The new horror film, Stigmata, is sure to piss-off the Catholic Church. And not simply for its graphic violence, sex, and scenes involving the seduction of a priest. That stuff probably won't bother them nearly as much as the film's direct assault on the Vatican.

Director Rupert Wainwright and screenwriters Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage have the refreshing boldness to not only suggest that organized religion isn't necessary for a fulfilling relationship with God, but to go so far as to put words to that effect in the mouth of Jesus Christ himself. Talk about chutzpah. It's the kind of thought provoking audacity that's worthy of discussion and possibly praise. The movie, unfortunately, is worthy of neither.

Patricia Arquette plays a Pittsburgh hairdresser who comes into contact with the rosary beads of a dead priest and suddenly begins to develop the stigmata, the wounds of Christ. Gabriel Byrne is the Vatican priest sent to investigate. Of all the so-called "miracles" in the Catholic faith (weeping statues, etc.), the stigmata is the creepiest. The film's trailers, which show a possessed Arquette speaking in ancient Aramaic, suggest the movie is possibly about the Second Coming. Not even close. We get a hint very early on that whatever is possessing Arquette is neither divine, nor all that evil.

The presentation is also irritating. Wainwright alternates between the Tony Scott School of Extreme Close-Up directing and a shock-cut style reminiscent of a Nine Inch Nails video. (Smashing Pumpkins' lead singer Billy Corgan provides the musical score, helping to add to the MTV look.) Wainwright's idea of dreamlike ambience is to have water everywhere. There's so much water dripping in Arquette's apartment that you wonder why she doesn't spend the whole film on the phone with her landlord.

The director does manage to use religious imagery to a frightening effect (at one point Arquette's character tellingly remarks that the only thing scarier than not believing in God, is believing in God). But most attempts to scare the audience fall flat. And the bad acting and overwrought style overwhelm the film's daring message.

(c) Copyright 1999