It’s A Wonderful Knife (2023): a film review by Mark R. Leeper.

It seems an odd tradition for the film industry to make films with violent murders for the Christmas season, but that’s show business. ‘It’s A Wonderful Knife’ has a serial killer wandering the streets, killing people on Christmas Eve.

You can tell Angel Falls is a great place because it’s full of gay and interracial relationships, including gay, interracial relationships and the first person to die is not African-American. But there is a nasty real estate developer who wants to ruin it all with a commercial development called Water’s Cove. All the descriptions of this film seem to latch onto the idea that the ‘alternate town’ is an actual alternate reality (assuming that is not an oxymoron) rather than a dream or vision. I’m not sure that’s a major change, especially with the explanation the film eventually gives. Another change is that the main character is much younger than George Bailey (gotta grab the young demographic) and female.

The biggest problem is why, after killing the psycho killer in our world, our main character thinks things would be better if she had never been born. With George Bailey, at least there is some reason for that belief. Yes, I suppose it could be just saying, ‘I wish I had never been born’, but that is drifting back into dream/vision again.

There are nods to ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’: Angel Falls rather than Bedford Falls, a reference to being a Clarence, etc. There are also nods to current political situations. Other than that, it’s pretty much your basic slasher film. [-mrl/ecl]

Released theatrically on 10 November 2023.

Rating: +1 (-4 to +4), or 6/10.

Mark R. Leeper

(c) Mark R. Leeper 2023