Cast:

Cast: 

Father Andrew Kiernan - Gabriel Byrne

Cardinal Daniel Houseman - Jonathan Pryce

Donna Chadway - Nia Long

Directors: Rupert Wainwright

Stigmata - bodily marks or pains resembling the wounds of the crucified Christ and sometimes accompanying religious ecstasy 

The tagline for Stigmata states that it will "scare the hell into you." Well, if my memory serves me correctly, I had that done as a wee lad of 7, when I saw a little movie called The Exorcist, maybe you’ve heard of it? The story of innocence lost, and then some, via Satanic possession, laid the groundwork for movies regarding the Dark Angels presence on Earth. Since then, many have tried, not too successfully for the most part, to recreate the feeling of fear and terror created by William Peter Blatty’s masterpiece.

  The latest entry into this foray is Stigmata, a carbon copy of The Exorcist, with more effects, a bigger budget, but none of the originality or oomph. I sat there watching it, and felt something inside me alright, it was déjà vu though, not an unknown dark force. There is very little original here, save the occasional interesting historical "Gee, I did not know that" fact. This is a shame, because there was an interesting story to be told here, regarding the gospel according to Christ himself. If I understand it correctly, and my Biblical knowledge may be a bit off, the gospels of the Bible are the interpretations of Jesus’ words by those who heard them. Each differs, as tales recounted usually do, hence the formation and basis of the worlds many religions. So you can imagine the turmoil and upheaval that would be caused if his actual words came to light. The effect would be paramount, on a much smaller scale, to a big brother, being in charge while the parents are gone, and laying down the law to others as truth, only to have the parents return and say how it really is.

When this idea is introduced, I felt the story had a lot of potential, and I sat up and paid attention, but alas, as is usually the case, the film makers sacrificed the story, in lieu of flaunting its big budget effects and fancy camera angles. We are treated 4 MTV-style imagery collages of wounds through the wrists, the feet, the crown of thorns, the scourging of the back and finally the spear through the side.
I mean really, how many times do I really need to see the wounds inflicted on poor Patricia, one time was enough to get the effect of pain that was being caused, and the fear inside her as it happened.

  Another annoyance that I have here, and in any movie with a male and female lead, is the necessity to create a romance between them, when it is not a natural part of the story. It seems forced, and I often wonder why they feel the need. It distracts from the story, another of the many things that does that here, and Byrne and Arquette have no chemistry either. Their performances, and that of a "why is he here" Jonathan Pryce, are like the rest of this movie, not bad, not great, but effective, if not a bit over the top at times. Thankfully, Arquette’s worst possession incidents involve only broken bottles and feats of superhuman strength, as opposed to pea soup.

Ultimately, this movie is going to cause a stir in religious circles for the imagery, and ideas introduced here. I guess I would not be considered a deeply religious person in the aspect of attending church on a regular basis. However, I do have a strong belief and faith. I do not believe that the strength of someone’s religion should be based upon attendance. It is based upon the strength and knowledge inside you, church gives you a chance to gather with people to express your faith in a deeper way. side, but I loved the irony of innocence lost, and or corrupted of the Exorcist, and here, having Arquette be an Atheist, is an interesting twist, since most stigmatics are very strong of faith. Also, the setup is a bit on the silly, and inconsistent side . It is just too bad in my eyes, that the film makers here did not have the faith in this story to focus more upon it, and less upon trying to shock and scare us. Stigmata is not a bad movie, basically, the Exorcist, 90’s style. As I’ve said, the imagery is good, once, and I learned a bit (crucifixes are all wrong, and these scrolls actually do exist) and was piqued, but overkill dooms this movie, and sentences it to a fate of a video recommendation at best for me. ($$ out of $$$$)

Actor and movie information courtesy of the

Images courtesy of Stigmata Official Website

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