It's a Wonderful Knife is a 2023 American slasher comedy film directed by Tyler MacIntyre and written by Michael Kennedy. It stars Jane Widdop, Jess McLeod, Joel McHale, Katharine Isabelle, William B. Davis, and Justin Long. It is a spin on the 1946 Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life; however, instead of the lead character recognizing his previous good deeds, the character Winnie discovers how many deaths she has prevented in her town.
The film was released by RLJE Films on November 10, 2023, followed by its streaming release on Shudder on December 1, 2023. It received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot[]
During Christmas season in the town of Angel Falls, Winnie Carruthers is about to celebrate the holidays with her friends and family. Her father, David, cannot, as he has a previous engagement with his business partners; the Waters brothers, Henry and Buck. Henry is an ambitious tycoon who wants to build an extravagantly luxurious shopping center. The remaining property he needs to buy to make it happen belongs to Roger Evans, the grandfather of Winnie's best friend, Cara. Roger refuses to sell his property to Henry. Later, the Carruthers family celebrates Christmas, and Winnie and her brother Jimmy spend time with their friends at a party. While this is happening, Roger is home alone, until a costumed killer known as The Angel sneaks up on him and slices his throat.
Cara leaves Winnie at the party to be alone with her boyfriend for a moment. When they kiss, he is killed by The Angel, who chases her down. Just before she can return to the party for help, The Angel catches up with her and butchers her. Winnie sees and tries to help Cara, but it is too late, and she watches her die. Winnie and Jimmy pursue The Angel before he can kill any more of their friends. When The Angel is about to kill Jimmy, Winnie takes jumper cables hooked up to an enormous Christmas lights display and clamps them onto the killer, electrocuting him to death. Winnie unmasks him and recognizes him as Henry Waters.
One year later, Winnie is still grieving the death of Cara and their shared loved ones. She finds out she has been rejected from a university she applied to for photography classes. Her family is ignoring the events from the year before. Winnie is given a tracksuit for jogging while Jimmy gets a new truck. Disgusted, she goes to a Christmas party to meet her boyfriend, but is unable to find him. She briefly meets and befriends a social outcast named Bernie, then discovers her boyfriend cheating on her with another girl, discovering the affair has gone on for quite some time. She then runs into Buck Waters, who angrily blames her for killing her brother and says he should kill her. Going to be alone at a bridge, Winnie looks up at the lights of the aurora in the sky, a rare sight for Angel Falls. Contemplating suicide, Winnie says aloud that she wishes she was never born, causing the aurora to disappear, and the town's power to briefly go out before returning.
Winnie looks around in confusion, then sees a dying person who has just been killed by The Angel. She tries to get help from a nearby police officer, but is confused when it turns out the town's sheriff is now Buck Waters and he does not recognize her. She claims to know who The Angel is, but is scared into silence when they are greeted by Henry Waters, now the mayor of Angel Falls. Winnie convinces them to let her leave, but they appear suspicious of her. She goes to see her family, who also don't recognize her, and she realizes she was never born. Because she wasn't there to stop The Angel, he's killed over two dozen more people since the previous year, including her brother, Jimmy. Disheartened by her family's grief, she goes to her ex-boyfriend's Christmas party and meets Bernie again, explaining her plight to her.
Bernie takes Winnie to her house to get the full story. While she doesn't completely distrust her, she's suspicious of the timing of Winnie's appearance and The Angel killings, and suggests she thinks she's The Angel. Winnie unsuccessfully tries to convince her otherwise, but The Angel attacks them, proving her innocence. They fend him off and escape, hiding out in the movie theater where Bernie works and watching old black and white Christmas movies. As they talk, they deduce The Angel has been killing the children of property owners who Henry Waters wanted to buy from, disheartening them into letting them go. Winnie decides she needs her father's help to stop Henry Waters and kill him again, and takes Bernie with her to the Carruthers household. Convincing her aunt of the truth by telling her an embarrassing personal detail only family would know, Winnie once again speaks to her father.
They grieve over Jimmy and Winnie realizes the pain that is in her family's lives because she was never born. When she tells him Henry Waters killed Jimmy, David angrily denies this, claiming Henry Waters protects and provides for his family and demanding that Winnie leave. As she is on her way out, she is disgusted to see that her now alcoholic mother openly and guiltlessly cheats on her father with a string of various different men. The Angel appears, killing her mother and her lover, and attacking Winnie, her aunt, and Bernie. The Angel is knocked out, and Winnie is about to kill him with his knife, but she hesitates and unmasks him, shocked to see it is her father. He regains consciousness and they escape.
Winnie, her aunt, and Bernie concoct a plan to lure The Angel to the movie theater Bernie works at so they can kill him there. They think he's arrived, but it is actually Winnie's ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend. The Angel then arrives and attacks them, and Winnie manages to trick him into getting impaled, killing him. Winnie returns to the bridge and the lights of the aurora with Bernie, and says farewell to her before wishing that she was born after all. She is confused when nothing seems to happen, and rages at the aurora, which takes on more aggressive colors. Winnie and Bernie realize that Henry Waters still poses a danger to the town as mayor, and that he needs to die again before Winnie can return home.
Mayor Henry Waters is holding a public Christmas-themed event where it is revealed that he has the members of the town under some sort of supernatural spell that places them under his control. He admonishes his brother Buck for putting in a transfer request to be sheriff of another town, then publicly executes him, dressing him in The Angel costume and putting his corpse on display. Winnie and Bernie confront him and accuse him of the deaths of the past year. Henry reveals that when he killed Jimmy, he broke David's spirit and put him under his control, making him his accomplice. He tries to kill Winnie and Bernie and have the townspeople help him do it. Winnie and Bernie kill him first, breaking the spell of his hold over the townspeople. Winnie and Bernie return to the bridge and the aurora as Winnie prepares to go home.
Before she leaves, Bernie reveals to Winnie that she was also contemplating suicide, and that Winnie saved her life. Having developed feelings for each other, they kiss. Winnie is now hesitant to leave, but Bernie promises her that she's going to be okay. Winnie wishes she was born, and returns home, waking up in her bedroom on Christmas morning. She cheerfully greets and forgives her family, and runs through town to exclaim her joy for Christmas, forgiving her ex-boyfriend as well when she sees him. As she prepares to celebrate with her family, she remembers Bernie, and quickly leaves in an attempt to save her from suicide. Finding Bernie alive and alone at her home, Winnie tries to explain herself, but Bernie reveals she still has her memories from the other world they were in together, and they happily kiss. As they leave, they plan to celebrate Christmas with Winnie's family, then have a Christmas movie marathon at the theater Bernie works at.
Cast[]
- Jane Widdop as Winnie Carruthers
- Joel McHale as David Carruthers
- Justin Long as Henry Waters
- Jess McLeod as Bernie Simon
- Katharine Isabelle as Gale Prescott
- Aiden Howard as Jimmy Carruthers
- Erin Boyes as Judy Carruthers
- Sean Depner as Buck Waters
- Zenia Marshall as Darla Berlin
- Hana Huggins as Cara Evans
- Kiki Faye as Vicki Pepper
- William B. Davis as Roger Evans
- Dimitri Vegas as Pete
- Cassandra Naud as Karen Simmons
Gallery[]
Reception[]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 54% of 65 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "It's a Wonderful Knife takes an enthusiastic stab at holiday-themed horror-comedy, even if it doesn't cut quite as deep as it should." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 51 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.