4 Star

Priests, wounds and a crown of Thorns.

In Rupert Wainwright‘s (The Fog) early career he came up with a classic horror movie written by Tom Lazarus (The American Dream) and thanks to those at Eureka we can now own it in glorious 1080p for the first time.

People with beliefs want to believe in miracles and the Vatican are the only ones that can verify these phenomenon. That lofty position falls to Father Andrew Kiernan, (Gabriel Byrne, Ghost Ship, Miller’s Crossing) a former scientist and a Jesuit priest. He goes to the small Brazilian village of Belo Quinto where the troubled priest Father Paulo Alameida had served the community and now it is his funeral. But what Father Kiernan is here to see, is the statue weeping blood.

Whilst the congregation is distracted by Kiernan taking photos a small boy steals Father Alameida’s rosary from his open coffin. He sells it on the street to an American tourist.

Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors) receives a phone call from her mother asking her if she has got the package that she sent from Brazil, she has and when she opens it she finds a rosary. Not being religious she isn’t much interested in the artefact, but to please her mother she takes it.

It doesn’t take long before things start going wrong for Frankie. She is having a bath when suddenly an invisible assailant cuts her wrists and she bleeds profusely, but when she is at the hospital they cannot find what causes the blood loss. Once bandaged up she heads home using the tube, where she spots a priest and she asks him if he is Father Andrew Kiernan but he is Father Derning (Thomas Kopache, The App). The lights flicker within the carriage and suddenly Frankie is tied up and her back is being lashed by an unseen whip.

Once again back in hospital the priest sends security tapes of the event to the Vatican where Father Kiernan is put onto this Stigmata case. He heads to Pittsburgh to find Frankie at her hairdresser job.

As her friends fear for her sanity while things keep happening to her and Father Kiernan investigates them, the Vatican looks on with a scornful demeanour.

This is a great supernatural horror and one for the dark nights with someone to hide behind.

“The Kingdom of God is within you and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood and I am there, lift a stone and you will find me.”

SPECIAL FEATURES:

· 1080p High Definition transfer
· 5.1 and uncompressed stereo soundtrack options
· Isolated music & effects track
· Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
· Feature-length audio commentary with director Rupert Wainwright
· Divine Rights: The Story of Stigmata
· Deleted scenes
· Alternate ending
· Music Video – “Identify” By Natalie Imbruglia
· Original theatrical trailer