6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A clown comes back from the dead to haunt those who took his life during a fatal party mishap.
Starring: Ross Noble, Tommy Knight, Gemma-Leah Devereux, Shane Murray-Corcoran, Ryan BurkeHorror | 100% |
Supernatural | 19% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
If Stephen King's It gives you nightmares, if the thought of accidentally wandering into a Juggalo convention makes you nauseated, if the image of John Wayne Gacy painted up as Pogo at a birthday party sends shudders down your spine—I'd advise you to stay far, far away from Stitches, a deranged Irish horror comedy that invokes the evil clown archetype to full effect. Granted, more people probably say they suffer from coulrophobia—the fear of clowns—than those who legitimately do, but it's safe to note that at this point, the clown profession is forever stymied by its creepy pop culture connotations. The alcoholic clown. The sad, suicidal clown. The kid-murdering clown. Who hires clowns anymore? You can't even pass by a red-nosed jester making balloon animals in the park nowadays without someone cracking an uh-oh, better watch out for Pennywise over there-style remark. Since terrifying clowns have become something of a media cliche, I was initially wary about Stitches, worried that it might be another tries-too-hard slasher poorly executing a blandly unoriginal premise. Actually, the film is funny and sometimes clever and exceptionally gory, striking a likable tone somewhere between The Inbetweeners and Evil Dead 2, part crass coming-of-age comedy and part blood-soaked night from hell.
Stitches is a low-budget indie horror movie—and looks it, with often flat lighting and low-budget indie horror movie cinematography—but I have no complaints about the film's Blu-ray release, which features a 1080p/AVC presentation that's consistently sharp and free from distractions. Shot digitally, the image does have some inherent source noise—most noticeable in darker scenes—but I didn't spot any major compression artifacts or encode glitches, nor DNR or harsh edge enhancement. The picture seems entirely true to source. Lensing is usually very sharp, with a fine level of detail visible in facial and clothing textures, not only in closeups but also in medium-length shots, with softness only creeping into wide camera setups. Color density and saturation is also satisfying; the realistic visual palette is punched up with clown makeup and splashes of crimson viscera, and contrast is tight without looking exaggerated. Most of the film takes place at night, so there are thankfully no issues with crushed shadows. A great-for-what-it-is Blu-ray encode.
Stitches clowns onto Blu-ray with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that's rarely noteworthy but doesn't make any obvious aural mistakes either. The sound design is pretty typical for this kind of indie horror movie. Dialogue sits at the forefront—it's always clean and easy to understand, despite the occasionally heavy Irish accents—and the perimeter of the mix is used for ambience and occasional cross-channel movements. Party chatter. Wind and rain and rumbling thunder. Gross-out visceral sound effects. The usual. Paul McDonnell's original score fills in the gaps, and there's plenty of diegetic music at the party, including arguably one of the best and most appropriate cinematic usages of Cutting Crew's "(I Just) Died in Your Arms." Everything is clear and well-balanced, if never particularly aggressive or engaging. The disc also includes an uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0 stereo mix-down and optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
I wasn't expecting much from Stitches—the Blu-ray cover art and general premise don't exactly inspire viewer confidence—but the film is a bloody/funny riff on 1980s-style horror, with over-the-top kills, ridiculous sight gags, and a surplus of black humor from comedian Ross Noble in his first feature film role. I can see the movie amassing a cult audience of low-budget slasher fans, who will appreciate writer/director Conor McMahon's dedication to the genre's best attributes. Curious buyers should be happy with MPI's Blu-ray release as well; it features solid picture quality and some fun extras, including a worthwhile commentary track with McMahon and Noble, and a decent making-of documentary. Recommended for gorehounds and appreciators of kooky indie horror, but clown-o-phobes should stay far, far away.
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