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Stigma, 27 March 2009
6/10
Author: Scarecrow-88 from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
José Ramón Larraz(Vampyres;Black Candles)directs this rather chilling portrait of a troubled youth whose thoughts of hatred, directed towards specific people who anger him, causes violent death. Once a person is murdered, Sedastian(Christian Borromeo;House on the Edge of the Park;Tenebre)bleeds from the lower lip, a stigma that represents a certain action that happened to him in a past life. Not being able to control his thoughts, Sebastian needs help and support from someone. His grades at school are suffering, his incestuous infatuation for his mother growing obsessively, and his detachment for everyone around him creates an isolation. Through his estranged brother(Emilio Gutiérrez Caba;In the Folds of the Flesh), Sebastian meets Angie(Alexandra Bastedo), who works at a book store, and her friend, Olga, a clairvoyant. Olga's overwhelmed by Sebastian, ominous feelings and visions appear to her concerning him. Hoping to steer Angie away from Sebastian, Olga finds that she is drawn to him, wishing to help, but perhaps attracted to this rather remote young man, who buries his feelings from others. As Sebastian searches for why he has nightmarish visions of a girl he has never met, while also envisioning his own suicide, a hanging by a noose, Angie offers assistance, particularly when tragedy strikes within the family thanks to his volatile feelings towards a close relative who threatened boarding school. A hypnotism unlocks what evil motivates Sebastian's power..a reincarnated spirit, who committed horrifying deeds towards his family, is provoking Sebastian to violently inflict harm towards those who "wronged" him. Angie perhaps endangers herself in getting too close, following him to a abandoned decadent castle which held the tragic events which torment Sebastian..the answers lie within the walls of this spooky place, but is Sebastian too weak to control the feelings which come from beyond the grave?
This is quite leisurely paced(..a slow-burner, to be sure)by director José Ramón Larraz, as he unveils the mystery at the heart of the film..what causes Sebastian to kill with the power of thought? While Sebastian's powers at causing a car crash seem rather preposterous, Borromeo successfully, I felt, achieves at creating a haunting character..one that is cold and distant, weird and aloof. Almost anyone who attempts to wrestle him into any type of normality, often meet terrible misfortune. Through Borromeo, Sebastian isn't the kind of central character easy at all to embrace..far from it. You just know, almost from the get-go, that he's a doomed character, whose fate will most probably end in tragedy. I think that director is so intent on telling the complete story that many viewers will have a hard time remaining patient. A back story regarding a family featuring an incest between brother and sister, a father demanding more from his son regarding his focus on studies, and the eventual bloodbath as a result of the sister's betrothal to her suitor and the father's decision to send his son to a boarding school, in a protracted sequence at the end as Sebastian relives it, perhaps removes any mystery, but leads to a chilling finale(..Sebastian's strangling of a victim, the body shown lying dead, eyes open, and his looking into a mirror that cracks from his mere thought as he looks at the distorted face that reflects back at him, add a great deal of impact to the rather grim conclusion). I think the use of authentic locations adds a great deal to the story and the alluring ladies which occupy the film, Bastedo and Helga Liné(..both shot by José Ramón Larraz provocatively), certainly will appeal as eye candy. Helga Liné has the role of Sebastian's mom, and one can understand why he'd be drawn to her...the woman is incredibly sexy, even if she's clothed within a sophisticated aristocratic role. The desire is very visible as we watch Sebastian listen to recorded conversations of his mom making love to another man, sniffing her undergarments, crying in agony at the spot on the bed where the imprint of their bodies were. The violence isn't gory as much as it's often ferocious(..the ax attack on an unsuspecting family) or unsettling(..a female victim falling to her doom from a spier, thrown by mere thought). Fans of VAMPYRES might be disappointed with STIGMA because it isn't as erotic or graphic in bloodletting, although a beautiful naked body(..the actress who portrays the sister who seduces her brother)is featured twice, the woman disrobing slowly revealing her impressive figure.
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