Stitches is an Irish horror comedy that I didn't know what to expect from going in. I just knew it had a killer clown in it and considering its been ages since I saw a decent clown movie I went in with low expectations. Luckily, I came out pleasantly surprised, because despite some pacing issues, Stitches turned out to be a pretty entertaining throwback to the cheesy slashers from a bygone era.

Even the film's storyline is like something from the 80's, as we follow a troubled has-been clown named Stitches who awakens from a drunken stupor to entertain a young boy's birthday party. After being relentlessly teased and bullied by the annoying young tikes, a little mishap leads to the poor clown falling face first onto a butcher knife (ouch!). Fast forward 6 years and all the kids are now eager young teens that decide to hold a party at one of their houses. This somehow results in poor Stitches to rise from the grave and seek vengeance against all those punk kids who did him wrong before his untimely death.

Although I didn't find much of the humor very funny, I did like the film's overall comedic tone that added to the silly gags and deaths throughout the flick. It's definitely not a movie to be taken seriously, especially with how goofy and unrealistic some of these deaths were--like one scene where a guy literally gets his head kicked straight off or another where a dude is stabbed in the head by an air pump, which leads the clown to pump air into the guy until his head explodes. They're all so excessive and exaggerated to where you just have to go along for the ride.

Not only are these deaths fun and insane, but (with the exception of a couple brief scenes) they're all done by good ol' fashioned practical FX! Which is something the genre has been missing lately with modern efforts. As for the antagonist himself, unless you're already generally afraid of clowns, Stitches won't really warrant any proper scares. Even from beyond the grave he didn't really look all that menacing to me, which is probably one of the more negative aspects I had with the flick. I would've liked to have seen him pull more zany supernatural tricks up his sleeve rather than going at these victims head on in melee battle. Aside from that there were some minor pacing issues in the first half, but nothing too severe.

Stitches is a fun throwback to the cheesy slashers from decades prior, leaving little to story and lots to gore and crazy exaggerated deaths. Coupled with practical FX and a killer clown, this is one surprisingly entertaining flick. Worth a look!