Stigmata - Hasn't aged quite as well as I'd hoped

I watched 'Stigmata' back in 1999 and have seen it a few times since.  However, it's been a few years now and this time it had less of an effect on me.  I don't know whether that's because I knew what was coming, or because it hasn't aged that well.

It centres around a young woman in New York, Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette), whose life takes a turn for the supernatural when she starts receiving the succession of wounds that Christ endured in the last few days of his life (i.e. the 'stigmata' to use the technical term).  And, having bleeding holes randomly appear in your wrists and getting whipped by invisible entities may cause you to have a few days off work and, in this case, attracts the attention of professional 'debunker' priest, Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne).

It's a kind of 'Exorcist' for the millennium.  And, even now I have to admit that there are some pretty intense scenes in there that are well shot and quite nasty.  Arquette shows that she has the ability to take centre stage in a film (and this probably went some way to getting her the gig in the TV show 'Medium') and there's plenty of chemistry between her and seasoned actor Bryne.

There's a sub-plot involving some cover-ups here and there, but that could probably have been taken out of the film completely, but I guess if you have use of an actor as good as Jonathan Pryce, then you might as well use him somewhere.

Although I loved 'Stigmata' when I first saw it (and enjoyed it during subsequent viewings) I certainly didn't hate it this time round.  I suppose that over the years I've seen so many 'possession-type' films that nothing here is as original as it probably was back in the nineties.  But, if you're into your religious/possession films then this is certainly up there with the best of them.  You certainly don't have to believe or not believe in God to enjoy this as simply a good horror film.

Oh, and there's an awesome remix of David Bowie's 'The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell' thrown into the club scene for extra coolness!

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that