During this unexpected, third age of the slasher movie, we’ve had some impressive variations on the stalk and slash theme that’s managed to differentiate it from the smash mouth entries of the 80s and the biting sarcasm of the 90s. Giving us everything from triumphant Scream sequels, social commentary in the form of Bodies, Bodies, Bodies and X, or even fun, seasonal throwback like Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving, the once one-note sub-genre now seems to find the kitchen knife of invention stuck firmly into its spleen.
However, surely the most bizarre slasher offshoots surely must be the movies that merge high-concept family movies with a blade waving psychopath such us Happy Death Day (Groundhog Day), Freaky (Freak Friday) and even Totally Killer (Back To The Future); but on the horizon lurks seasonal stalker It’s A Wonderful Knife – guess which movie this tries to ape?
The town of Angel Falls is a picturesque, Frank Capra affair with loving families, christmas decorations aplenty and a strong panic of economic ruin in the air as local mogul Henry Walters hopes to buy up enough properties to turn the town into a bustling leisure complex full of stores, restaurants and other such things. Trapped in his shadow is the Carruthers family as patriarch David has to work on Christmas Eve helping the unscrupulous Henry persuade the last hold out to sell his house.
Not only is daughter Winnie upset that her father has to work the night before Christmas, but she’s also concerned that it’s her best friend’s grandfather that Henry is trying unsuccessfully to strong arm. However, with Spoiler Warnings in full effect, matters are resolved in a terrifyingly abrupt fashion when a killer, clad entirely in white like a Christmas angel, slices up both Winnie’s friend and her grandfather in a vicious attack and after finishing them off, he comes after Winnie herself. However, Winnie’s final girl instincts kick in a little too fast and she fatally vanquishes the Angel while revealing him to be, unsurprisingly, Henry Walters himself.
Now, before you all start scream foul that I’ve ruined sizable portion of the plot, let me assure you that this is only the pre-credits section and plenty more shit is about to go down. A year passes and a despondent Winnie, upset that her family and the town in general is trying to forget the murders ever happened, is seeing her hopes and dreams spiral and openly muses while staring at an Aurora that the world would surely be better if she had never been born. Before you can say George Bailey, Winnie gets her wish and finds herself in an alternate Angel Falls that never had her around to thwart the murderous Angel and the killer has since been embarking in a year-long murder spree. Teaming with local weirdo, Bernie, Winnie finds that the antics of the Angel has Thorn the heart out of her family and the town in general, but stopping it should be easy as she already knows the killer’s identity – doesn’t she?
While this thread of merging slashers with existing movies is starting to become a bit like that time when a bunch of mash-up novels like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, it’s still a fun gimmick to mull over. However, while we still wait to see what comes next (surely Big will be the next under the knife) there’s a feeling that in its haste to pounce on such a fun idea, It’s A Wonderful Knife kind of rushes through its central concept without fully taking advantage of it. While the Capra influence is obviously front and centre and there’s a nice running thread involving debate about who exactly is playing the “Clarence” role in the movie, that’s kind of as far as it goes. However, it certainly tackles its Capra influence with far more gusto than it does its slasher influences as the stalk and slash moments are reminiscent of the stab-happy murders of Scream but with only a fraction of the tension, scares or impact.
However, tension, scares or impact don’t seem to be director Tyler Macintyre aim as he goes all out to serve up a sweetly inclusive, feel-good slice and dice instead of devastating his audience with shocking moments or jaw-dropping rug-pulls.
However, this slice of yule tide, gateway is all very well and good, but I can’t see it making the list of all time great Xmas shockers as movie like the original Black Christmas or even the supremely sleazy Santa slayer Silent Night Deadly Night.
Still, despite its rather disposable nature, the movie does have some noticable plus points. For a start, the movie has a great cast with lead Jane Widdop giving good final girl while looking unerringly like the very image of a young Barbara Crampton (someone cast them in a movie as their older/younger selves, immediately!) and her relationship with Jessica McLeod’s fidgety outcast provides a solid backbone. Elsewhere we get Justin Long in another scumbag role (his toothy entrepreneur seems to be channeling baby brother Billy from the Righteous Gemstones), Joel McHale in a straight, parental role and Ginger Snaps’ Katherine Isabelle – but none of them are really allowed to properly cut loose within their respective roles.
Elsewhere, the movie’s slasher character, the Angel is a striking image, cutting a snow-white, billowing figure that looks like the negative version of Ghostface from Scream and even though the practicality of it sometimes seems a little questionable (Arterial blood on white? The Angel’s laundry bill must be fucking staggering), I’ve seen far less memorable killer costumes in the past.
However, by the final twenty minutes, It’s A Wonderful Knife finally collapses in on itself as it starts making up its shaky rules as it goes – the characters simply pull facts concerning the Aurora out of their arse with absolute certainty – and for some reason, Long’s slimy antagonist suddenly goes from casual Scrooge style villainy to weird, full blown, mind controlling, super villainy at the drop of a Santa hat without any set up whatsoever.
A simple, diverting, feel good horror It’s A Wonderful Knife may be, but the script certainly could have used a few more passes to help the concept last little longer than a sparse 87 minutes. It’s fun while it last, but no one here is earning their wings no matter how many bells ring…
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