My guilty pleasure has to be Stigmata (1999), the knock-off Exorcist film. I have been meaning to write about this film for forever! One day, I hope to make a video essay about it. Technically, I consider all of the 2000's films my guilty pleasures, but I'll just focus on one for this post.
Stigmata is about Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette), a very cool and hip party girl that is also a hairdresser. How she makes rent for her big ass apartment and hedonistic lifestyle on a hairdresser salary, we will never know! She receives a rosary in the mail from her mother and begins to experience stigmata. Thanks, mom! A priest witnesses her receiving one of the stigmata and reports back to the Vatican, who sends Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) to assess the situation.
The Exorcist
Stigmata
So, Stigmata is heavily influenced by The Exorcist and you can immediately tell just by the opening shot. Both films begin with a priest in another country encountering a supernatural force. Not to mention Father Andrew Kiernan is a Father Damien Karras rip-off. Both priests have a brooding demeanor, dark hair and last names that start with the letter "K". If I took a shot for every similarity Stigmata has to The Exorcist, I'd be projectile vomiting by the end of the night.
Stigmata
The Exorcist
I can go on and on about all of the similarities. I'd rather tell you about all of the things I like about Stigmata. We'll start with the opening credits and the badass Chumbawumba song that plays. The opening credits show us Frankie Paige and what kind of person she is. She lives in Pittsburgh, wears metallic make-up, wears cool clothes, has a naval tattoo and belly button piercing, and smokes cigarettes. Frankie works in a hair salon that is also a tattoo studio? I don't know if that's possible. Is that possible? Afterwards, she gets ready for the club to smoke and drink, then take some guy home for some good ol' casual sex. Da gewd lyfe!
I love this song! It makes me want to jump around in a club wearing a see-through neon vinyl mini skirt and tons of glitter. Stigmata may not be the best or original film, but it's vibes for sure. I love Frankie's wardrobe, I love looking at all of the outfits she wears throughout the film. Some of my favorite items of hers are her aqua robe, her green bubble ring, her platform sandals, her leather pants and the green "porn star" shirt she wears during the opening credits. Her style is teetering on the very edge of the 90's, ready to be tipped over into the Y2K era.
I really love 90's and early 2000's fashion, particularly alternative styles. That's one of my sweet spots! I like the metallic cyber-esque, neon raver, animal print and spiked jewelry-ness of it all! It reminds me of this album I had gotten at Rite Aid when I was a middle schooler. The artist was "Universal Love Attack" and the album was called Weapons of Mass Construction (2002). I was attracted to the band members on the cover, all dressed in bright colors and vinyl clothes. I was really obsessed with rave culture and cyber goth at that time, so I had to take that album home.
I still have this album and it's sitting on my bookshelf with all of my other CDs. With Frankie's personal style, I am also reminded of Kittie during their Spit (2000) days. Especially the whole "Brackish" music video, all of them are wearing funky lipstick, chokers, mini skirts and tank-tops. I love Mercedes's furry halter top and Fallon's glitter guitar. I also have their debut album sitting on my bookshelf ;)
So, yeah, I pretty much like to watch Stigmata for the aesthetics and music! And I guess Patricia Arquette is there, being possessed by a dead priest n' shit. Frankie receives stigmata while also being possessed by a dead priest who was translating the Dead Sea Scrolls and blah blah blah bullshit. It's just a mishmash of religious intrigues like weeping Virgin Mary statues, stigmata, the Dead Sea Scrolls being the exact words of Jesus. It sounds like something I would've written as a freshman in high school because I thought those things were cool, lol. Like I said, the film is just a vibe!
Here's one last comparison, lol. Instead of an innocent little girl being possessed, it's a hedonistic older woman. It's subversive! (sarcasm)
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