A beloved holiday classic gets the killer treatment in the latest film from Tragedy Girls helmer Tyler MacIntyre. 

Winnie Carruthers’ life is in turmoil. A year ago, she was able to stop a serial killer known as the Angel and unmasked him as the town’s mayor, who was looking to expand on turning the town into a thriving tourist destination. However, she has been rejected by the school of her dreams. She is getting threats from the mayor’s brother. She finds out her boyfriend has been cheating on her with a friend. To make things worse, her family has moved on like nothing happened. She finally has had enough and wishes she was never born.

Awakening to the same place, Winnie soon learns no one recognizes her. She also learns that the Angel is alive and well and plans to wreak havoc as the holidays draw near. When Winnie meets Bertie, the town outcast seen by her peers as a weirdo, at first Bertie is reluctant to believe Winnie. However, the two soon realize they have a common enemy as Bertie has been studying the crimes of the Angel. Together, they devise a plan to expose the Angel once again and make the holidays peaceful again. 

With films such as Happy Death Day and Totally Killer taking the time travel route in terms of stopping a serial killer in the protagonists’ midst, this film takes one of the all-time great Christmas films, It’s a Wonderful Life, and flips it upside down, giving it the good old serial killer twist and add some nice modern-day twists and turns throughout the film. 

Jane Widdop is excellent as Winnie, the protagonist who even though she succeeded in stopping a serial killer, is not so much seen as a hero as a year after the event, people just forgot about it and yet, she still is grieving over the loss of her best friend to the killer. She has every right to be angry as with the exception of the killer’s brother, no one just seems to care. She even shuns her own parents, played by Joel McHale and Erin Boyes, for acting more happy than mourn the loss on Christmas. Once she ends up in her alternate universe, she relies on her own wits instead of having an angel by her side because the “angel” in this film, is the killer.

Jess McLeod’s Bertie is the “weirdo” who is shunned upon her peers, but even in their from a year ago, Winnie and Bertie lock eyes as if they have some sort of connection. So of course, they bond in the alternate universe as they both try to stop the killer. Kudos has to go to Justin Long, playing town mayor Henry Waters with a kind of nerdy, goofy like panache to his performance while McHale goes through a whole series of emotions, from worrisome to overjoyed to reluctant when in the alternate universe, he is an emotional wreak with the death of his son. Katharine Isabelle brings some much needed comic relief in the role of Winnie’s Aunt Gale, who constantly is at odds in the form of sibling rivalry with her sister. 

The kill scenes are quite fun, especially if you are a fan of Scream’s iconic Ghostface. Mostly containing slashings, the knives the Angel brandishes have wings on the halberd and the killer is decked out in a white robe with a mask that has no cut out eyes. In some instances, this causes the stunt actor to trip a few times with one take being used in the final film! 

It’s a Wonderful Knife brings loads of Christmas fun and “fear” with the holiday classic being turned upside down. The cast is great in this and the kill scenes are sure to delight. Here’s to some season’s killings.

WFG RATING: A-

RLJE Films and Shudder presents a Divide/Conquer production in association with Fourth Culture Films. Director: Tyler MacIntyre. Producers: Seth Caplan, Greg Gilreath, Adam Hendricks, Michael Kenndy, and Daniel Bekerman. Writer: Michael Kennedy. Cinematography: Nicolas Piatnik. Editing: Arndt-Wulf Peemöller. 

Cast: Jane Widdop, Jess McLeod, Joel McHale, Erin Boyes, Justin Long, Katharine Isabelle, William B. Davis, Aiden Howard, Sean Depner, Zenia Marshall, Jason Fernandes, Hana Huggins.

The film will be released in select theaters on November 10.