Stars: Chuck Lamb, Wanda Lust
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Back in 2009 I was sitting down browsing through the Netflix Instant service when I came across ThanksKilling. I read the synopsis and I just had to watch it. This film sparked my interest in so-bad-it's-good B-movies. I figured, in honor of Thanksgiving, I'd watch it again.
As far as plot goes it's basically just about a 500 year old turkey who goes around killing college kids and their parents. Really, that's all there is to it.
The characters are genre stereotypes, their acting is just as bad, the effects get an A for Effort but are nothing new. The film fits neatly into the genre of new wave B-movie horror comedies that are so self-aware and obviously aim for the so-bad-its-good appeal. It's a trend that has been going pretty strong this century. ThanksKilling, however, I found to be one of the more enjoyable ones.
Everything is intentional. The film knows it sucks. The director knows it sucks. The actors know it sucks. It sucks. The film never takes itself seriously and constantly jokes about its own stupidity. And obviously it's not a horror film in the true sense of the word. It's not scary at all. It's a comedy. This is something you have to except if you want to enjoy it.
The jokes themselves aren't too funny. They're the typical jokes you always see in these type of films. However, the situational humor is hilarious. Just watching a turkey wearing a human mask and getting kids to believe he's their father is absurdly entertaining. The turkey himself is also pretty hilarious, with constant foul language (get it? get it? foul, like fowl! Because he's a turkey!). The turkey is constantly calling people faggots and whatnot and quite honestly it's pretty funny to watch a turkey call someone a faggot.
It's mostly that forced, cheap humor, but there are some genuinely funny moments. I laughed pretty much throughout the entire thing.
It was filmed on a budget of $3,500 so you shouldn't expect much. It's an obviously amateur film. This is not the type of film you watch for cinematic merit or artistic value.
The effects were decently done, especially given the crew's limitations and lack of experience. There's a fair amount of gore in here. The turkey is just a hand puppet, and it's laughably bad.
I can't really critique something that is purposely bad. So all I can say it go watch it, know what your getting in to, don't expect anything amazing, and hopefully you'll enjoy yourself. It's only an hour and a few minutes so it's a quick watch.
Also check out my review for the sequel, ThanksKilling 3 (they skipped the second one).
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