Turning a Christmas classic into a slasher: An interview with the writer-producer of It’s A Wonderful Knife

After writing the script for Freaky (2020), Michael Kennedy returns to the horror genre with a new and bloody spin on It’s Wonderful Life.

By: Isabella Soares 

 Jane Widdop as Winnie Carruthers in It’s a Wonderful Knife (Image via RLJE Films and Shudder)

Writer and producer Michael Kennedy’s latest onscreen endeavour, It’s A Wonderful Knife, brings a new twist to the 1940s holiday classic by turning it into a slasher. 

The film is focused on Winnie Carruthers, played by Yellowjackets’ alum Jane Widdop, a girl who struggles to carry on after she saves her town from a masked serial killer. As she wishes to have never been born, Winnie ends up in a parallel universe that shows her what would have happened to her family and community if she didn’t exist. 

It isn’t the first time that Kennedy has come up with a slasher based on a feel-good classic. His first venture was in 2020 with Freaky, a body-swap horror film that was inspired by the Freaky Friday series. The positive feedback and memorable experiences on set on his previous project were what drew him to partner with director Tyler MacIntyre to work on It’s a Wonderful Knife, both as a writer and a producer. 

Ahead of the film’s sold-out screening at the 2023 Toronto After Dark Film Festival, Kennedy spoke with CanCulture about the behind-the-scenes process of writing the script, casting Justin Long as the devious Mayor Henry Waters (aka the psychotic serial killer tormenting Angel Falls) and how Freaky prepared him to be a producer for the first time. 

This film is a spin on a holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life. Why did you decide to use this holiday favourite as inspiration for the script?

I always wanted to do a Christmas slasher. So I instantly thought of It's a Wonderful Life because it was my dad's favourite movie. I thought it was a nice way to honour him since he passed away five years ago. That was the first movie that came to my mind, and I started running through the plot in my head, and I was like, yeah, this (a slasher) would actually make a really fun spin on it.

What I really like about this film is that you already know who the killer is right off the bat. This is different from other slasher films like Scream (1996), which always make you wonder who the killer is. What led you to this creative decision?

I wanted to subvert expectations. I also didn't want to have a kill in the first five minutes, so that's kind of a bit different too. I knew there was no way to avoid revealing who the killer was. If the basis of the movie was going to be about somebody who kills, stops a killer, and then wishes their life away. That killer is still going to be around.

I thought it was a fun and a deeper way to examine that portion of life that you never get to see in these slasher movies unless there's a sequel a year later where you get a quick up-to-speed on what that person's been up to but you never get to see the post effects of the hero taking down the villain and what that does to their mind.

How did you find a balance between horror and the uplifting feel of a holiday film in this Christmas slasher?

Christmas is also a rough time for a lot of people, so I thought there was an interesting way to discuss that through the movie. For me it was really natural cause I love horror and I absolutely love Christmas. I love Christmas horror movies.

You're also a producer in this project, which is really exciting because it allows you to also figure out casting. When did Justin Long's name come into the conversation? 

It was pretty late, honestly. We literally cast him, I think the week before we started shooting. We were in negotiations with him for a few weeks before that, but his name came up pretty late. The character kept changing, quite frankly. The original draft of the script had more of an older guy, in his fifties or sixties.

It was a role that we were just struggling to cast. So then about a month before we started to shoot, we had the whole movie filled, except that role. 

We had a conversation, and I was like, I think we need to make him a man my age. I'm 43. That was when someone from the studio was like, oh, we should get Justin Long for that.

As a producer, were you on set with the director and cast every day?

It's different in every movie, depending on what capacity you produce. But for me, yeah, I was there every day. I was involved from day one, even before there was a word written. I weighed in on casting, I weighed in on locations, and I weighed in on hiring Tyler (director). 

Tyler fosters a really collaborative set and we had a really fast shoot. Thank God it came naturally for everybody because there would be days when I'd be writing based on the location.

We had a day that we completely got rained out, so we had to take an entire day that was supposed to be outside and move it inside and figure out a way that made it work and make sense to the movie. It was crazy because I'd never produced before.

