I should start by saying I'm not the biggest Christmas movie fan. I went in without any expectations, only to find out it was a Christmas movie, which didn't excite me at all. To my surprise, it turned out to be a comedy horror, a genre combination I usually don't like because it's often hit or miss, and rarely the former. This missed the mark. The film wasn't funny or scary; it was just Christmasy.

The special effects left a lot to be desired; could tell that many things were poorly done and looked too fake, like the blood. The movie probably didn't have a substantial budget, and it felt more like a parody. So much didn't make sense; plot lacked coherence, making it uninteresting, and the opening act... wtf was that opening act? The movie was just all over the place, attempting to juggle too many things at once and ending up as a chaotic mess.

The acting wasn't stellar, and the weak writing didn't help. The story wasn't interesting, and many scenes lacked logical consistency, which can be forgivable in a slasher movie if they're fun, but in this case, they weren't. At least let it be fun. The characters weren't great, and had nothing interesting to make you care for them; they all seemed like dumb teenagers.

I remember getting more unimpressed as the movie progressed, especially when it unexpectedly veered into Christmas fantasy territory. There were some laughs but while some people found humor in it, I did not share that sentiment. I watched the movie with a biased perspective though, it was a mystery movie night.

In the end, it's a low-budget mishmash of comedy, horror, fantasy, whodunit mystery, slasher, and Christmas themes. For me, it just wasn't great, and "Violent Night" and "Love, Actually" remain the only Christmas movies I've enjoyed. Even then, objectively, I still think the film was messily put together.

We saw this as our local theaters "mystery movie" where we get to watch a movie before it comes out for a discount, without knowing what movie we're going to see. It started out as a promising comedy/slasher spin on "It's a Wonderful Life", but as the movie went on it made less and less sense and went from slapstick funny to just dumb. Instead of just an alternative spin on the main characters life, the second half tried to incorporate supernatural elements to explain the ridiculous plot twists but they just didn't work and fell flat. Even at $5 watching this movie just wasn't worth it. I can watch better movies on streaming services at home.

It's a Wonderful Knife has a style that is not often seen, possibly a style of its own. It will turn some away, but if you go along with it, then you'll find a lot to like, despite oddball scripting.

If questions like "why are these people making out at family Christmas" or "why are so many people calm about dozens of murders happening in a tiny town" or "shouldn't this person do that instead of this" stop you from having the fun the movie wants you to have, then move on. True, the movie could be 30 minutes longer. It could've attempted to add scenes to explain and answer some of these questions. This could've made it better or even worse. The film is more concerned with our lead character surviving a killer in this alternate timeline that she is experiencing. With her POV, she doesn't get to answer these questions that the audience will ask. She's asking them too. The only question she needs to answer is how to get back to her normal life.

Despite the script not being perfect, it could've been better or worse, but its intentions don't feel like it wants to be anything more than what it is. Because it feels like it's the product that the filmmakers intended. The thing that holds the movie together the best is the acting, with the highlights being Justin Long and Jane Widdop, among others. By it's nature, the movie isn't "great", but it fits into the mold of an easy watch that will be on a fairly steady rotation on Christmas.