It's A Wonderful Knife
RLJE Films (2023)
The newest Christmas themed slasher flick had a short run at our local Regal Theater. It was screened on October 23rd as one of the Mystery Movie Monday films, and again on November 16th which is when we got to see it. We had originally planned to see Thanksgiving that day and then go see It's A Wonderful Knife a little closer to Christmas, but it wasn't on the schedule for November 17th. The day we got to see it very well might have been the only day that it was showing in town.
I was skeptical about this movie going in because of its title. The name of this movie makes it sound like its going to be a parody, but this is more of a Shaun Of The Dead situation. It's a horror flick with comedic elements, but it's not a spoof of It's A Wonderful Life that's built on cheap references and bad puns. It shares the plot device of a character wishing they had never been born and that person getting to live out that reality. However, this character stopped a madman on the first day of his killing spree, so in a world in which they were never born, the madman was free to become a serial killer who is still terrorizing the town.
I'm shocked at how much I enjoyed this movie. It's an excellent holiday slasher with solid performances from everyone in the cast; particularly Jane Widdop (Winnie), Jess McLeod (Bernie), and Justin Long (Henry Waters), the latter of whom is way over-the-top in all the right ways. This might be my second favorite performance of his, coming in second only to Brandon St. Randy in Zack and Miri.
The only moment that I'm not a huge fan of takes place toward the end of the movie; specifically the way that the townspeople behave when Winnie confronts the killer. I don't want to say too much more than that at the risk of spoiling it, but you'll know it when you see it. It's not bad enough to ruin the movie or anything. It just kind of made me say "uggh, I wish they hadn't made that choice".
My only regret here is that we didn't get to see Thanksgiving and It's A Wonderful Knife on the same night. That would have been one hell of a holiday horror double feature!
