After feasting on Eli Roth’s new horror movie, Thanksgiving fans have come to the conclusion that the movie may contain more than one killer. Spoilers ahead!
Set around the annual US holiday of giving thanks and counting blessings, Thanksgiving follows a group of teenagers as they are hunted by a masked killer known as John Carver, one year after a Black Friday riot in a small town ends in tragedy.
At the end of the film, the seemingly happy-go-lucky town Sheriff Eric Newlon is unmasked as the killer by final girl Jessica. Newlon explains that he became John Carver to cast revenge on those responsible for the riot, in which his pregnant lover was killed. However, many viewers expected more than one killer to be exposed, and fans online agree.
In a Reddit discussion post, one user points out that when Jessica is trapped inside the high school, it is impossible for the killer to be in two places at once. “That whole sequence throws me off. I just can't figure out how he'd be able to snatch two teens, be clocked outside by Jessica, then make it inside to chase her in costume, then be outside with everyone and seemingly no damage from the hairspray incident.”
Later in the movie, there is another opportunity for two killers to be at work. “In the oven scene, the (Carver) mask is melted, and then the killer puts it back on. I was certain this was going to be used to show another killer with a fresh mask, to differentiate between the melted and unmelted masks.” another user says, “There is no reason for this detail except that there were originally two killers.”
Having two killers wouldn’t be so out of the ordinary for Roth, in fact, the director likened his new holiday gorefest to Wes Craven's Scream which, in its final act, famously unmasks two killers. "I remember the first time I saw Scream in the theatre and you just go, ‘Holy shit. That was amazing!’” Roth told SFX magazine, “That’s what I want, to do that for the next generation."
So, does this mean there are more Thanksgiving movies on the way? Well, in an interview with SFX, Roth confessed that he would like to make a Thanksgiving franchise. On top of this, at the end of the movie, Jessica causes an explosion that burns Newlon alive, but his body is never recovered. With this in mind, plus the fact that there could be two killers, it looks like the door is well and truly open for a second movie.
Thanksgiving is available to watch in theatres now. For more frights still to come, see our list of upcoming horror movies, or check out our list of the 30 best horror movies to watch now.
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