10 Awesome Thanksgiving Movies That Aren’t Just About Turkey

Thanksgiving isn’t just about stuffing your face and dodging invasive questions from relatives. It’s also the perfect excuse to binge Thanksgiving movies that capture the chaos, comfort, and occasional cult activity of the season. But not every Thanksgiving movie needs to worship the bird. Some go deeper—or weirder.

Here are 10 Thanksgiving movies that use Thanksgiving as a launchpad for drama, horror, heart, and hilarity. Plus two classic Thanksgiving movies that still slap harder than your cousin’s attempt at homemade pie.

10 Thanksgiving Movies To Watch

1. Addams Family Values (1993)

Wednesday Addams hijacks a Thanksgiving play and turns it into a savage takedown of colonialism. It’s goth satire at its finest, with Ricci’s iconic monologue serving flaming truth instead of mashed potatoes. The rest of the film? Delightfully macabre family dysfunction with a side of camp.

2. Black Friday (2021)

Retail hell meets alien parasite invasion. Bruce Campbell leads a crew of exhausted store workers battling zombified shoppers in a post-Thanksgiving sale gone feral. It’s gory, goofy, and cathartic for anyone who’s ever worked retail during the holidays. Think Clerks meets The Thing.

3. The Blind Side (2009)

Thanksgiving is the emotional pivot in this sports drama, where Michael Oher finds family and stability thanks to Sandra Bullock’s fierce matriarch. It’s a feel-good story with real-world roots—though the film’s legacy is complicated, the dinner scene still hits hard.

4. Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow (2015)

A tech-free Thanksgiving turns into a creature hunt when kids discover a furry forest legend. It’s got puppets, mystery, and a surprisingly sweet message about family and curiosity: no actual turkey, but plenty of Henson magic and small-town charm.

5. The Humans (2021)

Claustrophobic, quiet, and emotionally brutal. This one’s a slow-burning set in a crumbling NYC apartment where a family gathers for Thanksgiving and slowly unravels. Amy Schumer and Steven Yeun deliver raw performances in a film that’s more psychological horror than holiday cheer.

6. Kristy (2014)

During Thanksgiving break, a college student alone on campus becomes the target of a cult obsessed with purity and violence. It’s sleek, tense, and flips the final girl trope on its head, bonus points for turning a quiet campus into a survival arena.

7. Pieces of April (2003)

April (Katie Holmes), the punky black sheep, hosts Thanksgiving for her estranged family in a tiny apartment with a broken oven. It’s messy, heartfelt, and full of awkward charm. The food may be a disaster, but the emotional payoff is perfectly baked.

8. Home for the Holidays (1995)

Holly Hunter returns home for Thanksgiving, and she immediately regrets it. Jodie Foster, as the director, is able to capture the chaos of family gatherings, sibling drama, parental weirdness, and the kind of tension that makes you want to fake a flight delay. It’s funny, raw, and painfully relatable.

9. What’s Cooking? (2000)

What’s Cooking follows four families: Latino, Vietnamese, Jewish, and an African American, as they celebrate Thanksgiving in their own unique ways. It’s a multicultural mosaic of food, identity, and family tension. The food scenes are drool-worthy, and the emotional arcs are refreshingly real.

10. The Ice Storm (1997)

Thanksgiving weekend in 1973 turns into a cold, emotionally distant spiral of suburban ennui, swinging parties, and teenage angst. It’s beautifully shot and deeply unsettling. Christina Ricci, Tobey Maguire, and Sigourney Weaver deliver peak ‘90s melancholy.

Bonus Round: Classics Ahead!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Steve Martin and John Candy endure every travel nightmare imaginable just to get home for Thanksgiving. It’s slapstick gold with a surprisingly tender core. The final scene? A gut punch of sincerity that makes all the chaos worth it.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)

Charlie Brown’s attempt at hosting Thanksgiving turns into a jelly bean-and-toast fiasco. Snoopy steals the show, Peppermint Patty demands actual food, and Linus drops philosophical truth bombs. It’s nostalgic, weirdly profound, and perfect for all ages.

Final Sip: Pass the Chaos, Hold the Cranberry

Thanksgiving movies don’t need to be about turkey to hit you in the emotional gut. These films serve up horror, heartache, humor, and healing, sometimes all in one messy, gravy-stained package. Whether you’re watching with family, friends, or just your cat and a pie, this list of Thanksgiving movies has something for every kind of holiday mood.