Stitch (II) (2013) User Reviews

What is a wrong with people?

[tambersphone · 3/10 · 3 March 2014]

I would like to know who designated Edward Furlong as horror movie guy? I would like to kick that guy in the nuts. Terribly acted, this movie was so awful I couldn't finish it, even if the story was promising. These good reviews tricked me into watching, even tho he was in it..... I KNEW better but did it anyway. I have learned my lesson. And now IMDb wants ten lines of review about this movie....I don't know what else to say about it, it's the acting that made me want to throw something at my TV.

Save yourself, the good reviews are false or written by people too easily amused

Only enjoyable if you mistake pretentiousness for originality

[Tubular_Bell · 3/10 · 3 May 2014]

Right from the first few minutes, I knew I was in trouble. This bomb may only be enjoyable if you get a kick out of cheap "artistic" imagery, or if you mistake pretentiousness for originality.

I don't even have anything against the low budget aspect. Low budget has given us excellent results in the past, and it usually has to do with the director having a firm idea of what he wants. This "Ajai" guy definitely hasn't: he alternated from cheap horror flick clichés to surrealistic collages, from gory make-up to Disney-ish superimposed images and corny effects and lighting. This COULD be promising if it went all out surreal on us, but no: this whole poorly written and acted ordeal is just an excuse to deliver a tired, hackneyed "coming-to-terms- with-tragedy" story that brings us nothing interesting or creative. It's silly and pointless, and I just can't fathom how anyone could bother making this film come into fruition. If only it were entertainingly bad as The Room, but no, not even that.

If you're curious, just watch the opening credits and then leave. That is the whole movie.

Eddie Furlong shines

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 16 February 2018]

STITCH is a usual very low budget horror film about a pair of grieving parents who head off to the archetypal spooky old house in the desert to engage in a 'cleansing' ritual to rid themselves of bad vibes. It's most notable for starring former child star Edward Furlong, of TERMINATOR 2 fame, in the lead role. I've always liked Furlong due to his role in the Schwarzenegger film alone and as I'm the same age as him I tend to identify with him as the years go by. He's been stuck in B-movie limbo for decades now but he gives a solid performance here and is believable as the tired, grieving old father. The rest of the movie is a mish-mash of familiar themes, with some very dodgy CGI effects and plenty of predictability. It does close on a relatively bloody climax, however.

This was something else alright...

[paul_haakonsen · 1/10 · 30 December 2016]

I was initially lured in by the synopsis of this movie, as it sounded like it could actually be interesting enough, despite even the fact that it had Edward Furlong in the lead.

I should have taken heed of the low rating of the movie and probably stayed well clear of this movie, because it turned out to be a waste of time and effort, and I didn't even stick around to finish it. I just simply gave up out of sheer despair and a lacking will to finish this abysmal movie. I managed to stick with the movie to the point where the people had decided to venture out into the wild as the storm was raging, then I just simply had enough...

The storyline just didn't make much sense at all, and things did start out well enough, but quickly slipped down a very steep slope and never managed to get back up. And things fully fell apart when a very strange and horribly fake storm manifested. I have never seen anything as fake and pathetic as that storm. Just what were the special effects team thinking here? As for the characters in the movie, well none of them were memorable, but all of them were flaccid and about as interesting as wet cardboard cut-outs.

And as for the cast in this movie, well let's just say that I wasn't impressed, not in the least. And this might actually, hands down, be the worst movie that I have seen Edward Furlong in - and let's be honest, he does have some questionable titles to his name.

"Stitch" is listed as a horror movie, but there was nothing scary about it. Well, unless if you take the storyline, the lack of acting and the laughable special effects into consideration and call that 'horror'.

I have absolutely no intention of returning to finish "Stitch". There just was nothing, and I do mean, absolutely nothing to warrant justifying spending more time on this ordeal of a movie. The storyline was about as meaningful as watching paint drying on a wall, the characters had absolutely no depth or traits that made you care about them, and the effects were just so poor that your eyes were in danger of bleeding.

Take heed and stay well clear of this movie...

