It's A Wonderful Knife (2023)-- Ending Explained with spoilers

 

Plot: On Christmas Eve, Winnie wishes she had never been born. Thrust into a parallel universe, she finds out the consequences of her wishes.

Many people would agree that Christmas is not Christmas without watching a Christmas classic movie. And for most people, that movie is IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

Over the years, there have been several adaptations of it, but not many horror ones.

Well, here comes one.

IT'S A WONDERFUL KNIFE is an entertaining slasher movie, but somewhere along the line, the story meanders in the second half and loses steam.

It does redeem itself in the climax, but yes, the movie could have done better with incorporating witty scenes or even scary ones to pass itself off as a horror comedy.

The relationship angles are also forced, and the twist is interesting but not entirely unpredictable and barely manages to land.

IT'S A WONDERFUL KNIFE is just entertaining on the whole. Don't go in expecting anything else from it, and you may just have a wonderful time watching it.

IT'S A WONDERFUL KNIFE Movie Plot

It's almost Christmas time in Angel Falls, and luckily, there is Mayor Henry, who lifts everyone's spirits.

We meet the Carruthers family who consists of David who works for Henry, Judy his wife and their kids Jimmy and Winnie.

While the Carruthers are looking forward to spending Christmas together,  Henry pops in to see them. He also runs a real estate business and has just one more house to buy so that he can have the land for a different project.

The land belongs to Winnie's best friend Cara's grandfather Roger's house. David is told to join Henry to convince Roger to vacate his house.

The remaing Carruthers are disappointed that the family is once again not celebrating together.

David and Henry are at Roger's house, and the older man practically insults Henry for not being as kind-hearted as his father. Henry gets irritated because he thinks his father didn't believe in progress but was in wasting time being popular with the locals.

Roger comments that David should have gotten Henry's job instead. This pisses off Henry even more. Before leaving, Cara says goodbye to her grandfather. Roger remarks on how he would be leaving everything to his granddaughter. Henry looks at her oddly, and though he leaves, there's something in the way he looks at the family that suggests he is up to no good.

The Carruthers are celebrating and visited by Aunt Gale and her partner Karen. They are well-loved by Winnie and Jimmy. Winnie even considers Gale to be her confidant.

Jimmy and Winnie then head out to party with their friends.

Winnie is in a relationship with Robbie, who seems more interested in spending time with Winnie's friend Darla.

At the party there is another girl called Bernie but whom everyone calls weirdo. Yet, she is invited to the party? And she attends it to be insulted by everyone.

Winnie initially greets her but then is told not to interact with her, and she agrees.

Meanwhile, Roger is at his home when there's a knock on the door. He is expecting carolers, but when he sees a figure in a white costume, he grows alert. But it is too late for the old man as he has his throat slit.

The angel killer then makes his way to the teens' Christmas party. Cara is busy kissing her crush when she tastes something awful. She backs away and realizes there is blood pouring out of her crush's mouth.

The Angel Killer has come for Cara. She barely manages to alert the others before getting killed.  Winnie is devastated but then sees the killer attacking Jimmy and goes to save him. She finds a battery and wires and manages to electrocute the killer.

She unmasks him to reveal that the killer was none other than Mayor Waters.

A year passes. Nobody in town even talks about the incident. Henry's brother Buck accosts Winnie on the street and blames her for what has happened to him and his family.

Winnie is still mourning her friend's death, and to top it all, she has been rejected by the college she wanted to go to.

On Christmas Eve, presents are being exchanged. David is finally present, but he spends time with his son Jimmy more who is now working with him.

Winnie receives a pink tracksuit, and she hates it. Even her Aunt Gale sides with her and tells David he should not have brought presents that reminds a woman that she needs to work out.

Winnie tries to get over it, but then she finds out Jimmy is being gifted a truck and loses her cool. Jimmy offers to let her use it too, but she is beyond consolable.

She heads to the annual Christmas Eve party that her friends still throw because they don't care about what happened last year or that they lost a friend too. The party must go on.

Winnie looks for Robbie, and Bernie tells her that he is out in the garden, although another friend tells her that he is in the basement.

Winnie goes to the basement to find Robbie and Darla making out. Winnie realizes her day has just gotten worse. She storms out and screams at Bernie for not telling her the truth.

She then goes to the pier and spots the Aurora Borealis in the sky. She makes a wish that she was never born. The colourful lights go out, and everything turns dark.

As Winnie decides to return home, there are banners of Mayor Henry everywhere. She then spots the Angel Killer murdering someone. She runs around before asking the sheriff for help, only to find that Buck is now the sheriff.

He informs her about the serial killer in town and that there are usually several killings every month.

Winnie admits to knowing the identity of the serial killer, but that is when Mayor Henry pops up. Winnie stays quiet but lets out a hint that the killer is about Henry height. The mayor does not look pleased.

