When it comes to holiday horror, Thankskilling must be my favorite that I’ve ever seen. I say “favorite” because of how many times I’ve watched it. I think Silent Night, Deadly Night is the best but, I have watched Thankskilling so many times. I first watched this movie many years ago around the time that Thankskilling 3 had come out with my friend and droid R5-D4. We were “beaking out” after watching this classic b horror gem. Let’s talk about Thankskilling, a holiday horror cult classic.
For those of you that read my blogs, this will likely catch you off guard. I do not like super cheesy movies as a rule. B or not, this irritates me. I want people to have made some attempt at believability. Thankskilling is an exception to this rule. This movie is ultra-cheesy. The main character Turkie, is obviously a puppet. In one scene, he does away with a girl’s father and wears the father’s face like Buffalo Bill. The girl doesn’t recognize that her father is now a turkey. People take no notice of a small glowing teepee along the side of a highway and never mind a talking turkey hitchhiking with the old school Groucho Marx disguise are a couple more examples. This is the level of cheesy we are talking about here. Way over the top with the cheesiness but, makes no difference – the film is awesome.
The plot is simple really. A dog marks a grave that holds a sinister turkey that was evil. This causes the turkey to come back, and he then seeks to eliminate a group of traveling students. With the help of a hillbilly, who owned the dog, the students win and destroy the turkey. Well, at least one of them does. You know he claims a few victims. The language in the film is rough, the filming and acting are terrible, the effects reflect the $3,500 budget (IMDB, 2022). This is like Child’s Play except a turkey instead of a doll and tune down the film quality…a lot. As with films of this nature, despite being shot, he must be destroyed with some magic too. I mean, really, a shotgun would make quick work of a turkey. They do every hunting season.
I don’t know what it is that makes me enjoy this movie like I do but, I watch it every Thanksgiving. Turkie must be the reason I watch it. Some of the lines he uses are comical for sure. Some of the jokes in the movie and things characters say are what make it great too. For instance, one of the characters says something along the lines of “I’m beaking out” instead of “I’m freaking out.” One of the jokes in the film about the JonBenét Ramsey case is used 3 times – the same joke. It’s super funny and I laugh every time. If you like cheesy cult classic holiday horror, wait no longer! You need to dig into this movie. It meets and exceeds these qualities. I know it’s free on Tubi currently.
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References
International Movie Database. (2022). Thankskilling. IMDb.com. ThanksKilling (2008) – IMDb
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