A bunch of surly restaurant employees are grumpy they have to work on Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, a cannibal family who have a long tradition of capturing, killing, and eating people on Thanksgiving (they even keep the “leftovers” locked up in the closet) show up to the diner and massacre the staff. They then take the survivors back home for a meal around the dinner table, but who will be on the menu?
If you’ve ever been in the food service industry, you may feel a tinge of recognition here. Little touches like customers coming in right at closing time really hit home. It’s not Waiting… or anything, but these scenes are pretty funny. It also helps to build sympathy for the characters, even when many of them are grouchy, foul mouthed, and bitter.
Linnea Quigley shows up in a small role as a customer, and even though she’s the only recognizable name here, the rest of the cast are very good. The film is short and breezy, and it doesn’t waste a lot of time getting down to business, which is appreciated. It doesn’t set out to rewrite the book on making a holiday horror film, but it is certainly one of the better low budget efforts that have come down the chute in recent years. The kills are fun too and show some ingenuity on an obviously low budget. There’s burning, scalping, head splitting, a scythe through the chest, carving knife deaths, and a melting body. We also get not one but two standout death sequences. The first is a death by whisk and the second is a decapitation by dishwasher, both of which might be cinematic firsts.
I will say that some of the editing is a little confusing in the climax, but it’s not enough to ruin the fun. There is at least one inventive transition scene during this stretch of the film, so that helps. The twist ending is solid too, even if they don’t have much time to properly flesh it out. Small quibbles aside, The Last Thanksgiving is a feast for fans of low budget holiday horror flicks.
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