How ‘It’s a Wonderful Knife’ Screenwriter Michael Kennedy and Director Tyler MacIntyre Made an Uplifting Slasher Horror Movie

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. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE by way of SCREAM.

Nothing better than to ring in the holidays with a cozy slasher film. And thanks to horror screenwriter Michael Kennedy (Freaky) and horror director Tyler MacIntyre (V/H/S/99), they combined their creative love of the horror genre and films of yesteryear, and gave us, It's a Wonderful Knife. Not only does the film serve up the gore, twists and turns, great imagery (one of the finale theater scenes is visually captivating), and the fantastical, but it's a story driven by a lot of heart. It's something you'd least expect, it's a bit of a twist of its own, but totally worth it, because you become even more invested in these characters and their journey.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: Where did this story idea come from, these characters, and literally an angel of death to laying down the foundation and the world building?

Michael Kennedy: Yeah, so I sat down to write, and my goal was to write a Christmas slasher, after Freaky, and I had such a great experience on Freaky in every way, working on it, writing the script, all that stuff, Chris Landon's the best person in the world. I kind of felt nostalgia for making that movie. And we were in lockdown when I started the process on this. And so, I kind of was like, ‘Maybe I want to play in the same type of world again,’ I was in the need of honestly some fantasy at the time. And It's a Wonderful Life immediately came to mind as like the template. So, I watched that movie a couple of times and was like, ‘Yeah, I can slasher-fie this,’ and immediately, it was like, ‘Well, George Bailey has got to be a 17-year-old girl.’ [laughs]

Sadie: Obviously.

Michael: Obviously. And it all kind of fell into place in a lot of ways. I knew that in order to kind of do It's A Wonderful Life, she would have to have a big victory in the first 20 minutes of the movie and then be in a low point. And that also, let me kind of upend some normal 21st-century late 20th-century slasher conventions of having a big opening set piece, and a killer who's not unveiled until the end of the movie. And we realized we got to do that in the first 15 minutes...she kills the killer in the first 15 minutes. She's got to know who it is, even if he's wearing a mask. So that kind of all started falling into place.

And then I knew I didn't want a Clarence per se, I didn't want an angel. I wanted a living breathing person that could kind of be her peer. And that's where Bernie came from. And then I started finding Bernie as like the misfit and basically me as a Queer kid. And then I was like, ‘Oh, you know what? Bernie is going to be our secret George Bailey reveal at the end of the movie.’ She was actually the one that needed saving, not so much Winnie. And then I knew I didn't want a fucking Santa. I knew I didn't want to a Santa killer. It's been done so many times. You just couldn't convince me that there's another reason for a Santa killer. Then I started thinking of other religious imagery, I wanted religious imagery, and that's where the angel came from. And that was also kind of like a nice little fuck you to the Christian-right by using their angel as a serial killer. So that's kind of where a lot of that came from.

Tyler MacIntyre: The headline is, ‘Michael really hates Santa.’ [laughs]

Sadie: [laughs] How do you really feel about Santa?

Michael: [laughs] I love Santa Claus. But we've seen people dress up as Santa so much to kill teenagers.

Sadie: Yeah, it's overdone. I like the angel. Tyler, how did this project come across your desk? And what intrigued you about this story?

Tyler: Well, after Freaky came out, Michael and I met because a lot of people were sort of, I think telling each of us that because I've done Tragic Girls and he had done Freaky that some kind of overlap was there stylistically. So, we kind of met and sort of dug each other and I knew Seth Caplan beforehand, as well as the Divide and Conquer team who were on producing. And so I read the script and really just fell in love with it. I felt like it had some thematic elements that I've always wanted to kind of do, but don't tend to kind of write when I sit down to create my own projects. And that's what really attracts me to things that I'm looking to direct coming on as that element because I want to tell a story that I wouldn't otherwise think of. And I've been very intrigued by this horror movie spin on other kind of classic story mechanics. And I've always wanted to do a holiday film. And so, between those two things, were I think, on the surface, what attracted me to it, but I really got pulled into like the sincerity.

I really liked the idea of making an uplifting slasher film and the challenges that it creates, because you're not able to like flat out scare the wits out of everybody. And it's not meant to be an ironic twist, you do really need to land that plane in a sincere way. And I think that's kind of fun to do in a horror movie, and you don't see a ton. So, working through that challenge and developing the perspective and thankfully, Michael thought that I had sort of the right beat on it and trusted me to tell the story.

Sadie: You definitely feel for these characters, and especially with that sweet twist at the end. Michael, in terms of adding that layer of time travel and spotting the Northern Lights, how do you go about making sure those rules are carried through and that you stick to the element?

Michael: That was a lot of teamwork. Honestly, a lot of collaboration, a lot of Tyler's notes when he came on board of maybe streamlining some stuff and coming up with clever, fresher stuff that was not in the script. And really, it's just making sure the rules per se, also kind of play like a character. Like the thing I love about the Aurora on this is it really is its own character in the movie, which is great. And you can visually see it. It's one of the few I think, fantastical type, like I love Freaky, and the idea that you can see that switch, and here you can see the Aurora and make it a character unto itself. So, it's really just kind of making sure we went kind of scene by scene and just making sure everything tracked and matched up and not being afraid to change stuff if someone didn't quite get it, or if they had a question or that kind of stuff. And Tyler just does a really good job of surgically looking at the script and finding all those little things that you either need to remove or enhance and that kind of stuff.

Sadie: Tyler, in terms of just the overall production, how many shoot days did you have on this to execute what you needed, because there’s a lot of moving elements for this slasher film.