Horrible

[born_sexy123 · 2/10 · 14 February 2014]

As soon as the movie started it was horrible. The effects are very low budget and not real at all. The strange effects that occur are extremely weird and ruin the movie. Such as the lightning doesn't look real and even their bonfire used fake fire! And for some reason their is always purple light which looks stupid! The background music is terrible. The acting is average... The storyline is also average. Turned it off after 30 minutes. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they like crappy, unrealistic, low budget movies. If the effects were better it might actually make its way to an average movie rather than a horrible movie. The cover of the movie is the only real or good thing about this movie. Definitely don't judge a book by its cover otherwise you will think it will be an amazing movie!

One of the WORST !!!

[bee428 · 1/10 · 15 February 2014]

This is my first comment on a movie but this movie was the biggest waste of time I have ever spent and I have to warn any one who thinks to give this movie any second of there time. It truly is one of the WORST movies I have ever seen. Don't waste your time as I did... PLEASE.

After reading a couple reviews stating 10/10 and after seeing the art work for the movie I had to give it a look. Both were evil deceptions to get me to watch this trash.

This movie has really really bad acting and equally bad special effects. I would be truly embarrassed to be Furlong and put out such crap!!

Movie - Special Effects = No Movie

[caspian1978 · 15 February 2014]

As a fan, this was a hard movie to watch. As a critic, it was even a harder movie to watch. Edward Furlong has had a roller coaster of a movie career. Many big budget successes and low budget failures. In his support, Furlong gives a great performance, one of the better in the last 10 years. Sadly, since the movie is a low budget horror film that tries to be a fantasy, science fiction, witch craft, paranormal, and then other things all rapped into one, its hard to take anything about this movie seriously. Shawna Waldron has made a career of always giving 100% to every role she takes as well as brining legitimacy to every movie that she is in. As a fan, I hate to see waste of artistic talent. Shawna brings an audience to this movie but sadly loses members along the way. It is true that a low budget can hurt the quality of a good movie. Stitch is a perfect example of this. The story in itself may have worked but falls short with its over use of low end special effects which reminds the audience that they are watching a love budget horror movie that is aiming to be more than it is. I think the movie would have been better with less computer animated graphics. The movie has its moments of scary images, but with a lack of interest in taking the story serious, we are left with a movie that leaves us awkward. The casting of Tiffany Martin added to this. Both Waldron and Furlong both look like they can play 25-35 years old. Having their daughter in her early to mid teens did not do much for the realistic factor. I think the odd casting overall hurt the movie even though Waldron and Furlong both delivered good performances. Then again, I think they had very little to work with.

Really Really Bad

[socrates4 · 1/10 · 19 May 2019]

This is a terrible horror film. And of the many terrible horror films that exist, some of which I've had the misfortune of watching, this is the worst kind. There is nothing good about it. You'll want to tear your eyes out.

It's depressing to watch. It feels like it's five hours long. The list of what's bad about it is too long to get into. Everything that could be bad, and then some more stuff that you'd never imagine. Don't watch it. Don't think about it. Just go on with your life. You'll be much happier and better off that way. Do not recommend.

Not your average horror film!

[pmaynard · 4/10 · 22 October 2015]

I am going to go out on a limb and give this film 4 1/2 *'s for originality and the story line. Yes, there are what some would call "cheesy" special effects but I believe they were done on purpose having nothing to do with budget. Most of the movie the characters are in a dream state and if you have ever had a dream the effects are cheesy, aren't they?! Anyway, in this film it is the story that is important here not the special effects. And nor does this movie have big stars,although Edward Furlong was well know from the Terminator movie, they are just actors that have all brought something to the table here.I personally liked the film. I also liked the music. It is a film that has to be watched in its entirety or you may miss something!.

Horrible Fake Lightning! Strobe Warning!

[icocleric · 1/10 · 29 October 2023]

I couldn't finish it. Once the lightning effects, which are truely awful kick in. The strobing is terrible, and it seems to just keep going. Like I've seen better lightning effects from the 80s. And they made the sky purple in an overly CGI way for some reason?

