Eat, Drink, And Be Scary: A Thanksgiving and Cocktails Streaming Guide
I am not big on the holidays aside from Halloween and a few of my birthdays. I usually end up watching questionable holiday-themed horror while drinking in dramatic PJs and robe combinations during these months. For this year, I figured I would pick a few Thanksgiving-centered movies and ask my friends at Shaken Not Scared to help me elevate my drinking game. We present you with a list of movies so bad and drinks so good that you’ll forget you’re with your family.
Holiday Hell (2019)
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, Vudu
A shopkeeper tells a woman four stories set around specific holidays in this anthology. Jeffrey Combs plays The Shopkeeper in what is the most subdued performance I’ve ever seen from him. The stories, and the wraparound, happened. I suffered secondhand embarrassment watching this situation from the comfort of my weighted blanket. This movie came up in my Thanksgiving search, but that was a lie. However, it was so bad that we added it to the list anyway in case you want another bad movie with a great drink combo.
Holiday Hell Drink: Moon Worship
Ingredients:
- 1/2 oz Creme de Violette
- 2 oz Gin
- 1/2 oz Lemon Juice (freshly squeezed)
- 1/2 oz Simple Syrup
- Ice Sphere
Instructions:
- In a shaker, add gin, creme de violette, lemon juice, and simple syrup with ice. Shake!
- Strain into glass over an ice sphere.
Home Movie (2008)
Where to Watch: YouTube
This found-footage holiday catastrophe follows David (Adrian Pasdar) and Clare (Cady McClain) who have just relocated with their twins. The twins start getting weird, and all hell breaks loose in front of the camcorder during holidays and anniversaries. The movie is hurt by not having good reasons to have someone bring a camera with them to some of these scenes. Especially towards the end when Clare gets free and grabs the camera instead of untying David so they can maybe escape or fight their evil spawn together. The reviews are all over the place but we felt it belongs on this list in all of its chaotic glory.
Home Movie Drink: No Parents Allowed
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Whiskey
- 1 oz Lemon Juice (freshly squeezed)
- 1 oz Honey
- 2 oz Boxed Red Wine
Instructions:
- Add whiskey, lemon juice, and honey to a shaker and dry shake for 10 seconds (without ice).
- Add ice to the shaker and shake until chilled.
- Strain into glass and layer boxed wine on top with a bar spoon.
Home Sweet Home (1981)
Where to Watch: Youtube
A family’s Thanksgiving is ruined by an escaped mental patient. The movie’s aesthetic is a made-for-TV movie of the week, but it got confiscated in the UK during the Video Nasty panic. I had to watch this movie in two sittings because when I got to the guy wearing mime make-up and playing the guitar, I thought I had missed something that would make it all make sense. The movie is also hard to watch because parts of it are so dark that I could not see what was happening as these nonsensical lines were being dropped like bad habits.
Home Sweet Home Drink: Jammin’ On Thanksgiving
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp Raspberry Jam
- 2 oz Dark Spiced Rum
- 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
Instructions:
- In a shaker, add jam, rum, and lemon juice with ice. Shake!
- Strain into glass and garnish with an orange slice.
Pilgrim (2019)
Where to Watch: Hulu
This Thanksgiving-themed entry in the Into The Dark anthology finds a modern family having their holiday ruined by murderous pilgrims. There is a lot of vomiting blood, Kerr Smith playing a suburban dad, and the word grateful gets said (and sung) about a hundred times. But these are very small crimes compared to the rest of the movies I watched while putting this article together. While this movie is predictable and not my cup of tea, I can admit it is the best movie on the list. I also love that it added a Black Final Girl into the lexicon.
Pilgrim Drink: Old Fashioned Gratitude
Ingredients:
- 3 oz Cranberry Juice
- 2 oz Whiskey
- 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
- Orange Bitters
Instructions:
- Add an ice sphere or large ice cube to a glass and add cranberry juice, whiskey, lemon juice, and 3 dashes of orange bitters. Stir 2 or 3 times with a bar spoon.
- Garnish with a maraschino cherry and orange peel.
Thankskilling (2008)
Where to Watch: Pluto, Tubi, Vudu
A possessed turkey interrupts Thanksgiving for five college kids in this horror comedy. The film is basically three frat-boy jokes in a trench coat, and the plot is as thin as a tablecloth. This movie legitimately made me regret pitching this article and caused the word “awful” to lose all meaning. I’m now rethinking previous reviews of movies I thought I hated and will now steer clear of the Thanksgiving horror sub-genre to make sure this never happens to me again. You can also catch the sequel, Thankskilling 3, on Pluto, Tubi, and Vudu as well. I tapped out after seeing nips and turkeys in space within the first five minutes, but I know the nonexistent second movie was key to whatever plot there might be.
Thankskilling Drink: Murderous Turkey
Ingredients:
- 1/2 oz Wild Turkey Whiskey
- 4 oz Pomegranate Juice
- 1/2 oz Cointreau
- 1/2 oz Lime Juice (freshly squeezed)
Instructions:
- In a shaker add whiskey, pomegranate juice, Cointreau, and lime juice with ice. Shake!
- Strain into glass and garnish with a lime slice.
Honorable Mention:
Ghost Note (2017) on Tubi. We did not watch this one. However, it follows an immortal blues musician that terrorizes childhood sweethearts over Thanksgiving, so it probably belongs on this list. Maybe it will earn a drink and a watch next year.
Did we miss your favorite awful movie? Drop me a line at @misssharai. If you dig the drinks, then follow @shakenscaredpod for more drink recipes.
Categorized:News Streaming Guides
