Stitches (2012 film)

Stitches

UK and Irish theatrical film poster
Directed by Conor McMahon[1]
Produced by
Written by Conor McMahon
Starring
Music by Paul McDonnell
Cinematography Patrick Jordan
Edited by Chris Gill
Production
company
  • Fantastic Films
  • Tailored Films
  • Solid Entertainment
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 26 October 2012 (2012-10-26) (UK)
Running time
 86 minutes
Country
Language English
Budget $1.5 million[3]
Box office $90,995[3]

Stitches is a 2012 psychological horror comedy fantasy film directed by Conor McMahon and starring Ross Noble, Tommy Knight and Gemma-Leah Devereux.[4] The plot concerns a birthday clown returning from the dead to exact revenge upon a boy and a group of children who contributed to his death. Stitches was produced by Fantastic Films and Tailored Films in 2012 and marks the film debut of Tommy Knight and stand-up comedian Ross Noble.[5][6] It is an international co-production between Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.[2] McMahon began working on Stitches after receiving a €600,000 grant from the Irish Film Board, also utilizing funding from MEDIA Europe.[7] Filming for the movie took place in Ireland.[8] Stitches premiered in Dublin, Ireland in September 2012.[9]

Plot

Richard Grindle (Ross Noble), a clown with the stage name "Stitches", makes out with a woman in his van. During sex, the woman notices an egg encased in a glass tube with a face painted on it. Stitches explains that "they" made him do it when he signed up. Stitches arrives late at Tommy's (Ryan Burke) eleventh birthday party. He attempts to entertain the children, but they instead ridicule him. Tommy's best friend Vinnie (Gerald Ahern) ties Stitches' shoelaces together, and Tommy throws a football on his face, causing him to trip and land on a kitchen knife on the other side of the room, unseen to the children, which penetrates his face. As the children come to find out, Stitches slowly gets up. Seeing him, all kids scream in terror and run away.However, Tommy stays transfixed, but when Stitches removes the knife, blood gushes out of the gaping wound, causing him to fall, and the knife flies above him. Stitches falls onto the floor as the knife falls onto his eye, killing him. Tommy visits Stitches' grave and finds a group of clowns performing a ritual. The group's leader, The Motley, threatens Tommy.

Six years later, Tommy (Tommy Knight) is preparing for his seventeenth birthday. He is still haunted by the memory of his past birthday, and begins to have frightening hallucinations, such as a teacher turning into a clown and ripping off Vinnie's testicles before tying them to a party balloon. Hesitating at the idea of throwing a large party, he considers instead inviting only a few friends. Ultimately, he settles on a large gathering, and Vinnie secretly distributes many more invitations over the internet. Tommy, Vinnie, Richie (Eoghan McQuinn) and Bulger (Thommas Kane Byrne), all of whom had been present when Stitches died, prepare the house. As the guests, including Tommy's childhood crush Kate (Gemma-Leah Devereux), arrive, Stitches comes back to life and leaves his grave.

Tommy, startled by Paul (Hugh Mulhern) dressed as a clown as a joke, injures his head. Bulger takes Tommy to find a first-aid kit, and Tommy retreats to his treehouse with Kate. There, Tommy discusses his memories of the ritual he encountered as a child. Meanwhile, Paul is attacked by Stitches, who rips off his ear and one of his arms and pulls a live rabbit out of his throat before kicking his head off. The clown then finds Bulger, opens up his skull with a can opener, and removes his brain with an ice cream scooper. After serving up three perfectly round scoops of brain in a glass bowl, Stitches adds blood as a topping to complete his grisly ice cream sundae. Sarah, (Roisin Barron) Paul's girlfriend, enters the attic to look for him. There, she is attacked by Stitches, and manages to fight back. As she escapes, Stitches drives an umbrella through her skull, killing her. Through his telescope, Tommy sees Stitches in the house, and goes to warn Vinnie of his presence, but is at first unsuccessful, due to Vinnie's desire to have sex with a formerly overweight classmate. Tom asks Kate to leave, but her boyfriend Dan (Tommy Cullen) stops her.

