An Eli Roth Holiday Horror Has Made Its Way Up To Netflix's Number One Spot
Last year, horror director extraordinaire Eli Roth debuted his modern remake of a lost horror film that never existed. Back in 2007, Roth contributed a trailer for a fake film named "Thanksgiving" to Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's "Grindhouse" project. The trailer showcased an array of twisted kills, one particularly notorious example of which involved a cheerleader on a trampoline...
Then, in 2023, "Thanksgiving" was finally made into an actual feature, although this modern version eschewed the low-budget slasher/exploitation style that characterized the trailer from "Grindhouse." Instead, Roth attempted to evolve beyond the edgelord horror with which he made his name in the early aughts and produced a modern version of "Thanksgiving" loosely based on his "Grindhouse" contribution.
In "Thanksgiving" 2023, Plymouth, Massachusetts, finds itself menaced by a serial killer who dresses as old Jon Carver himself. The spate of killings follows a Black Friday riot the year prior that resulted in the deaths of several locals. It seems the Carver killer is seeking revenge for this horrific tragedy and is picking off those responsible one by one — all of which resulted in a pretty decent debut for the Patrick Dempsey and Gina Gershon-starring "Thanksgiving," which brought in $46 million at the box office on a $15 budget. Now that it's hit streaming, it seems the film will continue its success, with Netflixers eagerly scarfing down Roth's Thanksgiving horror feast.
Netflix viewers can't get enough Thanksgiving frights
When it arrived in theaters back in November 2023, "Thanksgiving" proved that horror always wins at the box office. But it seems the film still hasn't run out of steam yet. Eli Roth's latest hit Netflix in the U.S. on February 17, 2024, and immediately started rising up the most-watched charts. In fact, according to FlixPatrol, a site that aggregates viewing metrics across streaming platforms, by Feb. 18, the movie had already hit the number two spot. Now, "Thanksgiving" has slashed its way to the top of the charts, hitting number one on February 19 and remaining there as of February 20.
This latest Netflix horror success follows a similar debut for Ti West's 2022 effort "X," which had a similarly auspicious debut on the streamer earlier in February. Like "Thanksgiving" with its 84% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, "X" had the benefit of a positive critical reaction to propel its streaming arrival, suggesting that despite the fact that Netflixers will pretty much watch anything, that doesn't mean the Netflix top 10 chart is always full of forgettable dross.
All of this also bodes well for the horror genre in general, which has been consistently bringing audiences out to the multiplex at a time when theaters are otherwise mostly struggling. Last year, horror features were also responsible for some major Netflix chart successes, too, with everything from "The Pope's Exorcist" to David F. Sandberg's "Lights Out" causing a stir. As such, let's hope we get more streaming horror options as the year progresses.