Another Monday, another horror comedy to help lift your spirits. This 2012 release makes for a perfect antidote to a grueling workday. An easy, breezy plot combined with a whole heaping helping of gore serves up yet another reminder why we love the genre so much; pure cathartic entertainment. As far as horror comedies go, Stitches tends to remain on the more underseen side. Considering it’s available on Netflix, it’s time to change that.
Synopsis: Richard “Stitches” Grindle isn’t the best of clowns. He’s pretty clumsy, and he’s also not very funny. When he’s hired to entertain at little Tom’s birthday party, his character goes out with a bloody bang after a prank gone wrong results in a fatal accident for Stitches. You can’t keep a clown down for long though; Stitches returns from the grave six years later to seek revenge on Tom and his friends for his grisly death.
Key Players: Ross Noble stars as the titular Stitches, an undead clown that longs to spill copious amounts of blood. Tommy Knight plays Sitches’ main adversary Tom, and Gemma-Leah Devereux is Tom’s love interest Kate.
Why It’s on the List: This Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom co-production, directed and co-written by Conor McMahon, offers up a different style of humor. Above all, though, it unleashes the gore. Think Evil Dead 2 splatstick levels of gore. Balloon animals out of dismembered members? Check. Brain Sundaes? Double check. Stitches is one pissed off clown, but his pain is our gain. Stitches keeps the plot light and simple, letting the death and gore gags take center stage. Sometimes that’s all you want in a horror comedy.
Bloody Birthday: Pranks in horror is never a good idea. For Tom, playing a mean prank on his hired birthday entertainment proves to be the catalyst for seriously disturbing finale to his party. Not to mention a serious hazard to his health when Stitches returns six years later.
Where You Can Watch: Stitches is currently available to stream on Netflix.