Estigma (1980) User Reviews

Stigma

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 27 March 2009]

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.

Spanish terror movie about a young with psychic powers who causes dreadful murders , being directed by the craftsman Jose Ramon Larraz

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 19 November 2013]

This horror as well as semi-exploitation movie deals with a young named Sebastian who kills unintentionally . A real chiller in which the involuntary death of Sebastian (Christian Borromeo)'s father engenders in him telekinetic talents . His accidental death wishes seem to carry out terrible accidents , which are impossible to stop . Sebastian is overprotected by his mother (Helga Line who played various films for Larraz) and he is infatuated for her . Later on , Sebastian meets Angie (Alexandra Bastedo), brother's girlfriend , who works at a bookshop . When his older brother (Emilio Gutierrez Caba still nowadays successfully playing) suffers a car crash , he unleashes his fantastic skills and feels that he has caused it . He undergoes hypnosis by a clairvoyant (Irene Gutierrez Caba , sister's Emilio) to control his nasty thoughts but his apparent supernatural powers continue . As his own life nears its end and not being able to avoid his hallucinations , he becomes even more violent and sadistic . Realizing he's been a killer , Sebastian seeks answers , as the young with psychic powers attempts to find out the rare events leading to an old mansion in bloody results which ends in death .

This frightening movie deliberately told contains thrills , chills , suspense and lots of violence and some gore , including obnoxious executions . Jose Ramon Larraz master of arty gore and soft-core , brings this eerie and stylish story plagued with twisted intrigue , mediums , telekinetic powers , nudism and depraved gore murders . This is a Spanish exploitation from American slashers , possession's sub-genre and Brian De Palma , Dario Argento films . As Jose Larraz takes here and there from ¨Palma's Carrie¨ , ¨Palma's The Fury¨ , and the possession's theme about person possessed by old time spectres or ghouls from ¨Michael Winner's The Nightcomers¨ and ¨Don Sharp's Dark places¨. Sometimes weak screenplay is added to well-staged murders and some gory special effects . Strange acting by Christian Borromeo as a young with pathological fears and considerable telekinetic powers which he is unable to control . Pretty good support cast formed by usual actors of the 60s 70s who starred a lot of Spaghetti Western and terror movies such as Craig Hill , José María Caffarel , Antonio Molino Rojo , Annabella Incontrera and special mention to Helga Liné .

The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Jose Ramon Larraz . The recently deceased (2013) Larraz started in cinema world by casual way when he meets the famous director Josef Von Stenberg running a cinematographic course in Brussels . Larraz was a director of horror and erotic films and former comic book illustrator and fashion photographer. Worked in England as Joseph Larraz, and in Spain, using the pseudonym Joseph Braunstein . As he shot his first movies in England, plenty of horror , suspense and sex , such as ¨Whirlpool¨ (1970) , ¨Deviation¨(1971) , ¨La Muerte Incierta¨(1972) , ¨Scream or die¨(1973) and ¨Symptoms¨ with Angela Pleasence and Peter Vaughan . He also shot soft-cores and then Jose Ramon returns Spain filming horror and semi-exploitative movies such as ¨Estigma¨, ¨Ritos Sexuales Del Diablo¨, ¨Al Filo del Hacha¨ and ¨Descanse en Piezas¨ , imitating the American Slahers of the 70s and 80s . His most successful film was ¨Vampyres¨, played by Playboy young models , blending arty house , horror and erotic situations ; dealing with alluring females vampires coerce unsuspecting motorists to their castle for a good time .¨Stigma¨ rating : Acceptable and passable terror movie .

A bewildering slow-burn Euro-horror.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 11 April 2021]

José Ramón Larraz's Stigma is part psychic thriller and part supernatural/ghost story, but its all dull, a slow-burn effort lacking in atmosphere and chills whilst also being utterly bewildering.

Christian Borromeo plays Sebastián, who was born with a 'Venetian Veil' (a piece of membrane that covers a newborn's head and face), which according to his mother (Helga Liné) has given the young man psychic powers. Now, when Sebastián gets uncontrollably angry at someone, they die in mysterious circumstances. Sebastián also has an unnatural interest in his mother, watching her as she sleeps and sniffing her underwear.

