RLJE Films and Shudder have acquired the English-language territory rights for It’s a Wonderful Knife, a slasher reimagining of Frank Capra’s Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life, which fell into the public domain back in 1974. The film will make its world premiere at Beyond Fest on October 8, 2023. It will be released only in theaters across the country on November 10th. It’s a Wonderful Knife will stream on Shudder at a later date, presumably in time for the holidays.
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Directed by Tyler MacIntyre (Tragedy Girls; V/H/S/99), and written by Michael Kennedy (Freaky), the film stars Justin Long (Barbarian), Joel McHale (Community), Jane Widdop (Yellowjackets), scream queen Katharine Isabelle (Josie and the Pussycats) Jess McLeod (One of Us is Lying) and Cassandra Naud (Influencer).
“We’re excited to release It’s a Wonderful Knife and once again work with its amazing cast and filmmakers,” says RLJE Films Chief Acquisitions Officer Mark Ward. “Over the last few years, we’ve been fortunate to have released horror/holiday films that have been embraced by audiences and we believe this one is no exception.”
It’s a Wonderful Knife joins a number of public domain stories that have been picked up for recent horror movies. Recently, Uncork’d Entertainment revealed plans for horror movies based on both Mary Had A Little Lamb and Three Blind Mice. A sequel to the indie horror phenomenon Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is currently in development for a planned 2024 release.
In It’s a Wonderful Knife, a year after saving her town from a psychotic killer on Christmas Eve, Winnie Carruthers’ life is less than wonderful — but when she wishes she’d never been born, she finds herself in a nightmare parallel universe and discovers that without her, things could be much, much worse. Now the killer is back, and she must team up with the town misfit to identify the killer and get back to her own reality. RJLE Films describes the project as “It’s a Wonderful Life by way of Scream.”
It’s a Wonderful Knife was produced by Seth Caplan (Brooklyn 45), Michael Kennedy (Freaky) and Daniel Bekerman (The Witch). It’s a Divide and Conquer production with Greg Gilreath (Vengeance), and Adam Hendricks (Black Christmas) and in association with Fourth Culture Films.
