PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I’ve said it a million times. Christmas horror is my favorite. So here we are again, with a new Christmas horror film to add to the ever-growing list. Directed by Tyler MacIntyre (Tragedy Girls – 2017) and written by Michael Kennedy (Freaky – 2020), It’s a Wonderful Knife (read our review HERE) features an amazing cast – Justin Long (Barbarian – 2022), Joel McHale (Community), Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps – 2000) – and a feel-good story that almost makes you forget you’re watching a horror film. Almost. Loosely based on the Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, this flick has heart, and it wants to stab you in it and watch you die.
After saving her town from a psychotic killer, Winnie Carruthers’ life is less than wonderful. When she wishes she’d never been born, she finds herself in a nightmare parallel universe where without her, things could be much, much worse.
To celebrate the release of It’s a Wonderful Knife, I chatted with Tyler about transforming Justin Long, what he hopes you get from the film, horror movies, and more!
PopHorror: I really loved It’s a Wonderful Knife! Christmas horror is my jam so I was super excited to see it and I can’t wait for more people to see it because Christmas horror is the best.
Tyler MacIntyre: Hey, I love Christmas and Christmas horror movies specifically, if you probably can’t tell.
PopHorror: What intrigued you about the script and made you want to be a part of the project?
Tyler MacIntyre: When I’m looking for things to direct that I didn’t have a hand in writing, I’m always looking for stuff that’s unlike what I would write myself. What I liked about Michael’s script was that it really has a heart that you don’t normally see in slasher movies, and as a guy who’s written a number of slasher movies, I tend to take the cynical route. I wanted to try and see if I could direct something and do justice to something that means it in a sincere and uplifting way.
PopHorror: I’ve never seen It’s a Wonderful Life.
Tyler MacIntyre: You should check it out. It’s worth the two hours.
PopHorror: I know the story of it, and I feel like you captured the heart of it. I can’t wait to watch it and then watch this after it.
Tyler MacIntyre: I like that movie. I saw it a number of times when I was younger, and it wasn’t quite the holiday staple, but I was very aware of it. It permeates culture in a big way and so I feel like it’s one of those things where even if you’re not aware of it, you’re kind of aware of it. We definitely wanted this to be something that you didn’t need to have seen that movie in order to enjoy It’s a Wonderful Knife. But at the same time, there are rewards if that means something to you.
PopHorror: I want to talk about Justin Long’s transformation because he looks very different in this film. What was the reasoning behind his look?
Tyler MacIntyre: Justin has a bit of a, “I’m just a young, nice guy” kind of assumption to him. People have been trying to peg him in that post-college nice guy part for two decades now. I kind of wanted to play him weirdly a bit against type because he’s the Mac in the Mac PC commercials. He’s the quintessential American nice guy from a certain generation. I thought it would be fun to play him evil and go big with it because he’s a great, very dynamic performer who has a lot of great ideas. I really like a lot of his horror work. I like Tusk, I like Drag Me to Hell. I find Idiocracy terrifying. He’s in a lot of these weird genre movies. And then Barbarian hit last year and he was already on our list of people to consider for this and he seemed to really get it. For me, my guiding light was always about taking, essentially, the bad guy from a Hallmark movie whose real estate scheme gets foiled and then he just goes crazy. Justin seemed to really respond to that, but then had a lot of great ideas about the type of toxic male character that you could put in that role. With that, I think he wanted to get out of his own skin for a bit so he had these ideas about doing the pale eyes and doing sandier hair and the spray tan and the veneers and things like that. There were some concerns that he might not look like himself or might be unrecognizable and I had to be like, “No, guys, we want this. He’s excited about bringing this energy to it.” I think it worked because it’s still in the realm of the film because it has this magical realistic element to it that gives you a little bit of extra room. He was just very good to collaborate with and I was able to help shape that and give him a pretty long leash but be able to dial it all in in editorial.
PopHorror: I appreciated the change because it was like a guy you think is nice until he starts talking. I think this look fits that more than if he was recognizable as Justin Long.
Tyler MacIntyre: It does take the edge off, for sure. Like, this is not the Justin Long we’re comfortable with. I think that is important. We talked a lot about there’s this artificial like a guy who did a lot of work on himself. I think that kind of works because there’s a bit of desperation to that and a bit of inauthenticity. I think the movie, one of the big dynamics of it is about inauthenticity and how Christmas is a constant battle of like these genuine moments that you’re having with family.
PopHorror: There’s a deeper message in this film than what’s on the surface, like suicide and grief. Horror film aside, what do you hope people walk away with after watching this?
Tyler MacIntyre: I’m really hoping you’re able to have a really good time with it primarily. I really do want it to be a spooky roller coaster. But at the same time it has a very sincere message about listening to each other. It’s about survivor’s guilt and about checking in with people during the holidays and making sure that the people you care about are doing okay and that’s something with the people you don’t always see. It’s not the most profound message of all time but it’s one of those things that I think is something that we can be reminded of every year and that’s really what I felt was important with this. People can connect with it and there’s a chance that they’ll revisit it next year, especially if they’re horror fans and looking for something to watch.
PopHorror: Absolutely! I have just one last question for you today. What is your favorite scary movie?
Tyler MacIntyre: Like my favorite scary movie ever? Evil Dead 2. My favorite Christmas horror movie is Scrooged.
Thank you so much to Tyler for taking the time to speak with us. It’s a Wonderful Knife will open only in theaters Friday, November 10, 2023, and will then steam on Shudder at a later date.
