Eli Roth's Thanksgiving fixes one of the worst horror movie tropes around

As much as I love the horror genre, one of my least favorite tropes is when someone murders a helpless animal on-screen. Cats have been the victim way too many times in horror and film at large. For some reason, cat deaths are often played for laughs or cheap thrills, and it sucks.

There's probably a deeper psychological meaning behind this, like the fact cats are often considered more feminine than dogs and therefore a "funnier" target (whereas dog deaths are usually handled with gravitas instead of levity), but whatever the reason may be, Eli Roth's 2023 slasher movie Thanksgiving subverts the expectation completely in the best way. Mild spoilers ahead for one specific scene.

In the movie, there is a scene where the movie's killer, a masked person donning a John Carver mask, breaks into one of his next intended victim's house and kills him. The victim in question, Manny, has a pet cat. Once Manny is dead, the killer prepares to leave the house, but not before taking care of Manny's pet cat. He stops to feed the little guy and even gives him a little pet on the head.

It's such a refreshing change of pace from the dozens of horror movies that have come before, where the killers murder cats to send a message or just to be cruel to their victims. And in a way, it often feels like the filmmakers are trying to be a little mean-spirited, too. What did cat owners ever do to you guys?!

Thing is, it even makes more sense for some of these murderers to own cats and be fond of them. I mean, I could see Michael Myers being a cat person. Or, at the very least, leave them alone instead of murdering them. But if Thanksgiving can start a new trend where horror movies feature a fun bit where the cats are treated kindly, I would be happy to see them included more often.

Otherwise, horror can get rid of the cat (or any pet) killing altogether. It's been done far too often to be surprising to anyone who has ever watched a scary movie before. The only way to make it fun now is by subverting it, just like Roth did in this 2023 slasher.