Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Leofwine_draca So horror films in the run up to the millennium were typically full of angst and fear about what the turn of the century might hold – this was the time of religious prophecies and the like. Funnily enough, Gabriel Byrne starred in two such movies; he played Satan in the Schwarzenegger flick END OF DAYS and he plays a good-guy priest in this film, which turns out to be nothing more than an EXORCIST knock off. It's done a little differently, of course, and there's some interest to be had in the pre-Da Vinci Code plot line of hidden Jesus gospels and the 'truth' about religion. Byrne himself has always been a strong actor and he gives a decent performance here, the best in the film in fact.Unfortunately the main thing that takes away from the STIGMATA experience is the director. Rupert Wainwright is, I'm ashamed to say, British, and he makes a total ham of his work here. Shooting the whole movie in a kind of frenzied, stupidly-edited music video style was just a plain bad idea from the start and it makes the whole film feel overblown and even wearying. This guy has little genuine skill or talent in telling the story, he just wants to show flashy visuals and montages and display lots of religious iconography. Style over substance is the expression that springs to mind.As for Patricia Arquette, I don't quite know what to make of her. The producers have gone for a kind of 'grungy' style with her character; you know, she's one of those people who look like they smell. She's unappealing and she's uncharismatic, and she fails to work up any sympathy for her character – or maybe that's just the script's fault. It's quite funny to see a smug Jonathan Pryce sleepwalking through his token role of 'dastardly' priest and there's the requisite number of bloody sequences and demonic possession moments, but there's nothing here we haven't seen before – and most of it back in the '70s. It's a shame, because this film came out at just the right time and could have been something major – but in the end I have to class it as a missed opportunity.

Python Hyena Stigmata (1999): Dir: Rupert Wainwright / Cast: Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathon Pryce, Nia Long, Rade Serbedzija: Stigmata means wounds of Christ inflicted upon certain Saints. I am not sure how possible this is although Christ's wounds represent the salvation of mankind. It is completely unnerving and jam packed with as much explicit gore that a film can present. Patricia Arquette plays a hairdresser inflicted with the wounds of Christ. She claims to be an atheist. Gabriel Byrne plays a Priest investigating the situation and he discovers strange writings, a statue that cries blood, and the ever popular demonic possession. The statue crying blood is easily explainable because anyone or anything involved in a film this lame ought to shed tears. We know exactly what is in store for Arquette and it isn't stomach cramps. Predictable and lame with stylish directing by Rupert Wainwright backed with a massive production. Arquette needs a Ghostbuster or a really good psychiatrist. It also wouldn't hurt if she had a better agent because this sort of crap isn't helping her career. Byrne needs to stand in line at the job center because the Priest thing isn't working out. Supporting roles by Jonathan Pryce and Nia Long are flat and hardly matter at any rate. Hardly logical since according to scripture Christ paid for the sins of mankind. It is a film drenched in blood and guts. Score: 2 / 10

Bob An I remember I watched this film a long time ago. And last night it was on television and I enjoyed it quite a lot. It is described as a horror but I would say it is a religious thriller in the rang of Da Vinci Code. I like historical tales, Biblical tales and horror movies and this one combines all three in one.I really liked the scenes which are made of religious images and old scripts... It makes the film more artistic which I like.The beginning of the movie is very promising and dramatical, but the ending could have been better. Though I do believe that the message of the film is great. I am not religious person but nevertheless I think it is an universal truth - whatever it means.The two leading roles are good. The secrets of Vatican are always intriguing...so... from me it is eight!

Girish Gowda A priest from the Vatican, Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) is sent to Sao Paulo, Brazil to investigate the appearance of the face of the Virgin Mary on the side of a building. While there he hears of a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding tears in a small town outside of the city after the death of another priest. Meanwhile, a young woman in the United States of America, Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette) begins to show signs of stigmata, the five wounds of Jesus Christ.For a movie that was just made in 1999, Stigmata is quite dated. The cinematography is good, but some sequences are shot in a pop video style which was all the rage back in the 90's and it gets very ridiculous at times. I'm not a Christian, but the movie is anti-church, but not anti-god. There's a galore of conspiracy by the church which isn't exactly news to anybody. There's a lot of symbolism here though. I loved the water droplets scene which was symbolic of a non-believer like Patricia Arquette's character getting baptized after she slowly started to admit there might be a higher entity (I think all so-called 'Gods' were probably aliens or advanced human beings). It encourages you to question and ponder about what you believe is the truth.The quote: 'the Kingdom of God is inside 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' is somewhat similar to what the oldest religion (a very loose term to define it) in the world, Hinduism, which is rooted in Vedic tradition says - 'Aham Brahmasmi' - 'I am God' and thereby, everywhere, everything and everyone (trees, animals, humans, space among countless other things) has a God inside themselves and we just have to adhere to a moral code. I just find religions very intriguing. The main drawbacks of the movie are the music, the stylized shots and the very annoying Hollywood ending. Its an enjoyable movie with good performances by the actors though.7/10