Thanksgiving: We explain the ending of Eli Roth’s horror film

Warning – The following article contains “Thanksgiving” spoilers, as it particularly discusses its outcome and the identity of its killer. So please go ahead if you haven’t seen it yet.

16 years after the fake trailer for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s 2007 grindhouse double bill, Thanksgiving is becoming a feature film. Very bloody and giving the American holiday a macabre twist.

From the opening scene to Black Friday (already A Difficult Year by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache) to the explosive finale, Eli Roth pulls no punches following his film’s tagline: “There will be no leftovers”. But the questions about the ending, yes, knowing that there is a minor scene after the credits, because it’s just a very short blooper.

Who is hiding under the mask?

Of the potential suspects, we wouldn’t bet on him. Because there were almost no doubts. And – above all – who would have thought that the sheriff would be guilty? However, it is Eric Newlon (Patrick Dempsey) who is responsible for these murders.

Revenge on the heroes who staged the Black Friday riot the previous year and indirectly led to the death of Amanda Collins (Gina Gershon), who was none other than his mistress. and pregnant from him at the time of the accident. So that’s a lot. So much for a man who was an honest man before proving his mettle with sharp objects.

If this revelation comes as a surprise (aside from the moments before, when the sheriff is attacked by a pretend killer without us seeing it), it’s also because Thanksgiving dialogues with another horror movie: Scream 3. In 2000, Patrick Dempsey was already a cop and a lot more than a suspect. In Wes Craven.

The fact that he is innocent and has since specialized in good guy roles can definitely play a role in the viewer’s mind not to consider him a murderer. So yes.

How to define the end?

“If there’s no body, it’s not dead” : It’s not part of the horror movie rules laid out in the Scream saga, but it’s exactly what it is. Although he appears to have been killed by the gas explosion that gave the heroes their triumph, firefighters never found his body.

One of them says that it is impossible to save such a fire, but Jessica (Nell Verlak) is not deceived. And his gaze rests on a fireman whose face we don’t see and who looks suspicious to him. But if I don’t go any further, until the next scene, when the heroine wakes up in the middle of the night with Ryan (Milo Mannheim) by her side and notices that her dressing room door is open.

He gets up to check, and a fire-breathing sheriff jumps on him… and wakes him up, forever, to begin with. Ryan is still there, but the door is now closed. As a symbol of the end of this film, but not of Jessica’s story, who, like the audience, is convinced that Eric is not really dead and that he is preparing a second act of revenge.

It’s common to leave this kind of opening at the end of a horror film, so as not to cut off a possible sequel. But another question arises several times throughout the film: What if the killer had an accomplice?

A flashy sequence that takes place at a high school, for example, moves too quickly for there to be just one killer on the job. And that Eric can reappear without the slightest after-effect due to the spray, his eyes were sprayed. Did he get any help? Ryan, who is the perfect villain for much of the story until he mysteriously disappears from the scene and isn’t in the finale?

Is this a way to leave a shadow around the hero’s friend? Which would have allowed Patrick Dempsey not to appear and would have given a different meaning to the final scene in which Jessica feels that the killer is still close to her. But much more than he thinks.

Is it planned to continue?

“It’s really all about the fans” Eli Roth told him Comicbook.com. “But we had so much fun doing it that the more we think about it, the more ideas come to us (…) The shooting was so fast that when it was over, we were sad that it was already the end (…) So if the movie works well , I will gladly continue.”

The director’s wish was fulfilled after the sequel It was officially announced, with him on Friday, November 30, the day after the French release of the first film. which has already grossed nearly $30 million worldwide on a budget of $15 million, excluding marketing costs.

If it were simply specified that the sequel would be released in 2025, it would easily hit theaters worldwide in November. at thanksgiving time.