Stitches - Review

Stitches is a Comedy/Horror movie about a clumsy unfunny clown name Richard "Stitches" Grindle (Played by Ross Noble). Stitches is hired for Tom's (Played by Tommy Knight) birthday party but when he isn’t as funny as the kids want they play a prank on him causing his death. Six years later Stitches comes back from the dead to seek revenge on the kids that accidentally killed him. Stitches is written and Directed by Conor McMahon who previously directed a few short films and also wrote and directed "Dead Meat", which was featured as part of Fangoria's Gorezone label. David O'brien was a co-writer for the film who is known for “Shrooms” from 2007 and a few other films. Stitches is played by Ross Noble who is an English actor with a long list of credits including self-titled videos, shorts, and documentaries.

The film starts right off with Stitches banging some girl in a trailer, so be careful with kids in the room it's the first thing you see. This is the only real raunchy seen, other than this we get one nip slip, but it is about high school kids so...

In the middle of having sex Stitches remembers he has a birthday party to do so he just stops, pulls up his pants and heads off smelling like liqueur and sex to little Tom's birthday party. Stitches arrives at the party while the kids are in the driveway playing and drives straight for them as they jump out of the way. Tom's mother's tell him he’s late, he call's her ugly and proceeds on into the house. Just the clown you want at your kid’s party right?!

Stitches is not a good clown. He can’t do tricks or even make balloon animal's so the kids decide to throw things at him and tie his shoes together. This is where everything goes wrong for Stitches. Stitches death scene is really funny and contains some great effects. All of the effects in this film are actually done well. Many are filmed on a black background but the cut's from the film to effects are smooth and worked well and while the effects are definitely not realistic but are still fun to watch.

We then learn that all clowns have an egg with a painted face and that holds the clown soul and that all of these eggs are stored away in a special clown tomb. Not sure if this a real thing or not but let's just roll with it. We also learn that if a clown dies in mid-act then he or she can never rest until the joke is finished.

We now jump ahead six years where all of the kids are in high school. They did a surprisingly good job of matching the younger kids to their high school aged selves. Tom starts having visions of Stitches the clown including one with Stitches ripping his friend’s dick off. While the scene will definitely make the men in the audience squirm it manages to be both gory and funny.

Tom's friends are trying to convince him to throw a party but he is reluctant. Finally Vinny, his childhood friend, convinces him but he only invites his closes friends. Unfortunately for Tom there’s a social media site called "My Face" where someone posts an invite to the party. One girl’s MyFace invite reads "You invited everyone to come on My Face" which is just one example of the low brow humor which fills up the movies run-time.

The party is where the bulk of the action happens. It’s a huge typical high school party with a lot of beer and weed. I don’t want to spoil anything but the best scenes happen here.

The acting is really good with each character possessing a distinct personality and the progression from childhood to teenager allows us to see how none of them really change. I mentioned earlier how well the special effects work and I would like to touch on a few specific scenes. There is a decapitation scene where a character’s head is kicked off and their lips are still twitching as it fly's through air. There is an eyeball that is popped out directly towards the camera. Someone has their head blown up with a balloon pump which you have to see to really understand but it’s pretty funny. There is even a chase scene with two kids on mountain bikes and Stitches on a tricycle.

Overall Stitches just a fun movie. If you’re looking for a feel-good movie or romantic comedy this is not for you. If you’re up for a good laugh and plenty of blood and gore then this is for you. Or maybe you just need to receive a life lesson to never fuck with a clown (or did “IT” already do that)? I would definitely recommend you check this out. The re-watch value is high and I fully enjoyed it for what it was. Unless you’re scared of clowns, then you should probably stay away!

I give this a B-

Read About "Stitches" on IMDB
Rent or Purchase "Stitches" on Amazon

Podcast Episode 25

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For episode 25 we are once again taking a look at a couple of low budget indie productions. The first is a shot on video 80's style kung-fu action film from 1992, "Lost Faith". With shot on video productions regularly falling on the side of awful, how does "Lost Faith" hold up? The other is 2014's "Lucky Bastard". This found footage thriller is based around a one day porn shoot and features some extreme soft-core sexuality and an NC-17 rating but is it any good or just another in a long line of terrible found footage films. We also discuss Edgar Wright walking away from Ant-Man, our hesitation towards a Lifetime network rendition of The Omen and more! Enjoy!

Rent or Purchase "Lucky Bastard" on Amazon
Rent or Purchase "Lost Faith" on Cult Movie Mania

Day of Anger (1967) Review

Read About "Day of Anger" on IMDB
Purchase "Day of Anger" as Part of the "Spaghetti Western Collection Vol. 3" on Amazon
but you might go broke buying this one!

Podcast Episode 24

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In episode 24 we spend some time with a movie that cost a mere $500 to film and looks like it cost even less, 1971's "The Chooper", also known as "Blood Shack". We then move onto a "bigger" budget production, Bill Hinzman's unabashed $60,000 rip-off of Night of the Living Dead, "Flesheater". We also discuss the trailer and plot reveal of VHS Viral, whether or not a Krampus movie can really work as a straight up horror film, upcoming releases and much much more! Enjoy!

Podcast Episode 23

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For Episode 23 Adam, Mike and Jeff discuss two recently released low budget indie horror films. First is a 2014 holiday slasher throwback, "The Night Before Easter", followed by the 2013 love letter to cheesy 50's b-movies, "Attack of the Gorilla". In addition to our regular reviews we feature an in-depth discussion of 2013's "Contracted", have a tangent filled discussion about what we've been watching, discuss various horror news items, open a box of dread and more! Enjoy!

You can also hear our review of "Attack of the Gorilla!" on the movie's Vimeo page! Just scroll down to the extra features section to find it. http://vimeo.com/ondemand/attackgorilla

Podcast Episode 22

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Episode 22 features reviews of the 2003 low budget mess of a film "Hell Ride" and the 1986 women in prison film "The Naked Cage". We also discuss a slew of news items including recent remake and sequel updates, The Green Inferno trailer and more. Mike also takes some time to tell us about another shitty movie he's been watching. Enjoy!

Podcast Episode 21

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In Episode 21 we review a couple of recently released independent horror films. We start with 2013's 70's throwback "Here Comes the Devil" followed by the low budget slasher comedy "Bloody Bloody Bible Camp". Before our regular reviews we take some time to air our concerns with Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the recently announced Phantasm Ravager. We also talk Pat Robertson's comments on the danger of horror films and why he's an idiot.

You can find Bloody Bloody Bible Camp at bloodybloodybiblecamp.com  and Here Comes the Devil at magnetreleasing.com

Podcast Episode 20.5: Villanelle & The Taking

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In this bonus episode of Midnight Triple Feature we are reviewing two new independent horror films. First is 2012's "Villanelle" which follows a small town detective hunting a serial killer with the help of a recent victim. Next we review 2013's "The Taking". A man and a woman wake up in a forest with little to no memory of how they got there. They must escape before the family that put them there can sacrifice them to their hungry god.

You can find "Villanelle" at villanellemovie.com and "The Taking" at thetakingmovie.com