Review Rewind: 'Into The Dark: Pilgrim' Slays More Than Just The Turkey
Watching Eli Roth's latest horror, Thanksgiving, made me think of the 2018 Into the Dark episode "Pilgrim." So I decided to revisit it... and I haven't been this angry during a film since watching Night of the Hunted.
Into the Dark was a Hulu x Blumhouse series wherein every month they would release an "episode" - a full-length horror movie - that loosely related to a holiday within that month. For Thanksgiving in season 2 came Pilgrim, directed by Marcus Dunstan (The Collector, The Collection). Pilgrim follows Cody (Reign Edwards), a teen who has a complicated relationship with Thanksgiving to begin with, thanks to the traumatic events leading to the end of her parents' relationship. She clearly cannot stand stepmom, Anna (Courtney Henggeler), who is obsessed with image and what the women of the neighborhood HOA think of her.
For clout, and to "bring her family closer" Anna signs up for a Thanksgiving reenactment she read about on Facebook, inviting strangers dressed as pilgrims into her home. Cody is not a fan, what with the way Thanksgiving reframes the past. If your stepdaughter already doesn't like you, perhaps inviting strange actors pretending to be pilgrims (and white-washing their brutal history) to take over your house and boss her around is not the best way to bond.
But Anna brushes off Cody's fears, writing it off as her just being a bratty step-kid. When the family breaks the wishbone at dinner, Cody wishes the whole pilgrim idea would blow up in Anna's face. Seeing as this is a horror film, it certainly does.
Could there be anything more annoying than a white man in America telling you you need to be more grateful? I wanted to scream every time Ethan (Peter Giles) spoke. It's like the Ben Franklin episode of The Office, but instead of a founding father impersonator, it's a deeply troubled man who refuses to accept what time period he actually lives in. Oh, and instead of awkwardly flirting with Pam, the impersonator wants to kill everyone. The fact that corpses cannot feel gratitude is somehow lost on this man.
Patience (Elyse Levesque) doesn't help matters, treating Ethan like a God, while extolling the virtues of housework. You wish you had a nicer house? Bam. You're dead. Try to take that house for granted now. It also reminds me of a scene from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in which Martin Vanger (Stellan Skarsgård) says to his waiting victim, "It's hard to believe that the fear of offending can be stronger than the fear of pain."
Anna is surprised when the pilgrim shows up days early... with a guest... and expecting to stay in her home. However, she is so concerned with appearances, and not being seen as rude, that she ignores her own instincts - and Cody's desperate pleas - even allowing the strangers to be alone with her young son, Tate (Antonio Raul Corbo). She opened up her home, and welcomed in the danger.
It isn't entirely Anna's fault though. If Shane (Kerr Smith) paid even a modicum of attention to his family and what is going on in his own house rather than his cell phone and tablet, he could've tried to help stop things sooner. You'll find more than one statement on society today in Pilgrim. Ethan tying up Anna and Cody is also a pretty great image of how women are treated in this country. Patience is his love and star pupil, because she worships him and does everything he asks.
Once things start to turn for Anna, it's too late, and the danger train is going full steam ahead. You can hardly catch your breath until the brutal end. Whippings, stabbings, and even cannibalism are just a few of the horrors that await the family.
Pilgrim gets kind of lost, because it is classified as a TV episode, rather than a full-length movie, but it's a worthy addition to any holiday horror binge. The cinematography is dizzying, mirroring the confusion and shock of the entire family. A scene involving old-fashioned machinery and the family's pool is particularly impressive.
If you want a really gruesome double feature, Thanksgiving also involves force-feeding people human meat, evil pilgrims, and a family feast that involves the guests being tied to their chairs.
Pilgrim is streaming on Hulu.
