Joel McHale is in the zone. Things are moving along nicely on the creative front for the Community and Animal Control star. His new film, It’s a Wonderful Knife, has been garnering attention for its Scream-like vibe, feverish pace, and great blend of horror and comedy, and features some of McHale’s strongest acting to date. The holiday film also stars Yellowjackets’ Jane Widdop, Justin Long (Barbarian), Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps), Jess McLeod (One of Us Is Lying), and Cassandra Naud (Influencer). The story, which moves along breezily, finds ill-fated Winnie (Widdop) saving her small seaside town from a diabolical masked killer on Christmas Eve. Flash-forward one year later; in the vein of It’s a Wonderful Life, she wishes she’d never been born. Suddenly, she finds herself in a nightmarish parallel universe where her wish has come true.

The wildly entertaining film is directed by Tyler MacIntyre (Tragedy Girls; V/H/S/99) and written and produced by Michael Kennedy (Freaky). McHale plays Winnie’s devoted father, David, in the thriller. But nobody can be trusted in this little hamlet, which is part of the fun. McHale opened up with MovieWeb about the production, and shared more about his love for the genre and acting itself. Dive in.

On That Killer Script

This isn’t the first time Joel McHale starred in a horror comedy. He was in The Happytime Murders and had a recurring role in TV’s Santa Clarita Diet. The actor credits Michael Kennedy’s script, which he immediately found intriguing. “Michael is a really good writer, obviously,” McHale said, “though I will say I never liked wordplay, so I was like, ‘It’s a Wonderful Knife, guys?’ Then when I read it, I was like, ‘Oh, it has to be called that.’ And it wasn’t just trying to be clever. It’s the perfect name for it. I thought it used the mechanism of It’s a Wonderful Life really well, and that hasn’t been done that much. And I’m not sure why, because it’s such a good, wonderful sci-fi trick. I was happy to get up there [in Vancouver] and shoot it.”

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McHale went on to tell MovieWeb that he likes horror films the way he likes any movie:

“As long as they’re good. The same way that you like science fiction. If it’s a good movie, I love it. Because there’s a lot of crap in all the genres and a lot of good in all of them. I did a horror movie called Deliver Us from Evil, which was as fun as I’ve ever had on a movie, and with the great Eric Bana. I love this genre, but it’s not like I have to watch all horror films. I saw Hereditary and I thought it was absolutely brilliant. One of the best horror movies ever made in my book.”

Something definitely clicked for McHale after diving deeper into the script. He appreciated the creative stab it took into the horror comedy genre. “I see horror films like roller coasters where you’re screaming and yelling,” he added, “and you’re having a great time. Then, all of a sudden, your body says you’re going to die because the big hill comes. And that’s what I find thrilling about them.”

About That Mask
RLJE Films

In It’s a Wonderful Knife, Winnie has a tough go of it. She’s constantly on the move and can hardly trust anybody. Including her father, whom McHale infuses with a breezy mix of middle-age charm and just enough uncertainty. As we’ve seen in other scary-mask horror thrillers, the mask in It’s a Wonderful Life is memorable for the sheer fact that it’s faceless. Completely blank. “I thought it was kind of creepy and weird, which is supposed to be that way,” McHale shared. “I think the lack of a face was what was so disturbing. When I first saw the costume I was like, ‘Oh, this is terrifying.’”

RELATED: 13 of the Funniest Horror Comedies Ever Made

Even though the horror comedy takes place in a quaint little town, McHale credits director Tyler McIntyre for making the film appear like a big-budget feature. “He really took that script and just rock-and-rolled it. Seeing that [angel] costume [on the murderer], I was like… because that hinges on who’s killing who, or how is this happening? I think it provides the proper amount of terror it should.” When asked if there was any one scene that was particularly challenging to shoot, McHale didn’t reference an action sequence:

The scene with Jane and I having to talk about losing a child or not having a child. That scene was really intense and wonderful. Jane is just such a movie star. These movies, it’s this balance of comedy, terror, and sadness. So that scene was really fun to do and a great challenge. And again, Jane is really easy to act off of.

Waxing Existential with Joel McHale

​​​​​In conversation, McHale is as engaging as you’d hope him to be. When asked to creatively leap off the film’s premise and ponder what life would be like if he hadn’t been born, he smiled:

Well, people would be very less annoyed if I wasn’t there. My family would be less annoyed, I think, because I don’t ever stop talking, and my ADHD brain is very scattered all the time, totally unorganized. So maybe the world would be a little more organized without me.

Undoubtedly less funny, however?. “Maybe. Probably,” McHale mused. “A lot of off-color jokes, I would say, would not be told.” Which prompted MovieWeb to ask the Community star what inspired him to become an actor: “I wasn’t good at anything else. So, it was either that or trying to be a professional athlete, which I was definitely not. I learned in college I was definitely not going to be a professional athlete. I was good at sports, and I loved acting and comedy. I was so bad at school, and I thought if I could just do this [acting] until the real-job police come and take me away, then I think I’ll be okay. I just kept doing it, and I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”

He went on to say that he came to Hollywood with his wife 23 years ago. “We still kind of look at each other and can’t believe it. I’d said, ‘Just give me five years to try to get things going and see if anything happens,’ and thankfully, The Soup happened four years later, and I just love doing it. To this day, I can’t believe people pay me for it.”

As for a potential sequel to It’s A Wonderful Knife, which seems highly probable, McHale says he’s open to it and remains optimistic. “Maybe we somehow translate it to some other universe, where we take another iconic holiday film and spin it on its head a bit. So yeah, maybe Miracle on 34th Street.”

There may be a casting call for sinister Santas in the near future. Stay tuned. In the meantime, catch It’s A Wonderful Knife on Shudder, on AMC+, and everywhere you rent movies. You can watch it through the link below:

Watch on AMC+