As spooky season nestles back into the shadows, there are, of course, ways to keep that same spirit alive and well through Creepmas. Before diving too deeply into seasonal horror flicks like Terrifier 3 or Silent Night, Deadly Night, you can ease into November’s fall vibes with Addams Family Values.
Barry Sonnenfeld’s 1993 sequel to The Addams Family sees Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Huston) leading the clan with a newly integrated Fester (Christopher Lloyd) as the family grows. Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) aren’t too pleased that the littlest Addams, newborn Pubert, is taking attention away from them. So in the hopes of getting help in the baby trenches, Gomez hires the alluring Debbie Jelinsky (Joan Cusack) to take care of the kids.
© Paramount Pictures
Wednesday, who is younger in this franchise than Jenna Ortega’s Netflix take, immediately clocks Debbie’s sinister gold-digging intentions with her Uncle Fester as the nanny pursues him romantically and inserts herself into the family. It may sound tumultuous, but that’s why Addams Family Values is a perfect Thanksgiving season movie: it explores how families change over big life moments like a new baby or a new person marrying into the family. Its darkly humorous take hilariously tackles how often these events become the focus of seasonal gatherings.
Debbie Jelinsky is the epitome of a new family member who causes mayhem when they come into the fold. Cusack’s performance is such an all-timer; she’s charming and unhinged in a way that makes you root for her to stay and accept the love the Addams Family gives her. At every turn, they empathize with her psychotic nature and murder attempts because they get it. Morticia and Gomez practice consensual torture, and Fester is clearly game for Debbie’s homicidal tendencies as a kink.
© Paramount Pictures
It’s tragic to watch how the love and life Debbie wants slip through her fingers after each failed attempt to murder Fester and the fam. You can’t help thinking that, if not for her hubris (pastels!), she would have fit in perfectly with Fester as a life partner. We hope her arc gets revisited on Wednesday, but without her pushing the family away in the end or sending the kids to summer camp as a punishment.
Okay, so yes, the film does take place during the summer, but it still works because it can be both a Summerween movie and a Thanksgiving movie. It makes as much sense as the summer camp choosing to put on a Thanksgiving play. And boy, is it such an iconic take on the true history of Thanksgiving with Wednesday’s reclaiming of the whitewashed narrative when she takes the stage.
“We cannot break bread with you,” Wednesday intones. “You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now, my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the roadsides. You will play golf and enjoy hot hors d’oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts.”
After delivering the film’s most famous speech—which is rightfully circulated on the internet every November—she turns the tables by unleashing her fellow Native Americans (played by the other camp misfits) on the pilgrims (the entitled privileged kids).
Now, despite the true meaning of Thanksgiving having its roots in genocide, it’s still a federal holiday where we can take a breather from this capitalistic hellscape to spend time with loved ones. At its core, loved ones are what Addams Family Values is really about. Raul Julia’s final performance as Gomez (before his untimely passing in 1994) is such a declaration against toxic masculinity. The way he so freely loves his wife, kids, and brother to the point where he’d do anything for them was such an unreal concept back in the ’90s. Gomez wore his heart on his sleeve and tucked a rapier in the other, ready to fall on a sword for his loved ones.
On top of that, Gomez and Morticia’s relationship is such a positive example of unconditional love. He doesn’t expect her to just take care of the kids; as her own famous speech goes, “I’m just like any modern woman trying to have it all. Loving husband, a family. It’s just, I wish I had more time to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade.” And Gomez does all he can to make her feel capable of still retaining her individuality alongside her role as a mother. It’s a huge f-you to outdated trad wife concepts that have reared their ugly heads recently.
© Paramount Pictures
As things feel like they’re backsliding historically and get overwhelming, it’s nice to have Addams Family Values to remind us that there’s power in being united and deeply understanding of those around us—even those who try to reject us. Their undoing will always come at their own hands; just look at Debbie, when she attempts to subdue them and refuses to see that she has so much common ground with those she tries to kill.
Addams Family Values is also here to offer hope that as the real world continues on a grim path, families are still capable of snapping back.
Addams Family Values is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
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