Stitches

I don't care how good a movie is, if theres wonton animal murder, I will turn that movie off and stop watching. And this movie wasn't even that good! Halfway through of this fairly typical slasher, and the one cute moment, the cat dribbling the clown nose like a basket ball, and for that it gets murdered? I think the screen writer and director need to be checked for Sociopathy!

The clumsy and unfunny clown Richard "Stitches" Grindle (Ross Noble) goes to the birthday party of little Tom (Tommy Knight) and the boy and his friends play a prank with Stitches, tying his shoelaces. Stitches slips, falls and dies. Six years later, Tom gives a birthday party for his friends at home and the clown revives to haunt the teenagers and revenge his death.

"Stitches" is an unfunny and gore movie with a terrible storyline. I was curious to see an Irish horror movie for the first time, but the result is disappointing, despite the good special effects. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "O Retorno do Palhaço Assassino" ("The Return of the Killer Clown")

I just finished watching this and I must admit that I had MANY truly laugh out loud moments. ONLY the UK people can pull off something like this with the DEAD-pan sense of humour it takes to make this work. Sure, some of the comments the clown makes are pretty corny, but there are far more that are REALLY funny!

There are some nice classic Horror touches too. YES, it is a bit gore heavy; but, the effects are well done and very imaginative. I really appreciated the inclusion of the 'Cat' (YES, I love animals, but I love people too, so if you're gonna make a dang Horror film where a bunch of 'teens' are killed, well...) Anyway, back to the nice Horror touches... Gore withstanding (it's almost NEVER my favourite part anyway) the early scenes with the very creative Clown ceremony and mythology were quite entertaining. The guy playing the clown himself was bloody HILARIOUS! His deadpan comments, especially early on before the 'accident' were great!

So, if you DO like entertaining and well done Comedy / Horror, then this is your film. As mentioned by another reviewer, if you are really sensitive about gore effects, then you might want to proceed carefully (For me personally, this kind of 'cartoon' or 'fantasy' gore is all right, although it IS kind of pushing it. What I absolutely do NOT like at all are these 'Torture Porn' films where evil people are just doing horrible, cruel, and mean-spirited things to other people in ULTRA- realistic ways without any fanciful or supernatural context - Those are complete non-starters with me...)

I'd say that if you really liked 'REANIMATOR', you probably would really like this film. Lots of fun if this is your kind of thing...

I love Ross Noble! So we jumped at the chance to see this as the closing film to Grimmfest this year! Im very glad i did! Stitches is a very funny take on the slasher genre, using comedy and horror combined, it reminded me of the latter Elm Street movies, where the villain has to use a comic gag to kill his victim! Ross noble seemed to revel in the role and proving to be a very convincing killer clown! He even went onto say in the Q & A about wanting sequels made, do we have a British Jason/Freddy in our midst! Maybe with a bit more budget and a stronger supporting cast and a little better writing, Stitches could become the UKs' very own slasher icon!

I have to admit, I never had heard of the comedian Ross Noble before I watched this movie. And I wouldn't have been that intrigued by him, if I hadn't seen him perform live. Actually that means he opened the Frightfest and introduced Stitches a day later to the audience. The fact that he was talking about his movie made me believe he was the director. He got me fooled (met the real director too, a really nice guy) and maybe some others too.

But back to this movie, that is a real fun little horror movie, that plays with the fear of clowns. Some have a real phobia, those shouldn't watch this movie of course. Or if you are easily offended (be it by violence or nonpolitical correctness) - don't watch. Everyone else: Jump on the the train and have fun during the trip.