It's a Wonderful Knife (2023)


When Christmas comes around so does It's a Wonderful Life, the Jimmy Stewart film in which things start going downhill and he wishes he had never been born.  He is shown by an angel what would happen if this was the case and realizes that things aren't so bad after all.  It's become a Christmas classic and a go-to for '80s sitcoms looking to make a quick Christmas episode, although Married... with Children did it best.  

Writer Michael Kennedy decided to see what he could do to turn the concept into a horror story.  Of course, this being the modern day, It's a Wonderful Life exists in the movie's universe, and it is referenced.  However, so is the style of the maligned Hallmark Christmas films, which It's a Wonderful Knife resembles a bit too closely.  It is satire as well as homage, but it never gets as clever or entertaining as it wants to be. 

Winnie Carruthers (Jane Widdop) lives in Angel Falls with her father David (Joel McHale), mother Judy (Erin Boyes) and brother Jimmy (Aiden Howard).  David works for real estate developer Henry Waters (Justin Long), who has a habit of making him work on holidays.  On Christmas Eve he asks David to accompany him to the home of Roger Evans (William B. Davis), the last holdout in an historic neighborhood where Waters wishes to build a new multi-use development.  Evans refuses and is soon dispatched by a killer dressed as an angel, who goes on to kill his granddaughter Cara (Hana Huggins), who happens to be Winnie's best friend.

The Angel also attacks Jimmy, but Winnie saves him and kills the killer, who turns out to be Waters.  A year later, with her father now taking over Waters's position of success in the town, Winnie is still suffering PTSD and feels like everyone is ignoring what happened.  She wishes she had not been born and a strange aurora grants the wish, transporting her to a bleak version of Angel Falls where she didn't kill Waters and the murders have continued unabated for a year, with Waters's brother Buck (Sean Depner) now sheriff and helping to cover things up.  With everyone afraid to do anything, or just not caring, she teams up with an outcast named Bernie (Jess McLeod) to set things right. 

This is a Canadian production so, of course, there are some familiar faces.  Katherine Isabelle is Winnie's Aunt Gale, where of course Davis is familiar as the Smoking Man from The X-Files.  A number of the other young actors have appeared on young adult shows as the CW.  Unfortunately, that is exactly what this movie feels like.  It feels like a Joss Whedon movie, right down to forced, insincere diversity.  Not the type that makes one feel represented, but the type that is pure pandering and box-checking.  Kennedy and MacIntyre could have easily made the two leads bisexual or lesbian and it would have been a clever subversion on the cliches of Hallmark Christmas films, but instead this looks like a photo on an HR handout. 

Which is even more disappointing as this concept had so much going for it.  The Angel is a great-looking killer, there is a decent twist in the third act and the parts that reference Christmas classics and It's a Wonderful Life directly work.  Not to mention Justin Long goes above and beyond with his calm, evil portrayal of Waters.  Jane Widdop isn't spectacular, but she is still fun to watch, and Jess McLeod has some of the same vibe that Fiona Dourif had in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.  There is so much good going on in this that it is sad to see it undercut by mediocre direction and virtue signaling. 

It's a Wonderful Knife (2023)
Time: 87 minutes
Starring: Jane Widdop, Jess McLeod, Joel McHale, Justin Long, Katherine Isabelle
Director: Tyler MacIntyre

 

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