Stigmata Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Stigmata Blu-ray Movie Review

Nailed it?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 18, 2015

One of the many denominations, both Christian and Jewish, for which I’ve served as Music Director throughout the years used to refer to Jesus as “elder brother and way shower.” I always felt that was a really cool way to describe this unparalleled figure, perhaps even independent of any “necessary” belief in Jesus’ divinity, but that “way showing” tends to refer to behavior and treatment of other individuals, not necessarily the trials and tribulations Jesus himself went through. For something like that, it’s probably best to stick with good, old fashioned Roman Catholicism, where supernatural (or at least hard to explain) phenomena like possession by demons (or even by The Big D and/or S himself) or physical manifestations of Christ’s passion like stigmata don’t really raise that much of an eyebrow. There is actually a very long line of so-called Stigmatics (those who experience flesh bound wounds approximating those that Jesus suffered on the cross), including such historically important figures as St. Francis of Assisi. (A really interesting if old History Channel special on stigmata is included on this Blu-ray as a supplement and makes for some fascinating extracurricular viewing.) Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette) may not quite be at that level of notoriety (despite sharing a somewhat similar first name), but she’s an even less likely candidate to experience this frightening and painful phenomenon due to one salient fact: she’s an atheist. Usually it’s the “true believers” who end up manifesting signs of Christ’s passion on a physical level, and when non-believer Frankie shows signs of crucifixion herself, it sets a chain of events into motion that does in fact end up involving the Roman Catholic Church.

An opening sequence which is somewhat clunkily intercut with unfolding credits shows the translating efforts of Father Paulo Alameida (Jack Donner), though it isn’t immediately clear what’s being translated. The good Father doesn’t survive his scholarly activities, and the next scene is at his funeral, where a giant statue of the Virgin Mary appears to be weeping blood. A Jesuit priest named Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) who investigates paranormal phenomena is on hand, attempting to ferret out whether or not this is a real sign of divinity or some mere parlor trick. Perhaps because he’s so intrigued by the bleeding statue, Kiernan doesn’t notice a young native boy purloin the rosary adorning the corpse of Father Alameida. In a quick montage the rosary takes a bit of a circuitous journey and finally ends up in the hands of Frankie Paige, who doesn’t seem particularly well pleased to have received this overtly religious gift from her mother.

Within mere minutes (or so it seems courtesy of some quick elisions in presentation), Frankie is suddenly assaulted by some unseen force while taking a bath, and, later, finds herself hospitalized after she’s found with huge gaping wounds in her wrists which the concerned emergency room doctor assumes are signs not of some spiritual force but instead Frankie’s penchant toward attempting suicide. Despite Frankie’s protestations to the contrary (i.e., Frankie knows she didn't attempt to commit suicide and that she is ostensibly sane), even the young woman seems a bit unsettled at what’s happened to her.

When a second unexplained phenomenon crops up, this time with security camera video providing “proof,” the Vatican gets involved and (of course) Father Kiernan is soon on hand to investigate this latest “X-File.” A bit of a cat and mouse game ensues, but soon enough Frankie is speaking in tongues (or at least in other voices) and Kiernan finds himself peeling away layers of a mystery that (no surprise here) traces right back to Father Alameida, the rosary and (not so coincidentally) that text that the priest was seen translating in the film’s opening moments.

Up to this point, Stigmata, while perhaps unavoidably derivative, has style to spare, courtesy of a number of interesting choices made by director Rupert Wainwright, as well as a really unusual “look” delivered courtesy of cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball. But as soon as Stigmata gets to its “Moishe the Explainer” phase, things go at least partially off the rails (and/or crucifix) if only because the film tries to stuff so much supposedly “rational” information into the proceedings that it becomes almost ridiculous after a while. The subplot involving the translated text is arguably one of the more interesting elements in the screenplay by Tom Lazarus (great surname for a Biblically oriented film!) and Rick Ramage, though those who have read old novels like Irving Wallace’s The Word or even newer treatments of “ancient wisdom” like The Da Vinci Code may not be entirely convinced by this film’s handling of supposed conspiracy issues.

