Stigmata Blu Ray Review (Capelight Pictures)

Stigmata is a 1999 horror film directed by Rupert Wainwright (Dillinger, Blank Check, The Fog, and Fear Itself). It’s written by Tom Lazarus (Freddy’s Nightmares, Hunter, Starman, and War of the Worlds) and Rick Ramage (Haunted, Peacemakers, and The Proposition). It was produced by Frank Mancuso Jr. (Friday the 13th franchise, Ronin, Species franchise, April Fools Day, Body Parts, and Hoodlum). The budget was $29,000,000 and it grossed $89,446,268 worldwide at the box office. In the Brazilian village, Father Andrew Kiernan (played by: Gabriel Byrne from The Usual Suspects, End of Days, Miller’s Crossing, Hereditary, Enemy of the State, Dead Man, Assault on Precinct 13, In Treatment, Ghost Ship, and The Keep) is a Jesuit priest who investigates supposed miracles. He used to be a scientist. While Andrew is collecting evidence, a young boy steals a rosary from the father’s hand. The boy later sells it to a woman in a marketplace, who sends it to her daughter Frankie Paige (played by: Patricia Arquette from True Romance, Little Nicky, Boyhood, Medium, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Lost Highway, and The Act) in America. Frankie starts experiencing weird moments like being attacked by an unseen force and random deep wounds on her body. Her best friend Donna Chadway (played by: Nia Long from Friday, Boyz N the Hood, The Best Man franchise, In Too Deep, Boiler Room, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, Love Jones, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Third Watch, Keanu, and Soul Food) is concerned about her. Father Derning sends security tapes showing the attack to the Vatican and Andrew is sent to investigate. Frankie tries to seduce Andrew as she starts to transform into someone else during her curse. Father Derning (played by: Thomas Kopache from Catch Me If You Can, Leaving Las Vegas, No Country For Old Men, Breakdown, and Star Trek franchise), Father Delmonico (played by: Dick Latessa from Law and Order, Alfie, The Black Donnellys, True Blue, and The Sopranos), Father Dario (played by: Enrico Colantoni from Galaxy Quest, Veronica Mars, A I., Contagion, Just Shoot Me, Person of Interest, and Money Train), Marion Petrocelli (played by: Rade Serbedzija from Snatch, Mission Impossible II, The Saint, Taken 2, X-Men: First Class, Quarantine, 24, Eyes Wide Shut, and The Fog), and Cardinal Houseman (played by: Jonathan Pryce from Brazil, Game of Thrones, Ronin, Tomorrow Never Dies, Glengarry Glen Ross, G.I. Joe franchise, Man On Fire, and Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) all get involved in the bizarre situation. The evil gets more powerful inside Frankie, can these religious men stop it from getting worse???? Stigmata has a great opening. Rupert Wainwright was a music video director before he started doing full length features, Stigmata kinda has that popular MTV visual look to it so it makes it stand out more compared to similar movies. Veteran actor Gabriel Byrne is a great lead here. He is a former scientist turned priest that investigates unnatural cases related to the church. The stunning Patricia Arquette is fantastic as the tortured atheist that has to believe in God to be saved. She looks amazing like always, one of my favorites from back in the day. She goes through hell as someone that keeps changing without any control. The chemistry is good between Byrne and Arquette, it’s a unique partnership here. The script keeps it interesting for the entire running time. The awesome score is from musician Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins, Spun, Ransom, Whale Wars, and Masters of Horror). Stigmata has an all star supporting cast that includes Nia Long, Jonathan Pryce, Rade Serbedzija, Enrico Colantoni, Dick Latessa, Thomas Kopache, Portia de Rossi (Arrested Development), Patrick Muldoon (Starship Troopers), Ann Cusack (A League of their Own), and Jack Donner (Retro Puppet Master). Stigmata is one of the better religious horror films in the sub-genre. This high quality production has lots of strange and odd moments, it’s an interesting take on the supernatural. I will say that it’s around 10 minutes too long so it drags a little at the times and the ending feels so forced to me. They wanted a nicer Hollywood finish for more possible success but there’s a much better alternative finale that was scrapped. That would have concluded this unholy chaos with a more lasting impression. Regardless, this is entertaining 90’s horror movie that was a different from all the other stuff being released at the time. It’s definitely worth checking out or revisiting, it has solid replay value. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Capelight Pictures! This 1080p (2.35:1) transfer is the same previous restoration used by both Scream Factory and Eureka Entertainment awhile back. It still looks solid, Wainwright’s visual style shines here, I would love to see this get 4K treatment someday. It has excellent production design, locations, and cinematography. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. It’s the same audio from before but it’s still nice. All of the dialogue is crisp, the unholy madness is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an older “Audio Commentary” with director Rupert Wainwright. He chats about the production. He goes over the cast and crew. He shares all kinds of information and stories about the 90’s horror movie. He is very technical, he points out shots and fx used during it. This is one of those tracks where the person is scene specific so he takes through everything that you are watching on the screen. He points lots of stuff that was cut or changed during this. It has the archive “Divine Rites: The Making of Stigmata” that’s almost 26 minutes. It has interviews with the cast and crew. It goes the history of Stigmata. It mixes old pictures and clips throughout this. They go over the main plot and characters for the film. It has almost 13 minutes of “Deleted Scenes”. It has some cool moments but I can see why they didn’t make the final cut. They are still interviewing and worth viewing. It has an “Alternative Ending” that is way better than what they used in the theatrical version. All of this footage is lower quality from an older source but it’s better than nothing so I still appreciate them including these. It has a “Theatrical Trailer”. It has most of the bonus material from past releases ported over, there’s nothing new here. One of the best things about this home video release is it’s packaging. This amazing 23 page Mediabook plus it also has a DVD copy. The Scream Factory version has been out of print for awhile so it’s cool to see Stigmata back into rotation. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!