Stigmata (1999) Dir: Rupert Wainwright

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Despite holding no religious beliefs, I do love a well-made religious horror. One cannot deny the powerful imagery created through religion and religious figures, and when you combine that with the horror and thriller genres, it can become something extremely compelling. This 1999 thriller, directed by Rupert Wainwright, took the well-documented idea of people claiming to have been righteously wounded, as Jesus was said to have been on the cross, and brought into the world of supernatural horror. I won't pretend like I wasn't intrigued by it, because I really was.

The most noticeable thing about the film was just how incredibly nineties everything looked. Legitimately, this was one of the most nineties-looking films I've seen in some time - maybe ever - and not in a particularly good way either. The goofy editing, the janky soundtrack, and the inconsistent fashion, all contributed to the film's messy, unkempt, and altogether ugly audiovisual aesthetic. I really did not care for it in the least.

The narrative was dull, repetitive, and, at points, nonsensical. The screenplay toyed with concepts it didn't seem to understand how to use. It was very messy, and, to be candid, boring. I don't want to act as though this film was a complete waste of time, because there was genuinely a lot of interesting ideas going on. Unfortunately, the execution was, at best, mediocre, and, at worst, terrible.

Patricia Arquette's protagonist was irritating, unlikeable, and seemingly intent on bogging down the narrative. This was partially due to her character's writing, but Arquette did herself no favours with her frustrating performance. Gabriel Byrne was only slightly better, but only because his character was a lot more docile in nature. I haven't minded him too much in other roles of his, but this was comfortably one of his less notable appearances. The likes of Jonathon Pryce, Nia Long, and Thomas Kopache, produced equally unmemorable performances in their supporting capacities.

Overall, this was a case of a poor film having a great concept but terrible execution. It sounds ridiculous to say, but it feels as though, somewhere in a parallel universe, there is a very good version of this film, but this is not that universe, and this is not that version of the film. I was thoroughly bored watching it; something that never bodes well for a film. Worse still, nothing about the film was remotely memorable, let alone good. It was an absolute nineties mess.