Tyler: It's tricky. We shot in Vancouver. We were working with that local team there, but we're able to bring in, like my director of photography, we had worked with on V/H/S/99. But everyone else for the most part was local, and so we were able to bring in a couple of cast members, but most of the people, like the vast majority were all local. And so, we were trying to kind of put as much money on screen as possible. And you have to kind of do some sort of downhill maneuvers. Unfortunately, we only really had just more for like, proximity of locations and things like that, we ended up only with about 18 days to shoot the movie, which is not a lot for something this ambitious. But we wanted to kind of push the envelope where we could and try and do what we could.

We had a good producing team and line producing team that helped us keep good control of the resources and allowed us to do a lot. But we had to kind of be honest with ourselves about, ‘OK we know we have several pages of dialogue, and then a stunt sequence, and then a number of effects gags,’ and things like that happening on the same day. And so, we were constantly trying to streamline things, but then spend time where we thought it would do the most good, and then everything kind of compresses around you. And you try and protect the movie and I think we were able to make up some of that ground especially once people started to see the dailies and kind of started to really respond to it.

And the crew in Vancouver, they shoot a lot of like CW shows, and a lot of movies of the week, and a lot people kind of come up those ladders on these specific types of shows and they have certain ways of working and so there's not a lot of indie films shot there. And so, when you come in with a specific point of view, there's maybe a little resistance sometimes, but they really got into it and people kind of taking ownership over it in their own different ways, and that I think made the movie a lot better. It was really fun to kind of see that kind of come together and make those friends and have people really kind of haul ass and I think we were able to kind of punch a little higher than our weight because of it.

Sadie: It worked out. You guys have some great heavy hitters, and I really loved Justin Long as the villain, gave me a Walton Goggins vibe. What was the casting process and then fine-tuning those characters' voices?

Tyler: Yeah, we brought Jane [Widdop] and Joel [McHale] on quite early. Jane was one of our early reads and they were on a list of kind of younger performers that I was excited about maybe working with, because I'd seen their performance on Yellowjackets, which also shot Vancouver. They just did a really great tape and really kind of seemed to get the story. And Michael, I think the tape came in, and you watched it first and kind of texted me being like, ‘Check out Jane's tape.’ And we all kind of really got it and sort of built the young cast around them.

Joel also came on pretty early. He was into the idea of showing some colors he doesn't normally do, like he's known for being a bit of a smartass and kind of a comedy heavy, but we're playing him as a hallmark dad, and he gets to get some of his one-liners in there. But he got some more dramatic stuff later on in the movie, and I think that was kind of fun for him to just be in a different part that he doesn't normally do. And similarly, we were able to bring Justin on, closer to production. And he came in with just a ton of ideas, and this specific look he had. And so, for me, it was about kind of trying to pare this stuff down and work with him to figure it out. But he had a really clear bead of the type of antagonist this guy was and it just kind of existed in the world that we had laid out. And it can be a bit more outlandish. For me, it was about trying to control the firehose of ideas that he has, he's a very giving performer in that way. So that was a lot of fun. And then finding people like Jess McLeod. We looked at hundreds of options for Bernie and they were really a very good fine for us.

Michael: Such a great find, a diamond in the rough.

Tyler: For sure. And then once we saw their chemistry, that really kind of changed the script. I mean, how would you describe it, Michael? More like a platonic kind of thing?

Michael: To me, there was always a hint of romance and a hint of friendship. And I had originally wrote it to kind of be left to the viewer, quite frankly. And I had, I was like, ‘They're gay on some level.’ And we were kind of playing it that way until Jess and Jane basically came to us and were like, ‘Winnie and Bernie are totally in love with each other. Can we just go a little further?’ And we all just kind of looked at each other and we're like, ‘Yeah, let's make it explicit.’ Because I thought I was doing kind of a cool thing by not answering it. But also, for me, the Queer person, I always had to find those moments in horror movies, where nothing was explicit as a kid. And I was kind of given a nod to that, but also like, making it pretty obvious in a way. And they were just like, ‘Why don't we just state it?’ And we were all like, ‘OK.’ I can’t imagine not having that now.

Sadie: Any advice for horror writers and/or filmmakers?

Michael: For me, the biggest thing is don't forget the emotion and the heart that a horror movie can have unless you're going for something like super bloody and gory. Terrifier 2 is a really good example of a really great movie that is just all in on the blood and guts and that's the point of the movie, you know? Damien Leone leaned into what he's doing because he feels really confident in what he's doing. And that's why those movies work. And for me, I really love the Chris Landon School of Horror, where it's emotion and heart drive everything. 

And for me, that's the first thing I do when I sit down to do anything, what's this character's emotion? What's the drive? And how are people going to look at this movie? And stop and go, ‘Wow, that was a really emotional scene,’ or ‘This movie has a lot of heart.’ And I'm really proud so far that the reviews that have been coming out today, not only mentioned the heart, but also really mentioned how Jess as Bernie is the heart and soul of the movie, and that was by design. I'm really glad it's working.

Tyler: I would just encourage any young filmmakers, who are making a horror film - I think there's a bit of a kind of phantom when you make a horror film, especially your first film, where you think you just kind of have to hit these beats. And I would encourage you to make it weird, because the good thing I like about horror is that the audience is pumped to see it. I will watch another movie where a bunch of teenagers go into the woods into a cabin today, because I want to see how you do it. And that's a unique space to be in. I would encourage people not to get too preoccupied by like, where their movie fits in the general tapestry of horror, but what makes it different. 

And then, I think through the process of making a movie you lean into the stuff that makes it weird, literally stuff that that you're excited about and don't be afraid of that. Because as long as you tick certain boxes, you can kind of do anything you want. And no one really wants to tell you that, but you can and that's I think part of what's fun about it. So, I would encourage you to make it weird, make it you.

RLJE Films and Shudder will release It's a Wonderful Knife only in Theaters on November 10, 2023.