It’s a Wonderful Knife

If you put Nancy Drew in a teen slasher take of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” you’d get the bloody yet spirited “It’s a Wonderful Knife.” More than an assemblage of its familiar parts, director Tyler MacIntyre’s film intensely opens with Henry Waters (Justin Long), the self-absorbed real estate agent of the quaint small town Angel Falls, angling to acquire a historic home owned by the area’s patriarch Roger Evans. The small patch of land is the only obstacle between Waters’ aims of building Waters Cover, a soulless retail venture. When Evans rebuffs Waters, a white-robed killer arrives, slitting Evans’ throat and later murdering his granddaughter. The brainy Winnie Carruthers (Jane Widdop) eventually electrocutes the slasher to death, revealing his identity to be Waters.