The sound quality is hot and miss. Sometimes things can be heard clearly, but other times the speech is quite and muffled. At first I thought this film had promise, especially some of the shots in the opening credits looked nice. But it just goes downhill after that.

The acting is dull, and wooden. And honestly it was just bad. There was even CGI fire at one point???

Surprisingly Smart and Terrifying Horror-Thriller may Signal an Ed Furlong Comeback!

[robsin22 · 10/10 · 14 February 2014]

Grabbed a Stitch blu-ray off of Amazon after reading some positive reviews on horror sites. It ended up being one of those off-kilter movie discoveries that I live for.

First, let me state that I popped the blu-ray into my player with very low expectations, so that was definitely a factor. I am also forgiving of low-budget flaws if a movie otherwise kicks ass. A few such flaws do pop up in the first ten minutes - namely a couple of video-gamey FX shots. But nothing too bad. After that, the rest of the FX are great. In fact, the overall visual style is quite imaginative, like a Salvador Dali painting crossed with a Boschian nightmare.

Stitch follows the story of a married couple played by Ed Furlong (Terminator 2, American History X) and Shawna Waldron. Their daughter recently died. So their two friends, played by Shirly Brener and Laurence Mason (The Crow, Prison Break) take the grieving couple out to the desert for some kind of healing ritual. The first act is a bit slow but there is some great sound design in that ritual scene. Creepy as hell.

After the ritual, the movie finally kicks up some horror. We get our first glimpse of a demonic entity hidden in the shadows. That bit was the most effective jump-scare for me. Literally spilled my soda all over my pants!

Without giving a blow-by-blow account of the plot, things move into high gear as all of the characters get stitched and slashed by an unseen force. All the while, we learn about certain dirty secrets and betrayals between the couples. It's as if they are being punished for misdeeds, with their inner ugliness manifesting as external scars. If that wasn't enough, an epic lightning storm rains fire from the sky, trapping them in the desert house.

From the sixty-minute mark on, it's a nonstop barrage of great jump-scares and terrifying situations, backed by surreal and nightmarish imagery. Body horror and edge-of-your-seat suspense keep things tense. VFX and sound FX are top notch for a B-movie.

Then the whole thing goes in a direction I really wasn't expecting; A direction that I thought was either brilliant or insane. In fact, just to make sure I really understood what happened, I immediately re-watched the final 30 minutes. And for that I give Stitch high marks. It goes beyond horror and attempts some Matrix-y "perception of reality" stuff. You either buy into that type of thing or not. I do. So I had no problem with where the story went. In fact, I thought it was quite original. I can't say more without giving away major spoilers, so I won't.

In Summary:

CONS: - Low to mid budget - Two or three half-baked FX shots in the first act - Takes twenty to thirty minutes to get going

PROS: - Highly original with some big ideas - Incredibly surreal yet grounded in emotion (a rare feat) - Solid acting from all, especially Furlong - Visually stunning with some psychedelic VFX - Terrifying from the sixty-minute mark on!

The PROS win by a wide margin on this one.

Maybe (finally) this will be Ed Furlong's comeback vehicle. All the pieces are there!

Stitch Face

[parry_na · 7/10 · 10 February 2017]

Serafina (Shauna Waldron) and Marsden (Edward Furlong) have recently lost their daughter. They hit upon a clearly unadvisable way of cleansing themselves of their abject misery by travelling to an isolated mansion in the middle of a desert and indulging in a ceremony designed to 'confront' death. You may think this won't end well. You may be right.

The director, known as Ajai, crams his film with as many images and ideas as 91 minutes will allow. Some might think it's saturated with too much incident; I rather liked the fast-moving nature of the ensuing horror. The thin budget makes itself apparent by some effects shortcomings and occasional lapses with the sound levels, and yet the ambition seems undiminished. I admire Ajai for this and, despite the shortcomings, 'Stitch Face' is an enjoyably gruesome experience. Hopefully, the director will continue for a long time to come.

