Directed By Tyler MacIntyre

Starring – Jane Widdop, Joel McHale, Justin Long

The Plot – Set in idyllic Angel Falls. A year after saving her town from a psychotic killer on Christmas Eve, Winnie Carruthers’ (Widdop) life is less than wonderful – but when she wishes she’d never been born, she finds herself in a nightmare parallel universe and discovers that without her, things could be much, much worse. Now the killer is back, and she must team up with the town misfit to identify the killer and get back to her own reality.

Rated R for bloody violence, drug use and adult language

It’s A Wonderful Knife – Official Trailer (2023) Justin Long, Joel McHale, Cassandra Naud – YouTube

POSITIVES

Being that the movie’s title is a play on words for the 1946 iconic James Stewart Christmas classic, the plot’s re-imagining under the horror designation brings forth some uniquely fresh and intriguing angles to the concept that both respectfully pays homage to its predecessor, but also inscribes some unique opportunities in the depths of being a slasher mystery. Without relying too heavily on the familiarity of the movie with the immense shadow that it’s playing parallel to, the film takes some risky chances with its opening act, which not only reveals the killer within the movie’s opening fifteen minutes, but also kills them in order to show how the town of Angel Falls has improved without their presence. This lays the foundation for a movie whose protagonist sees the other side of that concept, in a world where the killer exists, but also one where our protagonist doesn’t exist, which forces her, as a stranger, to convey loads of information to ignorant townsfolk, who have yet to evade the killer in the same way she was able to in her real world. That summary sounds very confusing, but the film is surprisingly simplistic in both its time travel, as well as its sequencing, and with the help of razor sharp pacing that constantly keeps the story moving forward, keeps the script from ever bogging itself down with the boredom associated with so many details. In addition to this, the story would be nothing without its Christmas setting, and MacIntyre’s direction continuously taps into the decorations, atmosphere and especially colors of the holiday season, inscribing an influence to the engagement that is unmistakable in various imagery and cold-frosted cinematography exuding itself throughout. It’s also blessed by a talented ensemble, but primarily the trio of Widdop, McHale and Long, who each bring their best to the contrast of their respective personalities. Widdop feels plucked from the same tree of Jessica Rothe in “Happy Death Day” and Kiernan Shipka in this month’s “Totally Killer”, in that her dry caustic wit and monotonous deliveries outline an every woman in approach that effortlessly make her someone we easily invest in, and whether in the heartfelt interactions with McHale, or the coldly chilling interactions with an emotionally unrecognizable Long, she’s up for all of the heavy lifting that the script continuously throws at her, while fleshing out just enough empathy in the vulnerability of her predicament that makes her the proverbial fish out of water.

NEGATIVES

Though “It’s a Wonderful Knife” does slice intrigue in the air of its unique concept, the execution of such falls occasionally blunt with underwhelming ingredients of design that fall almost entirely flat on arrival. Most telling of this sentiment are the kills and comedy of the engagement, with the former void of anything clever or flashy in expression, and the latter lazily tapping into the kind of phoned-in gags that we’ve seen a million times from these hip horror movies. Because of such, the film definitely still deserves its R-rating, but it’s a designation that comes more at the hands of vulgar language, instead of stomach-churning brutality, and while MacIntyre flawlessly manufactures the Christmas season in his extensive production values, his undercooking with lukewarm terror and suspense is especially disappointing for an artist who has worked consistently within the genre for nearly a decade. Aside from these disappointing elements, I found the script itself to be monotonously underwhelming, especially in the dialogue that created an abundance of issues with my interpretation. Aside from the littered convenience of our protagonist figuring things out that she has never been a part of in this universe, I found the exposition distributed between characters to lack any semblance of naturalism, or even mystique needed to churn an internal mystery within the depths of its audience, in turn falling prey to an 85 minute run time that doesn’t always have the means of explaining things with long-term commitment. Because of such, there is definitely an emphasis of rushed storytelling to the pacing schemes that I previously commended, creating even bigger issues in such vital aspects, like the killer’s integrity, which the film massacres in ways that keep them from ever standing along such iconic slashers of the subgenre. The design of this killer is cool enough, with a white colored consistency that mirrors the colors of the seasonal influence, but this killer is easily defeated twice, without even a shred of struggle for our leading lady. The first is understandable because it’s part of the setup, but the second is so anticlimactic with arguably the dumbest manner of defeat that I’ve ever seen, creating an underwhelming climax that completely wastes away what little tension the film was able to muster for itself, with fifteen minutes still remaining in the film’s 85 minute run time, to that point. Finally, in being a slasher, the film conjures a mystery in the reveal of its killer on two respective timelines, and let’s just say that in both instances I was able to sniff it out with little to no difficulty. Part of the issue certainly stems from the aforementioned dialogue, which zeroes in on particular sentences with obvious emphasis, but an even bigger problem resides on the depiction of the killer in motion, which when compared to Widdop’s smaller stature, as well as a lack of possibilities from who the killer has already attacked, leaves the list of suspects a bit limited.

OVERALL
“It’s a Wonderful Knife” occasionally slices something stimulating in adapting an ages-old unique format to horror, but the potential in the idea never reaches idyllic capacity, resulting in ineffective gags, undercooked horror, and an easily sniffed-out mystery that even a charming ensemble can’t overcome.

My Grade: 5/10 or D+