I have an uncanny sort of respect for this one. Think about it for a moment: Roger Avary just found a spot on his mantelpiece for his Academy Award for writing one of the pop culture staples of the post-modern American cinema (or who knows where), and the next thing he signs on for (who knows how it generated but I'll imagine he pitched it) is to write and direct a weird-ass science fiction movie - the first original release for the Sci-Fi Channel no less - about a "creative" doctor who stitches together a man (OR IS IT? didn't mean to mis-gender) a-new out of 80 parts from both sexes, and then the new being named Lazarus starts to have dreams/realizes the visions of who he/she/it used to be. It takes some balls to commit to that - and by that, I mean a vision that is pretty much schlock. I am sorry if you were wondering if this was legitimately good, but I'm not sure if that's the case. Oh, Wil Wheaton and to an extent Rutger Hauer are committed to these characters, and there's a decent supporting role for the always-dependable Ron Perlman. But this has certain design elements that are familiar for sci-fi buffs - like an all-acrid all-white set ala THX-1138, and a... actually, I don't know what that GIANT EYEBALL is all about, but it is absolutely, stunningly funny and bizarre - and the dialog is stuffed with either exposition or inner-ideas and 'insights' from Lazarus and the other female doctor that he suddenly takes a liking to, and there's *more* to that.
The point is, this does have a not-terrible idea to kick it all off, which is an updated, horror-tinged but not all-the-way horror Frankenstein riff (if it isn't obvious enough, at one point Lazarus reads Frankenstein the book, which.... hey, Johnny 5 did that in Short Circuit 2, RIP OFF!) It also goes for some hallucinatory details, some that are fun for enjoying the dated value of the special effects and tomandandy techno score, and details like that 'Chemical Weapons' door sign (I still can't get over that). At the same time, this is also kind of messy by nature of the fact that Hauer (RIP) eventually during the production decided he was bored or didn't like it or who knows, and kind of just leaves more or less about halfway through. He is a major part of the story though, and the movie loses something without him in it more (when he is there, he is trying... ish, if not seeming to dig his teeth in like on a Buffy the Vampire Slayer level). What makes it schlock ultimately is that Avary a) doesn't seem to have much of a budget to work with, aside from the Tom Savini make-up and (which is terrific, goes without saying), and a couple of car crashes that are certainly something else, and b) it really starts to become more rote as it goes along in its second half. I was at first really keyed in to, you know, a moment where Lazarus flings a bar-bell at the floating giant eyeball and it falls to the ground and deflates after being pierced (and yes, I just wrote that sentence), but it devolves into the same old 'the Creation Is Out of Control We Need to Stop it But OMG it's Taken Control On Its Own AAH' story that has cropped up over and over. And, frankly, some of the dialog (ok, a lot) is more laughable than it is clever.
All of this said, Mr. Stitch feels like something that doesn't get looked at or talked about anymore, which is strange considering its history, who made it and who's in it (Taylor Negron has a fun supporting turn too), and it's the kind of obscure 90's work that probably could be unearthed by someone or some company (looking at you, Shout Factory?) It has some dull spots, but is overall a solid piece of so-crap-it's-a-gas material, and certainly a cut above what Sci-Fi has put out in the years since.
The point is, this does have a not-terrible idea to kick it all off, which is an updated, horror-tinged but not all-the-way horror Frankenstein riff (if it isn't obvious enough, at one point Lazarus reads Frankenstein the book, which.... hey, Johnny 5 did that in Short Circuit 2, RIP OFF!) It also goes for some hallucinatory details, some that are fun for enjoying the dated value of the special effects and tomandandy techno score, and details like that 'Chemical Weapons' door sign (I still can't get over that). At the same time, this is also kind of messy by nature of the fact that Hauer (RIP) eventually during the production decided he was bored or didn't like it or who knows, and kind of just leaves more or less about halfway through. He is a major part of the story though, and the movie loses something without him in it more (when he is there, he is trying... ish, if not seeming to dig his teeth in like on a Buffy the Vampire Slayer level). What makes it schlock ultimately is that Avary a) doesn't seem to have much of a budget to work with, aside from the Tom Savini make-up and (which is terrific, goes without saying), and a couple of car crashes that are certainly something else, and b) it really starts to become more rote as it goes along in its second half. I was at first really keyed in to, you know, a moment where Lazarus flings a bar-bell at the floating giant eyeball and it falls to the ground and deflates after being pierced (and yes, I just wrote that sentence), but it devolves into the same old 'the Creation Is Out of Control We Need to Stop it But OMG it's Taken Control On Its Own AAH' story that has cropped up over and over. And, frankly, some of the dialog (ok, a lot) is more laughable than it is clever.
All of this said, Mr. Stitch feels like something that doesn't get looked at or talked about anymore, which is strange considering its history, who made it and who's in it (Taylor Negron has a fun supporting turn too), and it's the kind of obscure 90's work that probably could be unearthed by someone or some company (looking at you, Shout Factory?) It has some dull spots, but is overall a solid piece of so-crap-it's-a-gas material, and certainly a cut above what Sci-Fi has put out in the years since.