Genuinely creepy, clever and tense

[mark-179-360743 · 9/10 · 16 February 2014]

I've seen every horror / slasher flick going, and there hasn't been a lot of innovation for a long time - most are incredibly formulaic. I genuinely see this movie as genre redefining, and was far away from any cliché I was expecting. Yes, some of the non-gore FX are clearly low budget, although they don't detract from the film, but the script, story, direction and acting are all excellent. The film is genuinely creepy, it keeps you guessing right until the end - when even after a few truly impressive twists, the film maintains intelligence, creative direction and - most importantly - scariness. It feels a lot like Phantasm (always a plus in my book), but more polished - but that classic creepy, weird "high-quality" 80's horror flick with great twists, morals etc. are way better than the 5.4 average rating I see at the moment. A solid 8+ higher if you love the genre. I'm an ex-pro movie-journo, I'm not giving this bonuses as a fanboy or anyone tied to the production - it really is clever, really creepy and really well acted and directed throughout. Spooky stuff.

Great idea for a movie but very poor choice of actors.

[CoolKid23 · 6/10 · 14 February 2014]

I actually got to see this movie at an early screening earlier this week. I would like to start by saying that I LOved the idea about what the movie was about. Two parents who have lost their daughter are taken to a house in the middle of nowhere with the advice from their 2 friends to perform a ritual that is supposed to make them forget about the pain of losing their daughter. Like most horror movies things start happening and it gets creepy real fast. The premise of the story is fine but the actors are probably the worst actors I have ever seen in my life. Remember Eddie furlong who played john Connor in terminator 2? Well he sucks big time in this movie. My question is how do these actors actually make it past auditions? With all that said its a decent movie but the actors really kill it. Had there had been better actors I think the movie would have been a better experience for me.

Cool horror flick !

[novoselac · 8/10 · 6 May 2014]

I watched the Stitch with my girlfriend, and because we are horror genre junkies, we know to be a very tough audience to please. Both of us enjoyed the movie and I can't believe it has so low score here on IMDb.

The movie reminds me of old school horrors, just with more intelligent story. It is about two parents that can't overcome the loss of their daughter, so they rent a house in the desert to initiate some strange sorrow healing ritual. No one remember how they came there and soon bad unexplainable things start to happen.

Great things about the movie are acting and script. It is some sort of a psychological thriller actually. I never heard for Shirly Brener, but she did a decent acting overall, and is just smoking hot (shhh don't tell my girlfriend!). Edward Furlong looks cool and very congruent in his role too.

One thing I should not forget to mention is the make up. It's amazing and scary, and it really brings the best out of the movie scenes. CGI effects could be better though. My score is 8/10 !

I ... liked it.

[begob · 6/10 · 29 December 2014]

Ha ha - interesting to read the reviews on this, because it is a love/hate experience.

First up I'm in a barren location presented as real. Then the weird landlady lays some foreboding on me (I strain to hear her poorly recorded lines), and suddenly I'm thinking I've actually died and me watching this film is a version of Hell.

Then I'm in an apocalypse, the end of days. Then a smoky creature chases me. Then I figure maybe it's all my fault, and the landlady lays some mystical exposition on me and I wake up and save myself.

It does all tie up in the end, and it is quite touching. The final shot in the morgue made me suspect there's some real experience behind this concept.

Apart from the landlady the actors don't create much of an impression. Can't remember when I've seen both leads being overweight. The editing is a bit crunchy, with some scenes stitched (!) together too tight and various little non sequiturs. No need to comment on the special effects.

At one point it reminded me of Coherence, which also used the idea of parallel lives. But this has a different take, although I don't think it's really a horror either because there's no external agent.

Overall if exposition is needed in the end it's a fail, but then most of us don't want to spend days figuring out the brilliance of another David Lynch nightmare.

ps. I wonder if the eclipse image is a deliberate reference to Ringu?

Stitch The Movie - Good Movie

[jilldalejd · 10/10 · 18 February 2014]

Maybe I watched a different movie, given some of the negative reviews but I thought STITCH rocked. I felt it was one of the most original horror films I've seen in a while.

