The Delgado family Katherine, Peter and their daughter Verity, have just moved into a new country home very close to some Neolithic stones. As it would happen their plans for their lawn are on hold as there is a large stone blocking the area. Efforts to try and move it are proving futile, some local men using a JCB manage to budge it a little, but as Katherine watches on, a large breathtaking gust of wind emanates from beneath the stone, Katherine begins to act oddly as if in a stupor, this feeling passes quickly though and Katherine feels herself again. However while making dinner, she suddenly finds blood on her hand, she checks but she is not cut, then there is blood on her blouse, panicking she rushes upstairs to the bathroom and finds blood all over her torso, again though there is no wound? Katherine keeps these events to herself, but that night Peter awakes in their bed to the sound of dripping, Katherine and Verity both appear to be asleep, he hears murmurs and moans from downstairs, he goes and checks but finds nothing, although some objects do appear to have moved by themselves, Peter is bemused and returns to bed. The next morning the men are back with a large crane to remove the stone, beneath it they find skeletal remains, there are ceremonial daggers everywhere, the person appears to have been murdered. . Verity watches the men digging and comments that this kind of burial was one given to witches. Peter awakens to find Katherine in a large pool of blood, he panics, the local doctor is none the wiser, they both carry Katherine to the car and head to the hospital....
Stigma was the last time Clark directed in the Ghost Story for Christmas series of films, despite the fact that for the first time the traditional period setting for a ghost story has been abandoned, its still retains the Clark look we are used to, the quiet countryside still has that misty landscape painting look, it still seems to have a life of its own which adds to the overall atmosphere. Its no use saying the modern setting helps though, i'm a traditionalist and there really isn't any reason this story couldn't have had a period setting, its a pity it wasn't, maybe it was down to a budgetary restraint? Stigma like other films in the series, hints at ancient rites, primordial times and of things unknown, if you're looking for a film with a vacuous fully explained ending this is certainly not for you, this series of films gets the viewer thinking, they resonate in your head long after you have seen them, as the merest of plot points explodes in your imagination. Stigma will always suffer when compared to other Clark films, on its own though its a nice slice of British horror.
6/10
Stigma was the last time Clark directed in the Ghost Story for Christmas series of films, despite the fact that for the first time the traditional period setting for a ghost story has been abandoned, its still retains the Clark look we are used to, the quiet countryside still has that misty landscape painting look, it still seems to have a life of its own which adds to the overall atmosphere. Its no use saying the modern setting helps though, i'm a traditionalist and there really isn't any reason this story couldn't have had a period setting, its a pity it wasn't, maybe it was down to a budgetary restraint? Stigma like other films in the series, hints at ancient rites, primordial times and of things unknown, if you're looking for a film with a vacuous fully explained ending this is certainly not for you, this series of films gets the viewer thinking, they resonate in your head long after you have seen them, as the merest of plot points explodes in your imagination. Stigma will always suffer when compared to other Clark films, on its own though its a nice slice of British horror.
6/10