Outside, Stitches attacks Richie. Richie attempts to flee but trips and falls. Stitches rips out his intestines and fashions them into a balloon animal before stabbing him with a bike pump and inflating him. Stitches manages to pump enough air into Richie to cause his head to explode. Vinnie, on discovering Tommy to be telling the truth, attempts to leave, but Stitches attacks them. Tommy stabs him, Vinnie covers him with a blanket, and they escape. Tommy and Vinnie rescue Kate, but Stitches knocks her unconscious as they attempt to escape. Tom tries to resuscitate her, and Vinnie leaves them behind, and Stitches attempts to drown Tommy in a sink that Vinnie had previously vomited in. Kate awakens and throws a knife at Stitches, while Tommy deduces a manner in which to defeat the clown; to kill him, they must destroy the egg he kept in his van. Tommy and Kate, pursued by Stitches, make their way to the den in the graveyard. While hiding, Tommy begins to hiccup, and Kate kisses him in order for him to stay quiet and hidden. Tommy searches for Stitches' egg among a collection of them while Kate keeps an eye out for Stitches, but the pair are soon discovered by him. While deciding which of the two to kill, Vinnie ties Stitches' shoelaces together again. He trips, and drops his egg. Tommy forces Stitches to smash the egg, and Stitches explodes in a mixture of magic trick supplies and yolk.

Six months later, Tommy has moved to a new house and is dating Kate. While the couple are in Tommy's old treehouse, Kate gives Tommy a new telescope, and his old one is positioned so as to focus on the den in the graveyard. There, The Motley is attempting to piece Stitches' broken egg back together while receiving a blow job. The egg is now fully restored indicating that Stitches will return. After the film cuts to black, Stitches' catchphrase, "Everybody happy?", is heard.

Cast

Production

McMahon began working on Stitches after receiving a €600,000 grant from the Irish Film Board, also utilizing funding from MEDIA Europe.[7] Filming for the movie took place in Ireland.[8]

Release

Stitches premiered in Dublin, Ireland in September 2012.[9] It received a limited theatrical release in the US (Dark Sky Films) and Japan (Shochiku). The Japaness title of the film translates as "The Dead Clown Goes Mad".

Reception

Critical reception

Generally the film received extremely positive reviews from genre and horror publications and websites. It received three out of five stars in The Sunday Times. Starburst rated it 6/10 stars.[10] Entertainment.ie rated it three stars and commented on the influence of "80s slasher flicks" on the film.[11] Bloody Disgusting wrote that the film was "destined to become a cult classic" and carried "heavy replay value".[12] Dread Central in particular praised the movie's kill scenes, calling them "brilliant" and remarking that they were done "with such a rigorous sense of care and detail".[13] Criticisms for the movie revolved around the film being "an incredibly low budget production" and the plot being "nowhere near as fun as it sounds on paper".[12][14] The Screen Daily commented that the "horror stuff is obvious, but staged with showstopping flair and buckets of blood".[15] McMahon began working on Stitches after receiving a €600,000 grant from the Irish Film Board, also utilizing funding from MEDIA Europe.[16] Filming for the movie took place in Ireland.[17] Stitches premiered in Dublin, Ireland in September 2012.[18]

Awards

List of awards and nominations
Award Category Nominee Result
Fright-Fest 2012 and Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival 2012 Best Death and Midnight X-Treme Conor McMahon (Director) Fantastic Films (production company) Tailored Films (production company) - Conor McMahon Won

Soundtrack

"Dream Conjecture" was written and performed by Jonathan van Atom. The soundtrack was composed by Paul McDonnell. The soundtrack also features the Cutting Crew classic 80's song "I just died in your arms tonight"

References

  1. ↑ "Conor McMahon Casts British Comedian Ross Noble in 'Stitches'". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Stitches (2012)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Stitches (2012)". The Numbers. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  4. ↑ Oden, Ike. "STITCHES DOES KILLER CLOWNS THE UK WAY". JoBlo. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  5. ↑ Kemp, Stuart. "British Stand-Up Ross Noble's Movie Acting Debut 'Stitches' Gets U.K., Ireland Distribution". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  6. ↑ Clarke, Donald. "Killer punchlines". Irish Times. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Conor McMahon's 'Stitches' To Receive Irish and UK Cinema Release". IFTN. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  8. 1 2 McNary, Dave. "Fantastic, MPI in 'Stitches' deal". Variety. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Conor McMahon's 'Stitches' To Receive Dublin Premiere". IFTN. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  10. ↑ "Movie Review: STITCHES". Starburst Magazine. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  11. ↑ "Review: Stitches". entertainment.ie. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  12. 1 2 "[BD Review: Clown Slasher 'Stitches' Destined To Become A Cult Classic!!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  13. ↑ "Review: Stitches (2012)". Dread Central. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  14. ↑ "Sitges 2012 Dispatch: MANIAC Crowds, STITCHES and SLICE AND DICE: THE SLASHER FILM FOREVER". Twitch Film. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  15. ↑ Newman, Kim. "Stitches". Screen Daily. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  16. ↑ "Conor McMahon's 'Stitches' To Receive Irish and UK Cinema Release". IFTN. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  17. ↑ McNary, Dave. "Fantastic, MPI in 'Stitches' deal". Variety. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  18. ↑ "Conor McMahon's 'Stitches' To Receive Dublin Premiere". IFTN. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
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