Prague production has wrapped on Thankskilling Day, a new Czech horror film co-directed by Petr Kubík and JC Kovář, who also wrote the screenplay. Filming concluded on January 27 at the Futurento, an escape room in the Czech capital, where a key scene set was shot.
Thankskilling Day follows six foreign students in Prague who trade a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for an adrenaline-fueled escape game—only to find themselves fighting for survival. The English-language slasher film is primarily aimed at international audiences but is set for a Czech theatrical release in November.
Co-director Kubík previously helmed the well-received 2020 Czech fairy tale Princess Cursed in Time (Princezna zakletá v čase) and its 2022 sequel. He collaborated with Kovář on the 2023 comedy-thriller Blood Moon (Zatmění), but Thankskilling Day marks his first foray into the horror genre.
“We wanted to break into the international market, and horror seemed like the perfect entry point,” Kubík told local journalists as filming wrapped. He noted that the genre has a much larger audience abroad than in Czechia, with Thankskilling Day specifically targeting American viewers.
“Fans of slasher horror will appreciate some intense throat-slitting scenes,” he added, hinting at the film’s violent tone.
Among the cast of Thankskilling Day are Vladimír Polívka (son of beloved Czech actor Bolek Polívka), Tomáš Weber, Tomáš Novotný, and Ján Jackuliak. Polívka plays a bartender who controls the sinister escape game. International actors including Fabio Morelli, Darren Jenkins-Johnston, and Jane Findley also appear in the movie.
Thankskilling Day is set in the near future, with its events unfolding on November 27, 2025—this year’s Thanksgiving. Kubík revealed that the story incorporates flashbacks to the Cold War era, specifically the 1970s and ’80s.
The film’s Thanksgiving theme places it in a recent tradition of American holiday horror movies. Director Eli Roth released Thanksgiving in 2023, a feature-length expansion of a fake trailer he created for Grindhouse. The film follows a masked killer targeting a Massachusetts town after a Black Friday tragedy. A sequel is already in development.
On the indie side, 2009’s Thankskilling and 2012’s Thankskilling 3 (there’s no Thankskilling 2) are horror-comedies featuring a murderous, wisecracking turkey. The first film became a viral hit for its intentionally low-budget effects and absurd premise, while the sequel took a surreal, self-referential approach.
Despite the similar title, the new Czech film has no connection to the earlier Thankskilling movies.
