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It’s a Wonderful Knife brings the holiday cheer with tons of blood and just as much heart. This slasher inspired by It’s a Wonderful Life is a welcome Christmas horror that perfectly fits alongside classics like Black Christmas and Christmas Evil.
Director Tyler MacIntyre and writer Michael Kennedy bring Christmas charm to the surface in their delightful holiday slasher that doesn’t hold back with its campy horror and its heartwarming queer love story.
With It’s a Wonderful Knife, Michael Kennedy writes another delightfully clever horror comedy finding inspiration in classic stories after the hilarious and bloody Freaky in 2020.
It’s a Wonderful Knife follows Winnie Carruthers (Jane Widdop) a year after saving her town Angel Falls from a masked killer, wondering if her town including her friends and family would be better off if she was never born. This sends Winnie into a parallel universe where her wish came true and she realizes just how much Angel Falls needed her.
Through her journey into the nightmare landscape where the man she kills is now mayor, Winnie finds a welcome partner in Bernie (Jess McLeod).
Bringing Christmas Warmth and Gore Together
What makes It’s a Wonderful Knife work so well as a yuletide slasher is its careful focus on capturing both the gory, suspenseful horror and the warm holiday cheer. For those of us who want to see candy canes used as weapons, but still want those heartwarming hallmark moments, It’s a Wonderful Knife is the best of both worlds.
source: RLJE Films, Shudder
It’s a Wonderful Knife is the perfect queer and campy Christmas slasher to get horror fans in the holiday spirit with a perfect blend of laughter, fear, and heartwarming charm in tune with its classic inspiration.
It’s a Wonderful Knife is an absolute blast from start to finish–and a perfect way to start celebrating Christmas with its blend of gory slasher and Christmas romance. What makes it even better, this romance is a heartwarming display of lesbian love that embraces the wonders of finding love when we feel especially lonely.
Building a Heartwarming Romance
It’s a Wonderful Knife gives us a charming, happy queer romance–something that we don’t get often enough. The relationship between Winnie and Bernie builds beautifully throughout the film. It’s a Wonderful Knife cares about its characters, leading to fully fleshed out personalities and relationships that fit perfectly alongside the Christmas carnage.
Winnie and Bernie’s relationship develops naturally throughout the film and their chemistry is undeniable. This heartfelt queer romance sets It’s a Wonderful Knife apart and captures our hearts through charming moments tying into the film’s It’s a Wonderful Life inspiration.
Watching their romance unfold is a treat for all of us longing for happy queer representation in our horror. It’s a Wonderful Knife manages to be sweet–with moments that make you long for the couple to realize their feelings and kiss–while never being at odds with its horror. Horror often is adored by people who find themselves on the outside, trying to find where they belong.
source: RLJE Films, Shudder
Watching Winnie and Bernie search for where they belong and finding love along the way is beautiful and plays wonderfully alongside the delightfully exaggerated moments of horror.
Jane Widdop and Jess McLeod give great performances in It’s a Wonderful Knife, making us believe the romance between Winnie and Bernie amidst all the carnage and confusion of being in a world that isn’t quite right. Jane Widdop plays the complexities of Winnie with heart and strength, landing themselves a much-deserved place in queer horror history.
Jess McLeod wonderfully portrays the awkward charm and underlying hurt of Bernie. They brought this complex, lovable character to life, and we could feel Bernie’s pain as she tries to hide it underneath a mask of overt happiness. Jess McLeod wonderfully shifts between the pretend happiness of someone trying to ignore their bullies and the genuine happiness of someone embracing who they are and finding where they belong.
Don’t Fight The Camp
If you go into It’s a Wonderful Knife expecting to have a blast with over-the-top villains, the bright contrast of red blood against ice and snow, and the absurdity of tiny towns with festive names usually found in Hallmark movies–you will have a wonderful time.
Don’t fight against It’s a Wonderful Knife and its blend of horror comedy and hallmark, instead get yourself on the same wavelength and enjoy the ride.
The camp reaches new heights with Justin Long’s performance as Henry Waters, the film’s overly ambitious villain who wants to own and control the entire town and is reduced to killing to get what he wants. Imagine the horror version of a hallmark villain wanting to turn a cozy small town into a fancy ski resort.
source: RLJE Films, Shudder
Justin Long understands the assignment perfectly as he plays Henry Waters with an uneasy intense level of faux hospitality, made even creepier and campier with his fake teeth, perma-tan, and bizarre yet perfectly fitting accent–with a hint of bible belt preacher.
It’s a Wonderful Knife dives into its parallel universe premise with creative camp as we see just how different these two worlds are from each other. Are you one of those people who has a love of both gory horror and cheesy hallmark Christmas movies? If so, It’s a Wonderful Knife is the perfect movie to start your holiday season.
It’s a Wonderful Knife has everything you could want from a holiday slasher including gory kill scenes, heartwarming moments under the shining Christmas lights, and a much-needed dose of holiday spirit.
Conclusion
It’s a Wonderful Knife embraces its premise with blood-soaked snow, candy cane stab wounds, and cheery Christmas tunes. This holiday slasher fills us with nostalgia while bringing a charming queer romance and creative horror kills into a classic story. And the memorable performances from Jane Widdop, Jess McLeod, and Justin Long make this a cult classic in the making.
It’s a Wonderful Knife releases November 1oth after making its premiere October 8th at Beyond Fest and screening at Regal as part of the Mystery Movie Monday series on October 23rd.
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