the suspense of the film too. The dialogue is always clean, clear, and easy to follow along with English, French, and Spanish subtitles. This Dolby Atmos track is the best way to listen to the film.

There are about 107 minutes of bonus materials included in this Steelbook set, 50 minutes of which are brand new, and exclusive to this release. The two new extras are in standard definition from its source material, however, it's a ton of fun to watch. The previous audio commentary, and other extras are included.

4K DISC

• Behead the Scenes: Carve Diem (HD 25 Mins.) - A brand NEW bonus feature that highlights the cast going around the set with vintage home video cameras, recording some fun moments on set, and documenting how the movie was made.
• Behdead The Scenes: Giving Shanks (HD, 23 Mins.) - Also brand NEW is this featurette that has more on-set moments with some short interviews and various members of the cast and crew working on the production.
• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 3 Mins.) - Trailer for the film.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Audio Commentary - Eli Roth and Jeff Rendell deliver a fun audio commentary for the film. Eli and Jeff have been friends since kindergarten and got to make this film together where they discuss making movies with each other in their childhood, comparing their real friends to the characters in the movie, and dissecting the narrative, tone, and practical effects too. It's a fun listen.
• Behind The Screams (HD, 4 Mins.) - Eli and Jeff talk about always wanting to make this type of horror movie since they were growing up and how they finally were allowed to.
• Gore Galore (HD, 4 Mins.) - This focuses on the practical effects of the film with some great behind-the-scenes footage.
• Outtakes (HD, 5 Mins.) - A good collection of laughs, flubbed lines, missed cues, splashing blood, and dancing.
• Deleted Scenes (HD. 35 Mins.) - A whopping 35 minutes of extended scenes and deleted sequences, some of which include more gore and torture.
• Massachusetts Movies (HD, 12 Mins.) - Eli and Jeff talk and show five of the short films they made when they were little kids.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful spread of holiday horror ingredients for this wild new take on the traditional slasher genre. It's witty, funny, and exquisitely gory. This could be a new franchise for people to enjoy. The new 4K image with Dolby Vision is a great upgrade from the already wonderful Blu-ray version and the addition of Dolby Atmos only seals the deal with one hell of a gory audio design. The brand new bonus features are super fun while all the previous bonus features have been imported over. Highly Recommended