Synopsis: When a young woman becomes afflicted by stigmata, a priest is sent to investigate her case, which may have severe ramifications for his faith and for the Catholic Church itself.-IMDB
Tagline: The messenger must be silenced.
Release Date: 1999-9-10| MPAA Rating: R | Coolthulhus Earned: 2
Trailer: Stigmata
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Stigmata Review
Stigmata, while interesting in theory, relies way too heavily on the use of bad music, annoyingly loud sound effects, and flashes of ‘happenings’ that have a tendency to just give you a headache rather than actually freak you out. This is a shame because there genuinely are some beautiful shot sequences in the film that make me want to like it a lot more than I actually did.
Both Patricia Arquette and Gabriel Byrne did a good job with the script that they were given, but this was just not a good movie and they can’t be expected to carry it all on their shoulders. She’s a 20ish hair stylist, and he’s an organic chemist turned priest. When a priest reports an incident in which Arquette’s character (Frankie) is whipped on a train by an ‘unseen force’, Byrne’s character (Father Andrew Kiernan ) is called in to investigate. The ante is upped, and it soon becomes obvious that this isn’t your normal case of stigmata.
There is a certain chemistry between the two of them, and if this movie had been written different and/or shot by a director that wasn’t trying to do the artsy thing all the time, it would have been a great watch. Instead, the occasionally beautiful shots are pounded into submission by repeated ‘horrific’ happenings of the stigmatas appearance.
I guess this is what happens when you take an interesting idea, and lay in the hands of who have more money than talent. Feeling nostalgic for the 90s? Rent Stigmata now on Amazon.
Title: Stigmata | Director: Rupert Wainwright | Actors: Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce | Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), FGM Entertainment, etc | Release Date:1999-9-10 | Genre: Horror | Triggers: None | MPAA Rating: R | Rating: 2 out of 5 |
I actually really liked Stigmata. It’strue that sometimes they went more for style over substance at times but there were quite a lot of parts that I thought were shot beautifully and acted well.
I only had two issues with it. They kind of just drop her and also…the place they get breakfast in the morning? Is that really a thing with food stands that they just keep bread out in the open?
Maybe back then it was? I dunno.
I remember going to the cinema to watch this one. God, such a long time ago!! I remember the title more than the movie itself. No sure why it reminded me of the excellent Frailty, though. Maybe because of the Godly connection? Not sure, but I remember Frailty a lot better than I do Stigmata.
I don’t think I’ve seen Frailty
I’ve watched it a loong time ago, so I may change my mind should I watch it today, but at the time, I was hooked. The final twist was great.
Amazing what time can do to your perception of movies, lol.
It didn’t put me much in mind of Frailty but thank you for reminding me! Now I’ll have to watch it again and review it. It is an excellent movie!
Oh yeah! I vaguely remember watching this when I was young. I think I liked it.