Home for the Holidays: ThanksKilling/ThanksKilling 3

 Happy Holidays! Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. It's been an interesting few days. I spent some time watching ThanksKilling yesterday. At first, I didn't know what to make of it. It's a film. I'll give it that. I honestly have no idea who this film's audience is. I know that there are some people that consider it to be a film that's so bad it's good. I think that I'm probably one that isn't for that audience. And now that it's the wonderful holiday season, thought it'd make a good one to start with. 

    Okay, so ThanksKilling came out in 2009. It's very much a film that feels like a Troma film. Honestly, ThanksKilling feels a little bit like it's a parody of terrible horror films. Jack Frost is definitely the first one that springs to mind. And no, not the Michael Keaton version. Stay tuned as that'll be a film I'll tackle at some point during Home for the Holidays. Now, the story of ThanksKilling is super simple. A group of college kids are being terrorized by a fowl-mouthed bird. The kids have to try to figure out how to kill the turkey. While the film is only a small hour and six minutes, there are definitely parts that feel like it's there to pad it out into a longer running time. And honestly, it doesn't work. I kept wondering exactly how much longer the film would have left. I honestly wish I could get in touch with the filmmakers to ask questions about this and the sequel, ThanksKilling 3. 

    The characters in this film are just so generic. I get that's the point. But take Dude Bro Party Massacre III, that's another horror parody. But what makes that film work is that it gives some depth to its characters. So therefore, you enjoy getting to watch the film. ThanksKilling no. And same goes for ThanksKilling 3. 

    Why were these films made? I have been racking my brain trying to understand why. Yeah, if you want something to turn on when you turn your brain off. You are in luck. ThanksKilling delivers it in spades. And ThanksKilling 3 even manages to outdo the original with its meta-inspired story. 

    Seriously, ThanksKilling 3 is about Turkie trying to track down the last copy of ThanksKilling 2. So that he can make people remember him. And he's accompanied by his child after brutally murdering his wife. Honestly, the whole effect sequence with that is done pretty well. I mean it helps that it's all puppets really. That was the thing that racked my brain even more about ThanksKilling 3 - its cast really is puppets. There is occasionally a person or two, but for the most part - be prepared to watch a cartoon come to life. 

    These films know exactly what kind of films they are. I mean in the first seconds of each of these films - immediately the screen is filled with nudity. Oh man, we have nudity in our film. We can check it off our list. Though, the first film manages to have a scene where Turkie uses a condom to have a good time with one of the other characters. What? That is a sentence that I'm just not sure I'd ever have to write. There are gore in these films. But honestly it's very small budgets. 

    When I had seen that some people were talking these films up, I was a little intrigued. I knew that they were terrible. But I didn't have any idea exactly  what I was getting myself into. Both of these films feel like fever dreams. I honestly don't see myself returning for a second helping with either. 

ThanksKilling Rating: 1 out of 5. 

ThanksKilling 3 Rating: 1.25 out of 5. 

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