# Stigmata (film)
**Stigmata** is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by Rupert Wainwright, in which a young atheist hairdresser in [Pittsburgh](https://www.edgepedia.org/pittsburgh) spontaneously develops the wounds of the crucified Christ and the Vatican sends a priest-scientist to investigate her case. It was written by Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage, produced by Frank Mancuso Jr., and released by MGM on September 10, 1999.[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/stigmata) • [2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Stigmata-%281999%29)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | September 10, 1999 (wide, United States), distributed by MGM[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Stigmata-%281999%29) |
| Director / writers | Rupert Wainwright; screenplay by Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/stigmata) |
| Lead cast | Patricia Arquette (Frankie Paige), Gabriel Byrne (Father Andrew Kiernan), Jonathan Pryce (Cardinal Houseman), with Nia Long and Rade Šerbedžija[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/stigmata) |
| Box office | $50,041,732 domestic, $89,441,732 worldwide, against a $32,000,000 production budget; opening weekend $18,309,666 at No. 1[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Stigmata-%281999%29) |
| Critical reception | 22% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (92 reviews); 62% audience score from more than 50,000 ratings[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stigmata) |
| Rating and runtime | Rated R for intense violent sequences, language and some sexuality; 103 minutes; dialogue in English, Aramaic, and Portuguese[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Stigmata-%281999%29) |
| Music | Score by Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins and Elia Cmiral[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/stigmata) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Frankie Paige, a Pittsburgh hairdresser with no religious faith, begins to suffer violent attacks by an unseen force: bloody lacerations and puncture wounds appear spontaneously on her body, accompanied by visions of nails driven through wrists and feet and a crown of thorns piercing skin.[4](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/stigmata-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdmznjc) The trigger is a rosary belonging to a dead priest, a translator of a hidden gospel text, which reached her through a chain of coincidences after his death.[5](https://www.chevalierinstitute.org.au/item/8260-stigmata)
When word of the case reaches Rome, Cardinal Houseman ([Jonathan Pryce](https://www.edgepedia.org/jonathan-pryce)) dispatches the Rev. Andrew Kiernan ([Gabriel Byrne](https://www.edgepedia.org/gabriel-byrne)), the Vatican's investigator of reported miracles, to examine her.[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/stigmata) Under possession, Frankie speaks in a voice not her own and writes in an ancient language.[4](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/stigmata-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdmznjc) The words she produces in Aramaic are the film's central message: "Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you, not in buildings of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood and I am there. Lift a stone and you will find me." The first clause echoes Luke 17:21, and the remainder comes from Saying 77 of the [Gospel of Thomas](https://www.edgepedia.org/gospel-of-thomas), a Gnostic (early Christian movement emphasizing secret spiritual knowledge) text found at Nag Hammadi in 1945.[6](https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/E0/02/21/49/00001/zaleha_d.pdf) Houseman, convinced that the message channeling through Frankie could destroy the Church, moves to silence her, and Kiernan risks his faith and his life to save her and the text.[1](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/stigmata)
## Production and style
The film was shot as a contemporary supernatural thriller with a visual identity critics repeatedly tied to late-1990s aesthetics: fast cuts, heavy visual effects, and religious imagery treated with a music-video sensibility.[7](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-religious-horror-films) Its Pittsburgh setting leans into the city's industrial past, filling 1990s service-industry Pittsburgh with belching steam, dark stonework, wet cement, and broken glass.[8](https://archive.cantonpl.org/observer/1999/09_Sep%201999/09-23-1999.pdf) The British Board of Film Classification passed the film '18' for strong horror on September 30, 1999, citing strong bloody violence, horror, and self-harm, including a scene in which the possessed Frankie repeatedly slashes her arms.[4](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/stigmata-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdmznjc)
The filmmakers combined two strands of religious material: the phenomenon of stigmata itself, discussed in dialogue with reference to St. [Francis of Assisi](https://www.edgepedia.org/francis-of-assisi) and [Padre Pio](https://www.edgepedia.org/padre-pio), and investigations into Gnostic writings, set against Vatican institutional zeal, to argue for a more interior religion.[5](https://www.chevalierinstitute.org.au/item/8260-stigmata)
