A good example of a movie where the concept is cleverer than the execution, It’s a Wonderful Knife is the Christmas slasher film you never knew you wanted and arguably don’t need. Still, it’s a fun, little harmless bundle of gory holiday mayhem.
Jane Widdop plays Winnie, who fends off a knife attack from a deranged murderer–but not before one of her good friends is butchered. A year later, her family is ready to move on because, you know, who the hell wants to deal with a distraught young person, and so she makes a plea to the heavens: she wishes she was never born.
Winnie then finds herself in an alternative universe where she was indeed never born and the killer–played by Justin Long–is mayor. She alone knows his true colors, but convincing her former friends and family that she isn’t a lunatic herself won’t be easy.
It’s a Wonderful Knife has a killer concept, but the next great slasher movie it is not. That director Tyler MacIntyre, working from a screenplay by Michael Kennedy, reveals the killer’s identity in the opening minutes is inspired. Widdop makes for a strong protagonist. Some of the kills offer a decent amount of Christmas red. The movie’s brisk 90 minutes is welcome.
As a slasher film, however, there is nothing particularly suspenseful, exciting, or noteworthy about how things hash out (other than the play on It’s a Wonderful Life). The killer is fine but forgettable; Justin Long gives an unhinged performance but isn’t on screen nearly enough to leave a mark. The movie doesn’t take as much advantage of its Christmas themes as it should have, even with an early victim getting impaled through the throat with a giant candy cane. Overall, it’s a lot more generic than it should bep.
That doesn’t mean It’s a Wonderful Knife isn’t fun. It is. And if you really like slasher movies, you could do a whole lot worse.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.
