Homefront movie
7.25 out of 10
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire movie
8.75 out of 10
Disney's Frozen movie
10.0 out of 10
Delivery Man movie
6.75 out of 10
Thor
8.25 out of 10

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Stitches

COMEDY, HORROR

Leave Them Laughing

7.5 out of 10 | Rental

Rated: R Strong bloody violence and gore, and some sexual content and language
Release Date: October 26, 2012 (Ireland)
Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes

Director: Conor McMahon
Writers:  Conor McMahan, David O'Brien
Cast: Ross Noble, Tommy Knight, Shane Murray Corcoran, Gemma-Leah Devereux, Thommas Kane Brynes, Eoghan McQuinn, Tommy Cullen, Lorna Dempsey



SYNOPSIS:  A clown comes back from the dead to haunt those who took his life during a fatal party mishap.

REVIEW: Writer/Director Conor McMahon, creator of Fangoria Gore Zone Dead Meat, returns with another of his creations. Co-written by Shrooms assistant editor and first time writer David O'Brien, McMahon tries to create a horror flick that will keep you laughing and knock you dead.


Richard 'Stitches' Grindel (Ross Noble, Ross Noble: Randomist) is a lousy drunkard party clown who bores with his poor jokes, juggling, and general distaste for children of all ages. With every crappy joke or gag the kids start to rebel and prank stitches. All of this leads to a freak accident that kills the clown. The midnight after Stitches' burial, a league of clowns perform a ritual and commit his painted face egg to a crypt of fallen jesters, vowing that any clown who dies without finishing his last party will return for a last performance will not be as funny as his one before his death. Six year later, the birthday boy Tom (Tommy Knight) is on anti-anxiety meds, dreading every passing celebration of his birth. His friends, desperate to throw him a party, invite the entire township to his unsupervised house for booze, sex, and partying. What they do not know is that Stitches has risen from his grave to take vengeance on his untimely demise. One by one, Stitches goes after each kid in attendance at that last unfortunate kids' birthday party, forcing the kid to face their fears and to face the undead clown who just wants to know is 'everyone happy?'.

Filmed in Ireland, this indie horror import shakes off the confetti of the typical American teenage slasher formula, while sticking to some of the classic mainstays of the genre. Dealing with the subject matter that scares the crap most people - Clowns - Stitches is already headed the game in terms of dealing with many people existing phobias. But instead of keeping Stitches in the shadows, McMahon decides to keep him right out the open as the clown terrorizes the teenagers who have grown up since his last fateful party. Stitches is more similar to Freddy Krueger after Dream Warriors than he is to Mike Myers from John Carpenter's Halloween. He is less scary than he is hilarious, In spite of the gore and mutilation he causes. Case in point is an umbrella that you keep an eye on and a three wheel mode of transportation that just doesn't go anywhere.

In keeping with some Americanize horror tales Stitches moves the plot along with an ill time party that goes way beyond the four friends that Tommy wanted to invite. What better way to centralize all the kids from Stitches last performance then to throw an unsupervised birthday party on the anniversary of his death. And like Freddy Krueger's dreamscapes, Stitches uses outlandish methods to hunt down and seek vengeance on those he felt wronged him.

As with any horror villain, most characters in death are just as bad as they are in life. Nothing redeems Stitches as a clown entertainer and death just seemed to bring out the worst in him. Sure, the kids at the birthday party aren't the most gracious of an audience and their pranks unfortunately led to his death, but I don't think it was worth terrorizing those poor kids six years later. But you know what? Every clown has his day.

Stitches is campy enough and funny enough to possibly become an indie import favorite. I do not see this film reaching the cult status of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's Shaun of the Dead, but Stitches may end up being more in line with Killer Clowns from Outer Space.

Noble makes the best of his killer clown persona, mugging and slapping his floppy shoes in pursuit of each victim. Some of his one-liners are so schlocky you just can't help but laugh. He goes clown nose to the wall to get the chuckles. Not as blatantly spoof-ridden as movies like for the Scary Movie franchise, some may regards Stitches as a throwback to late 80s early 90s horror comedies that are definitely more fun than fright.

If you are a big devoted and diehard fan of all things horror, you should take in a viewing of Stitches on DVD or rental out April 2nd, 2013. You'll definitely laugh many more times than you'll scream.

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