## Reception and box office
**Commercial performance.** Stigmata opened at No. 1 with $18,309,666 from 2,899 theaters, ending the five-week run of Disney's The Sixth Sense at the top of the chart.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Stigmata-%281999%29) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-14-ca-9875-story.html) Grosses fell about 50 percent in each of the next two weekends, and the film finished with $50,041,732 domestically and $89,441,732 worldwide, about 2.8 times its $32 million production budget.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Stigmata-%281999%29) MGM had moved the release from an original date of July 9 to September, which studio executive Chris McGurk credited with keeping the film out of a competitive summer shuffle and lowering media costs.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-14-fi-10017-story.html)
**Critical response.** The film was poorly reviewed by critics: the Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus reads "The story is unconvincing and the acting is weak," with a 22 percent Tomatometer against a 62 percent audience score.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stigmata) Roger Ebert, the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic, called it "possibly the funniest movie ever made about Catholicism" from a theological point of view, arguing that it confuses the phenomenon of stigmata with satanic possession, treats stigmata as transmissible by relics, and portrays the Vatican as a conspiracy against miracles; he also noted that the film generated outrage in some Catholic circles.[11](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/stigmata-1999) Other critics took the film more seriously as a stylish meditation on faith, describing it as "assaultively stylish" and more innocent than calculating in its use of religion-based horror elements.[12](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/stigmata/) The British Film Institute later listed it among religious horror films, noting that it shoots graphic gore and possession through a late-1990s, MTV-influenced lens with Arquette as the unwilling woman at the center of a conspiracy that has nothing to do with her.[7](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-religious-horror-films)
## The film and the real phenomenon
The film's premise inverts the actual profile of stigmata claims. In the film, the wounds afflict an atheist and can be carried on a relic; in documented cases, stigmatics have generally been devoutly religious people, and the [Catholic Church](https://www.edgepedia.org/catholic-church) does not treat the stigmata as part of its essential teaching, does not commit itself to the authenticity of even canonized stigmatics, and does not allow a mandatory association between stigmata and sanctity.[13](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5265984/) • [14](https://www.franciscanmedia.org/ask-a-franciscan/problem-with-the-stigmata/) A 2024 overhaul of the Vatican's evaluation norms likewise removed definitive declarations of supernatural origin from the process for visions, stigmata, and similar reported events.[15](https://apnews.com/article/f9b5659e2947e7eb966db2e491e17267) The film's theological centerpiece, the hidden gospel, is fictional, though its quoted sayings are drawn from Luke and from the Gospel of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi in 1945.[6](https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/E0/02/21/49/00001/zaleha_d.pdf)
## References
1. [Stigmata, 20th Century Studios](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/stigmata)
2. [Stigmata (1999) box office and financial information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Stigmata-%281999%29)
3. [Stigmata, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stigmata)
4. [Stigmata, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/stigmata-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdmznjc)
5. [Stigmata (film review), Chevalier Institute, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart](https://www.chevalierinstitute.org.au/item/8260-stigmata)
6. [D. Zaleha, dissertation citing Stigmata and the Gospel of Thomas, University of Florida](https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/E0/02/21/49/00001/zaleha_d.pdf)
7. [10 great religious horror films, British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-religious-horror-films)
8. [The Observer & Eccentric, September 23, 1999](https://archive.cantonpl.org/observer/1999/09_Sep%201999/09-23-1999.pdf)
9. [It's Scary, but That's What Audiences Like, Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1999](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-14-ca-9875-story.html)
10. [MGM Washed Its Hands of 'Stigmata' a Little Too Soon, Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1999](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-14-fi-10017-story.html)
11. [Stigmata movie review, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/stigmata-1999)
12. [Stigmata Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/stigmata/)
13. [Religious stigmata as malingering artifact, PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5265984/)
14. [Problem With the Stigmata, Franciscan Media](https://www.franciscanmedia.org/ask-a-franciscan/problem-with-the-stigmata/)
15. [Vatican moves to adapt to hoaxes, Internet and overhauls its process for evaluating visions of Mary, Associated Press, May 17, 2024](https://apnews.com/article/f9b5659e2947e7eb966db2e491e17267)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Religious and demonic horror films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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