Stitches: O Retorno do Palhaço Assassino

Clowns, teen party, gore galore and a few laughs. That pretty much sums up Stitches. I would definitely categorize this one as a teen scream, it still gets major points for originality and the gore is not just disgusting, its also funny. But seriously, its extremely gory, like jaw dropping, stomach turning gory. For example, there is a scene where a clown rips of a student's genitals, ties it to a balloon and lets it float away… Enough said. So I'll give a warning for the gore and an FYI for Irish accents. I think that most will enjoy this movie knowing ahead of time that it's a gory teen slasher comedy. Overall its pretty goofy and gory.

Please like me on Facebook! We love getting suggestions and warnings on everything horror: http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Heart-Horror/338327476286206

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.

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 watched 'Stitches' mainly because, as well as loving horror, I'm also a big Ross Noble fan and was interested to see how his stand-up would transfer to acting. To be fair, he doesn't have much to do in the way of acting.

His 'unconventional' (sorry, Ross) looks make it easy for the make-up department to transform him into an evil, undead clown, hell-bent on seeking bloodthirsty revenge on the party of children who caused his death in the first place.

In short, Ross Noble steals every scene he's in. Sadly, he's not in it enough. He doesn't really come into it (proper) until midway through and, by then, you've been forced to watch your usual 'teen drama.' As this is a British film, I was hoping for something a little more original than 'uber-geek falls in love with beautiful girl who just so happens to be going out with an arrogant jock.' Sadly, that's all we get. All the (non undead clown) characters are total stereotypes. You'll know exactly who'll die the moment you see them.

And die they do. That's where the film excels. I'm guessing it had quite a small budget, but it really makes the most of the gore. Some of the death scenes are truly disgusting (and hilarious in their over-the-topness).

Stitches is worth watching if you like horror and Ross Noble. He provides all the comedy and gore which will satisfy you. However, sadly the film can never truly be a classic, as the first half is pretty bland and the second half is only ever really alive when the (dead) Ross Nobel is on-screen.

It's a good film that's (sadly) wrapped up in the oldest movie cliché going.

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!