STITCHES (2012) movie review

Stitches (2012) d. McMahon, Conor (Ireland)

Ross Noble headlines as the titular drunken and caustic playfellow with a big red nose and a bigger bad attitude toward his target pre-teen audience. But when a case of birthday party heckling turns tragic and the poor greasepainted boor ends up with a butcher knife through the noggin, it sets the stage for an entertaining supernatural slasher with a heart of ’80s horror gold.

Most impressive is the fact that most of the jokes are surprisingly unforced, with McMahon and co-writer David O’Brien serving up more throwaways than painful one-liners.  Granted, there’s a wealth of superfluous swearing, but it certainly suits Noble’s loutish character and who doesn’t love hearing adolescents cussing up a storm in British accents? Great young cast (with a standout brief supporting role by Thommas Kane Byrnes as a fey gay who comes off cool) and no holding back in the blood n’ guts departments, as Stitches returns from the grave six years later to seek revenge on the ankle biters that done him in, right in the midst of traumatized birthday boy Tommy Knight’s swinging to-do. Worth a look-see.

--Aaron Christensen, HorrorHound Magazine