1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great post-nineties Full Moon flick!, March 10, 2011
This review is from: Stitches (DVD)
Full Moon produced some great horror flicks in the early 90s that became cult classics on video. The Puppetmaster series, Subspecies, and even the children's film Prehysteria all did very well through their distribution deal with Paramount Home Video. As the 90s came to a close, the quality of their output steadily declined due to severe budget restrictions. I've only sampled a few of these later day releases and found them tremendously amateurish and cheap. I picked up this film, Stitches, as a bonus feature included with the movie Dead & Rotting. That movie was so bad (somewhat entertainingly so) that I almost didn't bother with the bonus flick. However, I'm glad I did. Stitches is a surprisingly well done independent horror film that manages to work past it's limitations to be ultimately satisfying.
The gist of the plot is that a demon from Hell has been given the challenge of getting every person living inside a boarding house to surrender their souls, which are then contained inside paper dolls. The demon disguises itself as a sweet older woman and plays to each person's vulnerability or secret desires to trick them into playing her game. The movie takes place in the 1920s and that choice of setting does a great job in adding to the atmosphere. The costumes and hair do a wonderful job capturing the look of the period without going too broad. The performances are surprisingly competent all around. The director even states on the commentary that it's easy to find girls willing to go nude in a B horror movie, but it's hard to find professional actresses who are willing do the same. The filmmakers chose to abandon any nudity in favor of casting women who were actually capable of above porn-quality acting, and I'm sure that choice greatly benefited the final product.
The movie appears to have been shot on digital video, which always creates the look of an amateur production. However, the director still manages to achieve some nice cinematic shots (the shadow of lace curtains moving on the floor) and creates effective tension (a close-up of the villain's mouth as she attempts to get one of her victims to succumb to temptation). Despite a noble effort on everyone's part, this clearly would have been a more effective movie if the budget was increased. The CG is downright bad and I'm sure those evil little paper dolls would have benefited from a larger effects budget. Hell, the demon's little imp minion is represented by a wadded up ball of paper! But despite these shortcomings and given that Full Moon may be a shadow of what it once was as a studio, their spirit still comes through with this production. It was nice to see something released by them in the last decade that didn't completely numb my brain before the end credit. A recommended film.
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4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is Hilarious!, December 1, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Stitches (DVD)
This movie is so bad that it is good. Lots of blood and you know what else make this a treat. Rent it, don't buy it.
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