Opening with an extended sequence depicting a bizarre-looking Santa swinging a machete while dancing to a jangly pop ditty as he walks the streets of Los Angeles, It’s A Wonderful Slice doesn’t mince its approach to the strange and the bloody. This is, after all, a horror anthology to die for.
And die you will; . . . especially if you’ve been a bad boil of ghoul and find yourself in Santa's bad, bad, very bad book of naughty children. There certainly is no hope for you. Which is why the characters in each of these shorts have no hope in Hell for redemption. They just aren’t good people.
Written, directed, and filmed by Michael Moutsatsos, this low budget Christmas-themed slasher attempts to tackle the origins of Santa, Krampus, and Bailey the Elf while drenching them in blood and other practical effects. The results are as twisted as they sound as our opening Santa number has the jolly man coming up from the depths of the metro rail, dancing around, and finally revealing what’s in his carefully wrapped box.
Prepare to get sick! That’s the point here and Moutsatsos pulls it off with a great use of camera angles, lots of good practical effects, and a twisted point of view in all the stories, bringing them all together with neatly tied entrails of Christmas joy. 
Filmed in Portland, Oregon and in parts of California, It’s a Wonderful Slice has a manic energy which is justly appreciated as we get all sorts of mean-spirited tales in which Santa and his gang of demons must deal with. Hikes go off the rails, bloody wolves are revealed, and through it all, Christmas lessons are learned the hard way.
What comes across is a love for independent film as we get lots of great looks at Krampus, bloody imaginings of a very raw and very real Christmas tale, and a whole lot of interesting visions and voices when it comes to independent filmmaking.
It’s a Wonderful Slice is a fun ride through the stickier side of the cinema.
