What with the Christmas horror parodies “The Mean One” and “Violent Night” and “Amityville Christmas Vacation” et al., it’s probably only a matter of time before we get “Rudolph the Bloody Red Reindeer” and “Death Actually” and “The Chop Around the Corner.” The latest gore-filled present under the rotted Christmas tree is “It’s a Wonderful Knife,” a great title for a pretty good idea that unfortunately plays out in predictably bloody fashion and suffers from medium-level production values.
Directed by the talented Tyler MacIntyre, who helmed the razor-sharp slasher/satire “Tragedy Girls” (2017) and wrote the smash hit “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” and featuring a promising cast including reliable veterans Justin Long and Joel McHale, “It’s a Wonderful Knife” is exactly what that title tells you it will be: a slasher film takeoff on “It’s a Wonderful Life,” complete with an extended fantasy/alternate reality sequence in which the lead character wishes she’d never been born — and learns you really have to be careful what you wish for.
