Stigmata

Fifteen years before her recent Oscar win, actress Patricia Arquette starred in a potboiler of a popcorn horror flick called "Stigmata." It made a sizable chunk of change ($50 million) back in 1999, and seems to have been pushed aside until now. Scream Factory has pulled this slight exorcism film out of the vaults and, as usual, they've done a tremendous job of restoring "Stigmata" on Blu-ray for the first time.

The talented Arquette plays Frankie Paige, an avowed atheist that parties at nightclubs, has a casual boyfriend, and happily works as a hairdresser. Her life gets suddenly turned upside down when she starts showing marks of the stigmata, or the five wounds that Christ endured on the cross. Doctors think she has epilepsy; her co-workers (Nia Long, Portia de Rossi) think she's losing her marbles. Father Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne), the head investigator at the Vatican, is sent out to sleuth the strange occurrences. He vows to help Frankie.

"Stigmata," while ludicrous at times, looks like an extended rock music video and features a spunky and electronic soundtrack from Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins.

Two of the bonus features on Scream Factory's must-have Blu-ray were previously unavailable in the U.S. until now. "Incredible but True" was originally shown on the History channel. In 45 minutes, this program examines detailed real-life stigmata stories. The two-part featurette "Divine Rights" interviews the actors and filmmakers and looks at the filming locations of "Stigmata." There's also an audio commentary by director Rupert Wainwright to listen to. Also included is the music video "Identify" by Natalie Imbruglia; it'll have you wondering what happened to this 90's songstress.

"Stigmata"
Blu-ray
www.shoutfactory.com