Thanksgiving: 5 most brutal death scenes (and 3 that weren't so bad)

Netflix's number one movie Thanksgiving is a 2023 Sony slasher that had everyone talking last fall. The campy gorefest from director Eli Roth is a full-length version of the director's fictional Grindhouse trailer from the 2007 movie and it doesn't shy away from the blood and guts we've come to expect from the filmmaker and this genre overall.

Spoilers ahead for Thanksgiving

Obviously, if you haven't seen Thanksgiving yet, you'll want to turn back now to prevent being spoiled! We don't give away the killer's identity here, but we will be discussing all the movie's major deaths in detail.

Amanda's scalping at the RightMart massacre

The first 15-20 minutes of Thanksgiving are some of the film's strongest with a captivating and gruesome opening that's both darkly hilarious (seriously, all of that over some WAFFLE IRONS!?) and brutal.

From that poor security guard who got trampled to Bobby's career-ending injury, the RightMart Black Friday massacre really sets the tone of the film. But no one got it worse than Amanda Collins (Gina Gershon), who had her head slammed repeatedly by people with shopping carts before said shopping cart scalped her.

John Carver gives Lizzie an icy reception

Speaking of Amanda's death, let's pivot to Lizzie's murder at the hands of John Carver. Lizzie is the one who was pushing the shopping cart that ultimately scalped Amanda, so it's fitting she becomes John Carver's first victim. That said, given some of the deaths in this movie, Lizzie got off relatively easy.

Yes, the bottom half of her body ends up becoming a particularly disgusting RightMart decoration, but her death was over fast compared to some of the other characters. The part where Carver shoves her against the freezer door was probably the worst part because after that, Carver just cuts Lizzie in half by ramming into her body with a car.

As long as the cat lives, I'm happy

Manny the security guard also could not avoid a deadly fate at the hands of the Thanksgiving slasher. At least his cat lived and the killer showed enough compassion to even feed the little guy before he left! As for Manny, his death isn't the craziest in the film, but it was still a rough one. Before getting decapitated, the killer stabs him with an electric meat-carving knife.

Amy and Lonnie's trampoline debacle

I might be in the minority on this one, but compared to how the cheerleader dies in the original Grindhouse trailer, I think Amy got off relatively easy in the movie version. As for her boyfriend, Lonnie, I think we can all agree he has the tamest death in the entire movie with John Carver choosing to simply snap his neck. Nothing drawn out for him.

Yulia on the cob

Man, poor Yulia. I don't think it can be argued that she had one of the worst deaths in Thanksgiving. For starters, the killer actually stabs her through the ears with those corn-on-the-cob-holder thingies (thanks, Lorelai Gilmore), puncturing her eardrums and severely ruining her sense of balance, making it impossible for her to run away.

Even worse, Scuba and Jessica are forced to watch the aftermath of this via Yulia's cell phone as they rush to try and save her. They end up being too late. Carver already has Yulia held hostage when they get there and he pushes her onto a circle saw that proceeds to disembowel her.

Thanksgiving parade beheadings

I'm lumping these two deaths together since they happened to nameless characters. During the Thanksgiving parade, the poor dude in the mascot suit gets beheaded via ax while a man dressed as a pilgrim driving a truck gets the bowsprit of the parade's ship centerpiece through his skull and it is nasty. However, like with Lizzie, at least both of these guys had very quick and final deaths.

Medium-rare or well-done? Poor Kathleen

Jessica's step-mom Kathleen also ranks as one of the movie's most drawn-out deaths since she ended up becoming John Carver's literal... centerpiece. Yes, Kathleen gets the pivotal oven death, as in, she's seasoned and prepped like a real turkey and forced to burn (cook) alive in an oven before being served on a platter as part of Carver's twisted dinner scene. To make matters worse, Kathleen actually escapes at one point before Carver catches up to her and rips all of her hopes of freedom away by shoving her back in the oven.

Pulverized Evan is on the menu

Kathleen's death isn't the only one to complement John Carver's twisted Thanksgiving meal. When he takes all the remaining teens (Jessica, Scuba, Evan, and Gaby), plus Jessica's dad Thomas, to sit around the table, Carver delivers a few more surprises, including draining some blood out of Amy's body and using it as a wine substitute. Ew.

But the most violent moment during that scene comes when Carver pulverizes Evan's head into a bloody pulp with a meat tenderizer. Unlike some of the other head-related deaths in this movie, Evan's would not have been quick and was, in fact, one of the most vicious kills shown on-screen.