How was your experience on Freaky compared to this set, where you had a chance to be more involved in the production process?

We shot Freaky for over 35 days and I think I was there for 25 of them, but I was mostly there to learn. Normally, the writer isn't usually on set, but I wrote the movie with Chris, who directed it, so as he was prepping the movie, I said, can I come? And he goes, yeah, if you want to come, definitely come. I felt like Freaky was my film school and It’s a Wonderful Knife was my coming out party as a filmmaker.

It’s a Wonderful Knife arrives in select theatres and VOD on November 10.

Family reunions can be a real killer: A review of Daniel’s Gotta Die

Sibling rivalry just got a whole lot deadlier in the premiere of Jeremy LaLonde’s dark comedy at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival

By Sarah Grishpul

If you thought your family was horrible — get a load of Daniel’s. 

Daniel’s Gotta Die is the latest dark comedy film from Canadian director Jeremy LaLonde, which had its Toronto premiere at this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival. The movie follows Daniel Powell (Joel David Moore), the son of eccentric, wealthy Canadian tycoon, Edward Powell (played by famous American musician Iggy Pop), who inherits a large fortune upon his father’s death. 

This is quite unfortunate for Daniel’s three siblings, Mia (Mary Lynn Rajskub), Victor (Jason Jones) and Jessica (Carly Chaikin), who stand to gain nothing if they don’t agree to tag along with Daniel on a weekend away together at their family beach house.

While Daniel is ecstatic at the opportunity to finally forge relationships with his estranged siblings, the other Powells have something else more sinister on their minds besides family bonding. 

If you’re keen on films that play around with the dysfunctional, spoiled family trope (similar to Knives Out or Succession), this is one Canadian feature that may pique your interest. 

Daniel is very much the straight man against his three wildly unhinged siblings, reminiscent of the level-headed Michael Bluth in Arrested Development. Much of the humour comes from his clueless naivety while interacting with his self-absorbed family. 

However, whenever Daniel isn’t playing off their antics, he becomes a dull and one-noted character. His entire role in the film is to be the naive, morally good man determined to see the best in people, yet even his desire to “live on the frequency of positivity” becomes a bit tiresome.

As for his siblings, Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays the stoic (and possibly psychotic?) Mia Powell steals the show with her performance. The character reminds me of a much older Wednesday Addams, with her morbid sense of humour and deadpan inflections. 

Together, Mia and her coke-addicted twin brother, Victor, pair up to try and kill Daniel. This duo proves to be one of the funniest dynamics onscreen, as their relationship is much like a servant and his master. Mia concocts multiple ways to murder Daniel, while Victor struggles to work up the nerve to carry them out successfully. 

I wish the film had continued to have more moments of Daniel being oblivious to the many murder attempts courtesy of his siblings. There was one funny scene in which Victor tried to poison Daniel’s wine, only for him to pour it into the dinner he was cooking for the entire family. Watching Victor toss the dish out the window and attempt to hastily replicate the meal was delightful. 

As for their social media influencer sister, Jessica, apart from constantly being on her phone, she doesn’t get much to do in the film. Sure, she wants the money just as much as her other two siblings, but rather than commit the act herself, she convinces her boyfriend to kill him instead.

Rather, Jessica spends most of her time helping Lawrence, her father’s loyal advisor played by the late Bob Saget. He spends the majority of the movie trying to steal Daniel’s money from right under his nose. 

As a fan of Full House who would religiously watch the sitcom with her sister growing up, it was great to see him onscreen in his final film role. While Lawrence does have his moments of dripping sarcasm and zingers, my only gripe is that I wished he would have had more to do, as it often felt like his actions weren’t enough to carry the plot or my interest.

Despite that, the movie does a good job of paying tribute to the late actor – dedicating the film to Saget in the credits.

There were multiple moments in the film where comedic timing and delivery was impeccable (largely due to the talented Bob Saget, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Jason Jones), yet still many of the jokes just did not land for me. The comedy was at its strongest when the Powells were not-so-discreetly attempting to murder Daniel, and I wish it had continued to play off his utter cluelessness.

