STIGMATA (1999) Blu-ray Review

Stigmata (1999) d. Rupert Wainwright (USA)

When a statue of the Virgin Mary begins to cry tears of warm, red blood following a Brazilian priest’s death, Vatican investigator Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) is assigned to validate the miracle. When the priest’s rosary beads find their way into the possession of sexy, young (and atheist) urbanite Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette), she begins to exhibit the first of the Five Wounds of Christ, bleeding from her wrists, ankles, and forehead. Problem is, only the most devout capital-B Believers are supposed to possess the stigmata, so Kiernan is sent to Pittsburgh to “investigate” (i.e. disprove) the incidents.

THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS (1985) Blu-ray Review

The Doctor and the Devils (1985) d. Freddie Francis (UK)

This not-bad dramatization of the notorious Burke and Hare murders (with the names changed to protect. . .I'm not sure who) covers little new ground and, more significantly, fails to capture the haunting immorality of the crimes and those complicit in them. As the Dr. Knox character (here called Dr. Rock), Timothy Dalton is righteously indignant at the priggish lawmakers thwarting scientific progress, but even a hint of moral quandary as he knowingly turns a blind eye – allowing thuggish grave robbers-cum-murderers Fallon and Broom (Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea) to keep providing illegal cadavers for dissection – would have gone a long way.