stigmata

stigmata follows frankie page (patricia arquette), a young woman enjoying her free and single life in pittsburgh when she is assaulted by nightmarish visions and mysterious wounds on her wrists. a scientist from the vatican, andrew kiernan (gabriel byrne), is tasked with establishing whether frankie has a genuine case of stigmata or something else. what neither of them realise is that frankie’s affliction is linked to a secret that has the potential to tear the catholic church apart.

the structure of stigmata mirrors the exorcist in so much as the victim, frankie, first subjects herself to a barrage of medical tests before seeking help from the church. the story then becomes a battle between byrne's troubled priest and the entity possessing frankie, and though she is more mobile than linda blair we are still never too far from a bed. however, there is much more to stigmata than a reboot of a controversial classic.

although the film tries to focus on andrew's story (as in he is the character with the most defined arc - a priest who must recover his lost faith in order to save the woman he loves) i think frankie is the most interesting thing about it, and it's her character who raises the most questions. firstly, and perhaps most importantly, why her? there is a plot reason to explain why frankie is targeted, in that her mother sends her a rosary as a souvenir unaware that it had been torn from the hands of a dead priest, but what is the narrative reason? much is made of frankie’s lifestyle – the opening titles show her partying with friends, having sex, drinking, smoking and while she doesn’t get to have sex again (despite spending most of the film in bed) cigarettes and alcohol are recurring visual indicators that this is more than basic character background. ultimately, it’s hard not to watch this film without thinking that frankie is being punished for her chosen lifestyle. so the next question is, does the film concur with this punishment or is it a comment on how our society punishes independent women?

two other recurring ideas play into this. one is pregnancy, which frankie initially thinks is the cause of her problems. it’s not explicit but it is implied that this is something she wants, which undermines her seemingly carefree existence. the second is a cancer parallel that is suggested visually when frankie starts to wear a bandana to cover the wounds on her head, as well as by the constant close-ups of cigarettes being lit and extinguished. both ideas have the same implication – there is a deadline; a time limit and at 23 frankie is apparently coming to the end of her allotted free time. again, whether this is a problematic depiction of a young female character or a depressing comment on the way society keeps its women down is really up to the viewer (i'm still undecided, in case you were wondering).

the true plot of stigmata is difficult to go into without giving it away, and there is a neat if predictable twist in the story towards the end. what struck me watching it now are the parallels between possession, demonic or otherwise, and having your social media account hacked. stay with me here, but at a certain point frankie, who appears to look like herself, begins to speak with the voice of another. i’ve had my twitter account hacked a couple of times in the past and the effect is kind of the same – it’s my picture on the profile but not my words. of course, i am slightly obsessed with online profiles right now so i’m obviously bringing my own baggage to this (check out my most recent video for proof) but it’s also really interesting to see how a film from 1999 can be relevant to social and technical developments that didn’t exist when it was made. behind the victimisation of a woman who was doing just fine on her own, this is a film about messages and interpretation – ideas which are more important now than they ever were.

overall i think stigmata is a really interesting film – much more interesting than it was given credit for when it was released. on top of that, arquette and byrne are both great in it and there’s some nostalgia to be enjoyed from the 90s visual style and soundtrack. the blu-ray comes with some fascinating extras including a documentary from the time and an alternate ending that actually makes frankie’s journey seem so much worse in comparison to the original cut. definitely a film worth seeing and an interesting one to revisit if you’ve already seen it because for me there was certainly more to talk about than i remembered.

stigmata is available now from eureka entertainment on blu-ray for the first time in the uk in a dual format edition

the babadook

i sometimes suffer from insomnia. right now is one of those times. watching the babadook last night did not help.

the babadook is about a widow trying to raise her troubled 6 year old son. at the start of the film we learn that her husband died in a car crash as she was on her way to hospital to give birth. when we meet her she is already finding her son's behaviour difficult, but things get worse when he finds an odd picture book called mister babadook about a creepy dude who comes to get you, although it's not clear at first exactly what he will do when he does get you. that will come later.

i don't want to give too much away, because this film is amazing and the less you know going in, the better. it's written and directed by jennifer kent, based on her short film, monster -

kent does an amazing job building the suspense in this film. it reaches a point where i was dreading nightfall as much as the characters because bad things start to happen to them at night. on top of this the two main characters are perfectly set up and very well performed, to the point where i would've remained interested whether the monster turned up or not. but the monster does turn up, and at that point it becomes really, really scary.

there is a real mix of horror techniques in this film, from classic jump scares to more subtle, creepier moments and the combination of both creates an atmosphere of ever increasing dread. by the end of this film i was searching every shadow in the frame for signs of the babadook, and it's hard not to carry that out into the real world once the film has finished. had i been able to sleep i would've slept with the lights on.

at the same time this is a film about how we deal with tragedy in our lives and what we do with our personal monsters. it's a film about the pain of living and on that level it really works.

