Gore and gravy: Terrifying Thanksgiving horror films – Bioreports

When a woman invites historical pilgrim re-enactors to stay with her family over Thanksgiving, things turn deadly when the so-called actors refuse to break character and start punishing her family for their sins. In Pilgrim, we learn that there might be such a thing as too much gratitude. 

Available on Hulu.

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The Oath is a Thanksgiving horror-comedy about a family who can’t gather for a festive holiday meal without getting in a huge argument. The movie’s plot involves how the US government is forcing every American to sign a loyalty oath to them by Black Friday. At Thanksgiving, the family finds that family member Chris refuses to sign the oath. When two government agents show up at the house and question Chris about his resistance, things get both violent and comical. This movie is a very entertaining reminder to not discuss politics at the dinner table.

Available on Hulu.

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In Séance, five college students spend the Thanksgiving holiday in their dorm, which happens to be an old converted building in New York City. They’re bored so they decide to hold a seance, which, of course, leads to very bad things happening. 

Available on Amazon Prime Video.

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Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead isn’t your typical Thanksgiving-themed horror film. Made by Troma Films — best known for its indie creature feature film Toxic Avenger — Poultrygeist mixes gore and comedy to tell its bizarre tale about zombie chickens on the loose. It takes place at a fictional New Jersey fast-food restaurant called the American Chicken Bunker that happens to be built upon a sacred Native American burial ground. Deadly hijinks ensue. 

Available on Google Play.

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When the holidays roll around, often it’s our memories of past mistakes that make us go crazy. In Boogeyman, a man named Tim Jensen is stalked during Thanksgiving by the eerie entity that haunted his childhood and killed his father. When he returns to the mental hospital where he was placed as a child, he discovers the same monster attacking patients. Everyone who gets close to Tim, including his girlfriend, is at risk. The movie did well enough to spawn two more sequels if you feel like watching more.

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Available on Amazon Prime Video.

Before you carve that Thanksgiving turkey, just remember that your hunger could be punished by a rogue turkey fueled by a supernatural spell. In ThanksKilling, students are hunted by a demonic turkey during Thanksgiving break. This movie is very low-budget and has more shock value than horror. But there’s something fun about watching a bloody puppet of an evil turkey chase down humans with a chainsaw.

Available on Amazon Prime Video.

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There is no actual ThanksKilling 2, but this movie serves as a sequel. Not that we needed another film about a psychotic turkey that goes on a murder spree, it just wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving until we saw this foul fowl offend everyone in the movie. This film is even campier than the original ThanksKilling, with more gore and even more puppets.

Available on Amazon Prime Video.

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No one likes uninvited guests to Thanksgiving dinner, especially when they happen to be extraterrestrial creatures planning on abducting various family members before you can enjoy dessert. In Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County an unsuspecting family celebrating Thanksgiving is terrorized by aliens. Even though the movie’s production values are low, it still has plenty of eerie moments.

Available on YouTube.

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Twins are already a creepy staple in the horror film genre. In Blood Rage, we see a psychopath going on a homicidal rampage after his twin brother (who he framed for murder years earlier) escapes from a mental institution on Thanksgiving day. This is the perfect movie to watch with any siblings who might take you for granted.

Available on Amazon Prime Video.

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An escaped mental patient embarks on a killing spree over Thanksgiving weekend, focusing his murderous attentions on a family who lives on an isolated ranch in Home Sweet Home. The movie is clearly a low-budget slasher movie with more than one bizarre death scene including fatally shocking a Kiss fan with his own guitar.

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The classic horror film Blood Freak isn’t exactly Thanksgiving-related, but the main character does eat a turkey dosed with experimental drugs and then becomes a drug-addicted killer with a craving for the blood of drug addicts. If that’s not creepy enough for you, his head also turns into a papier-mache turkey head.

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Spending Thanksgiving break by yourself can be a drag, especially when you’re spending it alone on a college campus while a gang of sadistic killers decides to hunt you down. In the film Kristy, a college girl who can’t afford to fly home stays on campus only to find out she’s being targeted by a group of outsiders who murder girls then upload the videos to a website. But just when things seem to be at their worst, she fights back. Think of this like “Home Alone” but with a lot more blood.

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When a couple getting ready to eat ThanXgiving dinner is interrupted by what seems to be a harmless young man, they invite him in only to discover he’s in fact a sadistic serial killer. The movie ThanXgiving proves that being nice to strangers on a holiday doesn’t always pay off karmically.

Read more in IMDB.