With Christmas drawing in, people the world over are looking to get into the festive spirit. Christmas trees will soon be decorated and lights will soon adorn our streets and homes as we prepare for St. Nick’s arrival on the 25th.
While this is all well and good, for the majority, it’s always nice when our fellow horror fans are included in the mix. It’s Wonderful Knife, serves as a sturdy bridge between the traditional festivities and horror cinema. With the likes of Nightmare and 34th Street and The Lord of Misrule also set to release this month, there is more of the same on the horizon in the coming days.
It’s a Wonderful Knife – Premise
It’s a Wonderful Knife is a horror parody of the hit Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. However, instead of George Bailey making that famously fateful wish that Christmas Eve of 1946, we have Winnie Carruthers; a teenage girl with a haunted past.
The movie opens up with a Ghostface-style killer, donning white attacking Winnie and her brother, Danny. In the tussle, Danny is killed, just before Winnie manages to kill The Angel by hooking him up to a car battery and roasting him like a Thanksgiving turkey.
A year later and Winnie is resented by her fellow townsfolk, so she makes an off-hand wish that she was never born. And so begins the story of It’s a Wonderful Knife.
My Thoughts on its a Wonderful Knife
To say It’s a Wonderful Knife isn’t going to reach the success of it’s inspiration, would be to say that Christmas snow falls white. However, this isn’t to say that it’s all that bad; just a fun movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
The It’s a Wonderful Life inspiration surprisingly makes an interesting plot-line in a horror movie. I was intrigued at how it would work out and found the premise to be refreshingly different to the rest of the holiday horror catalogue, with the movie paying frequent homage to the early Christmas tear-jerker classic.
Of course, no slasher horror worth its salt would be without some decent killings and Its a Wonderful Knife has these in abundance. It’s just a shame that a little more attention to detail wasn’t taken at certain parts of the movie, like when we see someone getting his throat cut but the wound is already there. It’s trivial things like this that don’t go unnoticed and have a real impact on the integrity of the movie.
It’s a Wonderful Knife is Often Let Down by Wooden Acting
While It’s a Wonderful Knife is mostly an enjoyable experience, some of the cast let the side down with all the acting prowess of a pine sideboard. It’s a shame, really, because most of the cast of relative unknowns do a commendable job at fitting into their roles.
The most notable of these is Justin Long’s (Jeepers Creepers) portrayal of villain, Henry Waters. I appreciate the fact that we’re not supposed to like the bad guy but the character was close to insufferable and not necessarily in an intended manner.
It’s a Wonderful Knife – Summary
It’s a Wonderful Knife is one of those movies you will enjoy more if you don’t go into it expecting too much. It never takes itself too seriously but delivers a fun, festive and bloody 87 minutes. Long’s part in the movie is almost redeemed with the interesting plotline and atypical slasher action.
If you can’t work out whether you want to get into the Christmas spirit or to enjoy a short blast of bloodthirsty fun, It’s a Wonderful Knife is the perfect answer.