The story doesn't have anything to do with witchcraft or paranormal or fantasy or sci-fi or the kitchen sink. So other people who say that either didn't watch the whole thing or weren't paying attention. This was the first purely metaphysical horror movie I've seen since Jacob's Ladder.

If you understand just a little of Zen Buddhism or western metaphysical thought, you will get this movie. Think of the themes of THE MATRIX (the world is not what it seems) but without the big sci-fi action environment. Replace said environment with low-budget horror and you sort of get close. And if you don't care about such ideas or themes, the movie still works. It hits all the right horror-thriller notes, with an extra bit of story depth for anyone who looks under the hood.

It does have some low budget effects but so what. I remember the first time my friends forced me to watch the original TERMINATOR on DVD. I almost turned it off in the first two minutes because of the lame plastic-models-on-wires-masquerading-as-flying-vehicles (Hunter- Killers for T fans). But I'm glad I didn't because I was treated to one of my favorite movies of all time, low budget special effects be damned.

Not saying that STITCH is a classic like THE TERMINATOR. Not even close. But it's miles above other horror films in recent memory in terms of story and overall concept. Acting is good and better than average for the genre. Effects and other production values are mostly good with only a few of the aforementioned weak spots.

Overall... Original, thought provoking, scary and packing some emotional punch (especially if you're a parent).

Easter Eggs and Clues

[metanon · 8/10 · 15 February 2014]

I've seen Stitch three times now. Not because I love it (but I now definitely like it).

First time I watched it because I was at a friend's house and he forced me to. He loves horror movies, b-movies, weird movies and we hang out so I end up seeing a lot of junk. Was expecting Stitch to be awful but I actually thought it was okay. But nothing to write home about. So that was that.

Then my friend told my girlfriend about it and she insisted on seeing it too. So a week later, I have to sit through it a second time with her.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

It was on this second viewing that I noticed something really weird. The first time we see a demonic entity, there is a large HUMAN EYE that appears in a window to the right of the entity. It's just there for a fraction of a second! So a day later I watched this movie very carefully for a THIRD TIME by myself and I see that there are "easter eggs" (story clues) sprinkled throughout! Never even noticed any of that on the first viewing. All the clues ultimately link back to a video game played by the dead daughter and to an operation she has at the end of the film. I won't spoil the rest of the clues. But they all makes sense. The story makes total sense. Kind of got me excited that stuff like that would be in a movie and go completely over my head until I looked closer.

The first time I watched it, I thought the plot was just some throwaway horror with some decent scares. But there's a really interesting story here dealing with memories, dreams, emotions and how people live inside traumatic illusions. So I definitely like Stitch now. A lot. I can't bring myself to love it because Ed Furlong's in it and he's such a loser in real life. If they had another actor maybe I would love it.

I recommend it though. I'm a sucker for movies that add in layers of clues. Mulholland Drive and The Usual Suspects are two of my favorites for that reason, though they are both very different kinds of movies than this one.

Fascinating Metaphor for Mental Illness and Depression

[JanicePf77 · 9/10 · 13 March 2014]

I found this movie to be surprisingly deep. Not the same old horror thing at all. The rating should be higher but I guess IMDb skews to a younger demographic.

I won't give away any major spoilers. But if you really look closely at the last 30 minutes, you find that the movie you thought you were watching is really something else. It's all about how people can go through their waking lives in depression, while part of their minds (the subconscious) wrestles with inner demons. What we see on screen during most of movie is really that subconscious dream - people fighting literal demons. Their "real" lives are only revealed at the end. And by the end, they are cured of their depression from the hellish dream - yet they barely remember the dream at all.

At least that much seemed clear to me.

It's kind of like how you might go to bed feeling really bad. But then you wake up in the morning feeling fully refreshed. You remember having some kind of dream that night and maybe that dream was responsible for curing your bad feelings. But you can barely remember the dream.

We have also all heard stories of people living with mental illness their whole lives and then one day - poof! They are cured. And they don't even know how or why. Was part of their mind busy working things out on a different plane of reality?