There’s a certain imbalance to some of the performances which does not help Stigmata sustain a consistent tone. Byrne is ultra serious and tamped down, a weighty priest in the Max Von Sydow mode from The Exorcist. Arquette is rather enjoyably goofy at times as Frankie, offering a depiction of a free spirit (no pun intended) suddenly possessed by a really free spirit (so to speak). But some of the bad guys in the piece, notably Jonathan Pryce’s machinating Catholic official, seem to have wandered in from a bus and truck tour featuring Snidely Whiplash from Dudley Do Right. Stigmata never attains the fearsome impact of The Exorcist, though truth be told, it doesn’t really seem to have any ambitions to do so. Instead, the film works best as a mystery thriller with religious overtones, making a clear point that it’s not just the congregants who are in need of a good, old fashioned confession when you get right down to it.

Stigmata Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Stigmata is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.36:1. While there are some transfer specific issues to be dealt with, much of what will probably strike first time viewers as so "odd" looking about this film was in fact intentional, as director Rupert Wainwright makes clear in his interesting commentary included on this Blu-ray as a supplement. Color has been tweaked with in some unusual ways, with some scenes intentionally bled of any vivid hues, and quite a bit of contrast boosting has also been employed, leading to scenes where whites bloom fairly consistently while warmer hues lose at least a bit of their punch. Some of the post processing results in soft, grainy imagery which almost resembles Super 16 or just good old fashioned 16mm at times (see screenshots 10 and 13 for two examples). Even relatively normally color graded and minimally tweaked moments look pretty soft quite a bit of the time (see screenshots 15 and 18). All of this said, this may be an older master, for detail and fine detail never quite rise to totally commendable levels, and grain management continues to be a problem at times, with inorganic looking clumps showing up, especially in some of the darker sequences. The contrast boosting tends to limit fine detail in some shots, especially where highlights clip slightly (see screenshot 1). While not a perfect presentation, this offering at least preserves an overall film like ambience (which due to the beach bypass process means a lot of grain at times) and despite a number of age related issues with dirt, dust and speckles, is never less than watchable.

Stigmata Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Stigmata features solid DTS-HD Master Audio mixes in both 5.1 and 2.0. While the 5.1 mix is not the most immersive horror-supernatural soundtrack ever conceived, it provides some good spatial recreations at several key moments, including both of the initial attacks that Frankie falls victim to. Ambient environmental sounds occasionally dot the surrounds as well, though the 5.1 mix is fairly front heavy a lot of the time. Dialogue is cleanly presented, though occasionally not extremely well prioritized. The at times hackneyed if still effective score by Billy Corgan and Elia Cmiral resides quite comfortably in the surrounds in the 5.1 mix, but at times overpowers the proceedings.

Stigmata Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Rupert Wainwright. This is an unusually interesting listen, with Wainwright getting into some of the nuts and bolts of the techniques he and cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball utilized to get such a distinctive look for the film.


• Deleted Scenes (1080i; 12:54). These are window and letterboxed and obviously sourced from older video.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:26)


• Divine Rites Featurette (1080i; 25:36) is a vintage piece which is, like the Deleted Scenes, window and letterboxed and sourced from older video.


• Incredible but True Featurette (1080i; 44:05) is an older History Channel special about stigmata which is quite interesting if sometimes a bit overheated as History offerings tend to be.


• Natalie Imbruglia Music Video (1080i; 4:16) offers "Identify" from the film's soundtrack.

Stigmata Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's some really interesting content in Stigmata, and the film is stylistically really quite an eyeful, but things tend to fall apart as too many intersecting subplots converge for the third act, and an almost absurd litany of expository interludes tries to "explain" things to everyone's satisfaction. Byrne and Arquette are enjoyable if not always completely believable, but some of the supporting performances are too cartoonish for the film's own good. As tends to be the case, Scream Factory has offered some good supplements which should help satisfy the film's fan base. Technical merits are good (video) to very good/excellent (audio) for those considering a purchase.