Winnie heads home as it hits her that her wish may have come true in the worst possible way. She wants to make sure her brother is fine and heads home but finds that her family does not recognize her and everything is gloomy.

She is scolded by David, who tells her they only had one kid, Jimmy, and that he died last Christmas Eve.

Winnie is horrified to find that her wish undid her actions and that she was unable to save her brother.

She goes to Robbie's party and, to her dismay, finds that her boyfriend and friend are official since Winnie never existed. She finds Bernie, who is wearing tons of makeup but still not accepted by her peers. She gets Bernie to stick with her, and the latter takes her to her house after the Angel Killer strikes at the party and kills off some background characters.

Winnie tries to convince Bernie about her identity, but Bernie suspects Winnie may be the killer since the killing began when she came. Before Winnie could say another word, the angel killer crashed through the window, proving that Winnie was not the killer.

Relieved, she takes her to the movie theatre where Bernie works because that is the only place not bought by Henry yet. The girls relax  and watch a movie while Bernie wants to know how it feels like to be unborn.

It's like they were not just attacked by a killer right now. They are so much at ease.

The next morning, Winnie and Bernie come up with a theory that the mayor may be killing off people whose properties have still not been usurped by him.

They decide to get David to help them since he works closely with Henry.

Winnie goes back home and convinces Gale she knows her by telling her an embarrassing story only a close family member would know. They let her go see David, who connects with Winnie over a shared memory of Jimmy at a football game.

But then Winnie tells him the mayor is responsible for Jimmy's death. David is not ready to believe that his boss is the killer and he's not going to accuse him because then who will pay his salary?

Winnie starts to leave but is disgusted to see that her mother is now a drunk and making out with another man.

In the next instant, the Angel Killer appears and kills Judy. Winnie barely gets time to grieve as she runs about the house. Eventually, she and Bernie manage to push the killer down the stairs. Winnie is about to kill him when she removes the mask and finds her father.

Shocked, she is unable to kill him. The twist is obvious over here at this point because Winnie had just accused Henry of being the killer, and it just shows up.

Anyway, Winnie and Bernie make their way out and, with the help of Gale, realize that Winnie needs to go back to her universe, but the Aurora is fading, and Winnie is running out of time.

IT'S A WONDERFUL KNIFE Ending Explained

Bernie convinces Winnie to kill her father and then make her wish so that she can go back. Winnie has no qualms over killing him. She literally doesn't hesitate because either he just killed her mother, and she's pissed, or she is that desperate to get back to her universe. Besides, if she is successful, this universe will not exist, and her father will not be the killer.

They decide to call the killer to the theatre and lay out a trap.

They literally have a sign board put up to attract the killer's attention. The trap is set, but it is Robbie and Darla who show up. Gale goes to check in something and returns after being stabbed.

The killer is here, and he goes through Robbie and Darla too before chasing Winnie. She finally succeeds in killing him and thinks she can finally go back now.

She returns to the pier and says her goodbye to Bernie. Winnie makes a wish, but nothing happens. Bernie then tells her that killing her father was not enough as he simply was following Henry's orders. They have to kill the mayor.

They head out to the event thrown by the mayor. Everyone's eyes are blue and glazed, suggesting they are under a spell. The Mayor calls upon Buck and, instead of rewarding him, stabs him because how dare his brother think about leaving him.

Winnie and Bernie create a ruckus and are brought up on stage. It is revealed that Henry was behind Bernie's mother's state, which is why she is known as the weirdo and considered a pariah. But not enough because she is still invited to parties despite the name calling.

Bernie and Winnie are pissed and stab him with the angel knife before he can.

With the mayor now dead, Winnie returns to make her wish. Bernie admits that she was planning to kill herself, but being with Winnie helped her. They kiss because they  no longer want to be just friends.

Winnie returns to her universe and awakens in her bedroom, still wearing the tracksuit.

She runs downstairs and embraces her family who bought her a new gift to make up for the horrid pink tracksuit. It's a camera.

Winnie admits that she got rejected by the college she wanted to go to but she doesn't care because she wants to stay in Angel  Falls.

She is confident that the colleges here will accept her.

While the family is rejoicing, Winnie finally remembers Bernie and goes to see her.

On the way she sees Robbie and Darla but tells them she is okay with them being a couple and that they look cute together.

Since they kissed while the Aurora granted her wish, Bernie remembers everything.

They decide to spend  Christmas together as a couple.

The movie ends.

IT'S A WONDERFUL KNIFE manages to retain some Christmas spirit in an otherwise chaotic movie. And who doesn’t like a warm, happy, ending? Even if it is quite forced.

On a side note, is Justin Long ever going to survive in any horror movie?

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