now part of me thinks i shouldn't make a big deal about the fact that it's directed by a woman because in a way it shouldn't matter, but fuck it, i'm going to make a big deal about it because it's an amazing film and jennifer kent deserves the praise. along with the soska sisters i think that with this one film she has instantly become one of the most important filmmakers working in the horror genre today. i hope she makes many more films like it and i hope she inspires other likeminded women to do the same.

if you didn't get it from the above, i'm saying you should go watch this film immediately. you will not regret it.

rock of ages/repo - a genetic opera

i've just been witness to a musical double bill. but this wasn't your regular top hat and tails, singing about true love affair. i decided to pair up rock of ages and repo - a genetic opera. you may be thinking these two films couldn't be further apart, and you'd be right. apart from both being classed as musicals.

rock of ages is your straightforward tale of boy meets girl/girl meets boy. if you just listen to journey's don't stop believing you're pretty much there. that's at the core of the film. they then throw in a troubled rock star, failing rock club, sleazy manager and strip club, (that doesn't seem to be in any trouble, nor do the public have an issue with it as they do with the rock club). oh and a rock singing women's church group who hate rock and what it stands for. i know right, contradictions all around.

as musicals go, it's not so bad, but isn't great either. there are no massive dance numbers, and the fact that everyone sings pre-existing songs, you start to question what the point is. also it's set in a world where most rock bands exists, but journey do not, so are they singing covers, or their own creations? am i over-thinking this? probably. as a live show I can understand the theatricality of it. as a film, it all seems a bit wasted. plus you really could have streamlined some of the storylines to reduce the running time a bit.

following this i went straight into repo, which happens to have been directed by darren lynn bousman, the same guy who made 11-11-11 that i reviewed last week.

immediately i found this film more interesting due to its bright colour style and comic book introduction. despite it being a "genetic opera" i didn't twig that no one would talk and everything would be sung. this does start to grate after a while. this one is a story about cosmetic surgery gone mad. you need a new heart; you pay for a new heart. fail to make the payments, the repo men will come for you. and you're off. the majority of the songs are just there to get you from a to b, but there are few more melodic examples.  however, due to the constant singing, it can be painful to listen to, either due to bad singers or bad content (there is a song about a girl complaining about contracting her mother’s blood disease). however the actual music is good and the look of the overall film is interesting. i thought i was going to hate it due to the inclusion of paris hilton and sarah brightman, but actually they weren't too bad. there is also an interesting twist that you're waiting for lead anthony head to realise and kick some arse, but it never fully comes out. which is a shame as toward the end, he could do with a bit of redemption. for some reason it reminded me a lot of house of 1000 corpses in some of it's design. and thinking about it, in the hands of rob zombie, i reckon it would be amazing.

looking at both these examples together, something did become glaringly obvious. in repo you could easily cut to the singing and you'd still have an interesting film. however take the songs out of rock of ages and you're left with just a dull story with too many storylines to get you invested in any single one.

so there you have it. alternative musicals for your eyes. of the two I'd actually recommend repo, if you can stand opera. as for rock of ages i'd advise just checking out music videos on youtube.

the wolfman

it's a bit too late to be writing reviews but i wanted to get this out while it's fresh in my head. however, i'm really tired so this may be a bit rambly. i watched the 2010 version of the wolfman and it was quite an odd film. parts of it were amazing; the casting for one. benicio del toro is awesome as laurence talbot, anthony hopkins and emily blunt are both on good form and hugo weaving is amazing as inspector abberline (a historical cameo - abberline was one of the lead investigators in the jack the ripper murders, like in real life, not just that johnny depp film where jack the ripper is played by bilbo baggins and depp's abberline has to team up with hagrid to stop him). it looks great, like if a hammer film was made today, all massive, spooky houses and fog-drenched woodlands. some of the effects were great too. but it didn't hold together all that well and i think that may be down to stealing it's plot from teen wolf ( the 1985 movie, not the tv series). i mean it's a less violent version of teen wolf but the moment (***spoiler***) when anthony hopkins tells del toro he is a werewolf is almost exactly the same as the bathroom scene in teen wolf where michael j fox's dad reveals himself. it's like teen wolf with more deaths, and without the riding on top of a truck scene. it was also really difficult to sympathise with anyone. del toro's character can't be held respsonsilbe for killing people as a wolfman but the violence is so extreme it's hard to really sympathise with him, which leaves abberline but our feelings towards him are mixed because we know he's out to get del toro. other films have got this right, like the original wolfman or an american werewolf in london, but it didn't work here for me. it was also way too long for a story which, in terms of plot points, could have been done in half an hour. that said, i'd still recommend checking it out. it's definitely interesting and there's enough that's good here to make it worthwhile. it does a good job of capturing the spirit of vintage horror movies, although it definitely feels more hammer than universal.