As for the production value of the Powell family beach house, I thought it was quite well executed. For a movie that takes place majorly on the grounds of a massive mansion, the isolated location succeeds in creating an atmosphere that made me feel just as trapped as Daniel and his siblings.

While the story itself doesn’t exactly break new ground or add anything new to the genre, Daniel’s Gotta Die is a charming flick that reminds us all that while blood may be thicker than water — greed is often stronger than blood.

Retro review: Black Christmas

The Canadian cult-classic horror film that defined a genre

By: Federico S. Gutierrez

Still image from Black Christmas

Don’t let the title mislead you, Black Christmas is not a merry movie. Quite the contrary. Here’s the disturbing tale of a psychotic killer hiding in the attic of a sorority house, tormenting the lives of the young women living there. It’s not ironic, then, that Black Christmas is the perfect movie to watch during the Halloween season. With a hefty balance of shock and drama, this small independent horror movie is a landmark of Canadian cinema, defining a genre that would go on to scare every generation to come.

Released in 1974, Black Christmas was welcomed with unfavourable reviews from critics, yet this small-budget Canadian production would go on to inspire countless horror classics such as Halloween and Friday the 13th, earning a place in the history of cinema as the movie that jump-started the slasher genre that dominated the film landscape of the 1980s. Ironically, though, Black Christmas received its Canadian premiere in October 1974, whilst being held back until December in the United States in hopes that its title would take audiences by surprise.

Still image of a scene from Black Christmas filmed on the University of Toronto campus

The only connection this movie offers to Christmas is the season in which the story takes place, adding an extra layer of false security to an already chilling atmosphere. Set in the middle of a snowy winter around the campus of the University of Toronto, the movie starts from the point of view of the stalker assessing the sorority house where his future victims live. The figure climbs up the side of the house and enters through the attic, where he stops to listen to the women’s conversation. The phone rings, and insults blurt out at the woman who answers it: “kill the baby” the voice says, raising the woman’s — and the audience’s — fight or flight instincts. In just the opening scene, Black Christmas astutely sets up a strange mood of discomfort for both the audience and the characters. The protagonist is Jess, a quiet yet clever young woman struggling to accept and disclose her own pregnancy to her selfish, quick-to-anger boyfriend Peter.  

Any horror movie can only be as good as its cast. Black Christmas boasts of an interesting cast of actors that, even though their names may not be remembered, their faces have been immortalized in other classics. Olivia Hussey plays Jess with the same purity and grace that she used to play Juliet in the 1968 adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, which most consider to be the seminal translation of the play to the screen. Legend says that Hussey agreed to appear in this movie only after a psychic told her that “she would star in a Canadian movie that will make a lot of money.” Jess’ enigmatic boyfriend Peter is played by Keir Dullea, who appeared as the lonely astronaut David Bowman in Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both Hussey and Dullea lend the movie very subdued performances that amplify the quiet psychological issues each of their characters are experiencing without having to explain themselves to the audience.

Still image of Olivia Hussey in Black Christmas

The most special element of Black Christmas is how it manages to shock you through implied violence. The levels of gore are very minimal, nevertheless, the deaths feel painful and riveting thanks to its use of editing. Some death scenes intercut between images of the killer’s point-of-view and a knife getting to its victim. The effect, indeed, is not to make you jump out of your seat, instead it successfully manages to put you into the mindset of the characters to emulate the confusion and paranoia they are experiencing. Contrast this to the mainstream array of so-called horror movies, such as the latest Halloween Kills, that attempt to horrify an audience with lots of blood splashing on the screen, but only succeed in overshadowing their characters. 

As it would occur, Olivia Hussey’s psychic wasn’t at all mistaken. Although Black Christmas opened up to disappointing reviews, the movie grossed an outstanding $4.1 million on a budget of merely $620,000, thus making it one of the most successful Canadian movies of all time. With time Black Christmas has gathered a devout cult following that continues to praise its innovative shock techniques and profound characters, a balance very rare to find even in modern movies.