RECENT WATCHES: It's a Wonderful Knife (2023)

Despite only coming out six years ago, “Happy Death Day” has proven to be a surprisingly influential film. That film's success proved you really could put a horror/comedy spin on a classic movie premise and people would show up for it. Since that slasher movie take on “Groundhog Day” came out, we've gotten the inevitable sequel, a gory take on “Freaky Friday,” and a masked murder version of “Back to the Future.” And now, unsurprisingly, here's the Christmas version. “It's a Wonderful Knife” was assuredly conceived as a title first and a screenplay second. However, when I saw that Tyler MacIntyre, of the delightful “Patchwork” and “Tragedy Girls,” was in the director's chair for this one, I was intrigued. Once “It's a Wonderful Knife” started to win some decent reviews, I knew I had to add it to my December watchlist. 

Winnie lives in the town of Angel Falls. Her dad, David, works for land developer Henry Waters, who hopes to build a fancy shopping center. An elderly home owner – the grandfather of Winnie's best friend – is the sole holdout on he deal. On Christmas Eve, a maniac in a white robe murders the man, Winnie's friend, and several more people. Winnie defeats the killer, who turns out to be Waters. A year later, her family is more successful than ever but Winnie is heartbroken. She blames herself for everything bad that has happened and wishes she was never born. Her wish comes true and Winnie awakens in an alternate version of Angel Falls where no one knows her. Waters is mayor, her family is full of drug addicts, and the town is in squalor... In addition to the murderous Angel still roaming the streets, claiming more victims than ever. Now Winnie must find a way back home and unravel the mystery behind the murders. 

The most famous part of “It's a Wonderful Life,” George Bailey seeing what the world would be like if he had never been born, tends to overshadow the rest of the movie. That truly only occupies the last third of a two-hour runtime, in a story that details a man's entire life up to that point. “It's a Wonderful Knife,” meanwhile, lasts a brisk 87 minutes. Michael Kennedy's script has to set-up a similar amount of narrative legwork as Frank Capra's classic. There's a whole subplot about an evil land developer and various dramas involving Winnie's brothers and friends. “Knife” definitely feels a bit top-heavy, overwhelming viewers a little bit with an excess of characters and storylines right out of the gate. And that's before the slasher shenanigans even begin. I'm all for keeping movies like this as quickly paced as possible but maybe a little more room for all these developments to breathe, before we even get to the alternate universe events, would've been a good idea.

Luckily, like MacIntyre's previous horror/comedies, “It's a Wonderful Knife” does have a fairly likable set of leads. Jane Widdop, who has mostly done television up to this point, plays Winnie. Widdop has an adorable energy throughout that makes it easy to like her. Considering she got into this crazy situation through no fault of her own, the determination Widdop brings to Winnie, her drive to put right what has gone wrong, is especially a winning combination. Widdop also has strong chemistry with Jess McLeod as Bernie, the outcast that she befriends on this journey. I'm not sure why Justin Long – who mugs horribly, adopting a weird voice as Waters – was cast in that part when Joel McHale, whose natural smarminess is leashed as a fairly forgettable role as a dad. 

We associate the slasher genre with elaborate bloodshed. MacIntyre certainly proved he was capable of just that with his past films. Yet “It's a Wonderful Knife,” despite what the title might make you think, is focused more on stylishly displayed violence than gouts of blood arching through the air and bodily dismemberment. An axing scene is set against the flashing lights of a Christmas display. A movie theater proves to be a good location for a chase sequence, while a stabbing against a glass door is another notable moment. The film also manages to find a cool holiday theme for its masked murderer that doesn't go back to the often visited well of a killer Santa Claus. A white shrouded killer, with an indistinct face, brings both an angelic tree-topper and a ghostly spectre of death to mind. They give the killer a cool weapon too, a knife with handles like an angel's wings.

“It's a Wonderful Knife” is also proudly queer, featuring several gay characters in relationships and even going in a surprisingly frank direction in its last third. In other words, “It's a Wonderful Knife” has all the ingredients to become a cult favorite... Which makes it odd that I didn't love the movie more. Honestly, that rushed first act and Long's irritating performance really put me off. Maybe the film will grow on me more with repeated seasonal re-watches. The world isn't wanting for Christmas-themed horror movies but it is wanting for good Christmas-themed horror movies, so I imagine I will revisit “It's a Wonderful Knife.” [7/10]