It’s a Wonderful Knife review – seasonal classic refitted as comedy slasher horror

A good cast can’t lift this not-quite-convincing retake on It’s a Wonderful Life as a teen frightfest

Here is a classic example of a film you root for, fervently willing it to be brilliant. It’s got Joel McHale from Community in it – great. It’s got Justin Long committing to a bit as a Trump-style property baron with blond hair and spray tan – fabulous. Even more exciting: there’s a role for Katharine Isabelle, star of beloved turn-of-the-century horror comedy Ginger Snaps, as a cool lesbian aunt.

The premise is fun, too: a loose remake of It’s a Wonderful Life as a comedy-horror about a teenage girl called Winnie Carruthers (Jane Widdop), whose life goes to hell after she kills a masked maniac. This leads her to wish she had never been born – a wish then somehow granted by the cosmos. In turn, this gives said masked maniac a free hand to establish a reign of terror over the little town of Angel Falls.