It's A Wonderful Knife Trailer Brings Back Christmas Horror (And Has The Best Movie Title Of The Year)
The first trailer for "It's A Wonderful Knife" is here, and it has everything we never knew we needed from a holiday-set slasher: Laura Lee from "Yellowjackets," a killer who looks like Moon Knight, and ... Justin Long with a spray tan?! Long's involvement in the movie — playing chipper Mayor Waters — should make it a must-see anyway given his wild and watchable horror track record (see: "Drag Me To Hell," "Barbarian," and for better or worse, "Tusk"), but there are plenty of reasons to get stoked for "It's A Wonderful Knife."
The movie is the latest from "Freaky" writer Michael Kennedy, with "Tragedy Girls" filmmaker Tyler MacIntyre directing. That means "It's A Wonderful Knife" is almost certain to have a sharp comedic edge to it, something that's clear from the first seconds of the trailer when Mayor Waters, looking and sounding weirdly like a Martin Short character, campily declares, "I give you ... Christmas!" The festivities are soon cut short, though, when a murderous killer in white robes and a featureless plastic mask begins stabbing random townsfolk. In a riff on the Frank Capra classic "It's A Wonderful Life," the real action starts a year later, when Winnie (Jane Widdop), who saved the town, wishes she'd never existed.
All is not calm
Winnie's wish apparently sends her into a bleak alternate timeline where her parents and friends don't know her and the town's Christmas killer is on a year-round rampage. "Community" star Joel McHale plays Winnie's dad (who hilariously tells her to just get over her trauma in a classic dad in a horror movie moment), while modern horror icon Katharine Isabelle, of "Ginger Snaps" and "American Mary" fame, apparently also makes an appearance.
Based on this trailer alone, the plot of "It's A Wonderful Knife" seems deceptively straightforward, but I wouldn't be surprised if the alternate timeline means someone else ended up behind the mask after all. Plus, as with any "It's A Wonderful Life" riff, Winnie's got to reclaim her will to live — and hopefully not also die — against a snowy, cheerful winter background.
Christmas horror has almost always been around, but it hasn't always been a formula for box office success. Last year's David Harbour-led Santa actioner "Violent Night" proved that audiences are thirsty for holiday genre-blenders with great casts, though, so perhaps the similarly punny "It's A Wonderful Knife" will also be a surprise hit. You can see the movie in theaters beginning November 10, 2023.