When Sebastián allows his friend Angie (Alexandra Bastedo) to take him to hypnotist/psychic Olga (Irene Gutiérrez Caba), he regresses to a previous life as Miguel, who shagged his sexy sister Julia (stunning brunette Berta Cabré), chopped up his parents with an axe, and then hanged himself.

Plagued by ghostly visions of his victims and spirits from the past, Sebastián goes to the house he saw whilst hypnotised, where he relives the horrific events of the past before killing himself. Confusing and not at all scary, with little in the way of gore (the axe attacks are fairly tame), about the only thing this has to recommend it to fans of Euro-horror is some nudity courtesy of Bastedo and Cabré.

This is...something

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 22 October 2018]

Sebastian has become possessed and now has the power to make his thoughts come true. Somehow, all that allows him to do is relive his past lives again and again.

Director José Ramón Larraz also worked in comic books, as well as helming the films Symptoms and Vampyres.

The film starts with Sebastian learning that his father has died and his mother feeling free and ready to start her life all over again.

It turns out that Sebastian was born with a veil of skin covering his face, which is a symbol of psychic power. That may be how he knew that his father was dead before anyone told him.

Also, Sebastian has issues with women. He puts off anyone who wants to be with him and gets upset when his mother kisses another man. Learning that his father was with a whore when he died, he declares that all women are whores. His mother answers by slapping him.

Sebastian and a girl who is interested in him, Marta, end up kissing but he forces himself on her until his lip begins to bleed. At confession later, a priest tells him that wishing evil is the same as doing it. What does this have to do with Marta being dead now?

An old woman named Olga remembers Sebastian from the past as he has a vision of hanging himself. Olga awakens her granddaughter Angie, sure that something bad is about to happen to Sebastian. There seems to be a romantic triangle between him, Angie and his brother Joe.

Sebastian ends up recording his mother having sex with her new lover. This upsets him so much that his shower is filled with blood and his vision of a ghost woman makes his lip bleed again.

That love triangle I mentioned above ends up with Angie and Joe having sex. Yet Olga thinks that Sebastian and Angie have an attraction too. She's worried about the danger that he brings. While on a ferry with Angie, Sebastian sees the ghost woman again. He confesses to Angie that when he thinks of someone he hates, he makes them die and his lip bleed - that's his stigmata. He also can see himself from the outside of his own body and he probably killed his father.

Joe confronts Sebastian about the issues that he's having in school, so Sebastian thinks of him dying in a car crash. Angie believes that he is evil, but he says that he has no control. Once he realizes that someone is going to die, it's too late.

Here's where things get really bonkers: Sebastian keeps seeing the ghost woman, so he talks with Olga. She hypnotizes him and he remembers where he killed Marta. He then goes into his past lives, where he sees his sister, who looks exactly like Angie. They have sex and he awakens in a panic as his father had become angry with him.

While he doesn't want to see Olga again, Sebastian uses tapes of her seance to calm himself. Soon, he is visiting the setting for his dreams in real life and has more visions of his past inside them. Angie comes searching for him and he shows her where people died in the building as he starts to bleed from his lip.

That's when we go back into the past again, where he has sex with his sister again and his father criticizes him. When his sister is engaged to be married, he becomes depressed. She doesn't even think of him any longer and he can't forget her or stop disappointing his father.

That's when he uses an axe to kill his parents, then starts making love to the maid. He decides to strangle her instead, then remembers many other girls that he is killed. A mirror breaks and he begins to bleed from the lip as we return to the present and he listens to the seance tapes.

I honestly had to read several sites to make sense of what happens in this movie. It's long on style, short on substance and yet it has a unique doom feel. I was pretty forgiving of its narrative issues, but your mileage may vary. I was interested to see what would happen next and it had enough verve to keep me watching.

Slow burn thriller with no real pay off

[hswasserman · 3/10 · 11 March 2024]

This is the tale of a young man with the telepathic ability to kill people he hates. He also appears to have incestuous feelings towards his mother.

Now ordinarily I enjoy an introspective type film like this where the main character is somewhat deranged. Sebastian (the young man) reminds me a little of the guy from Joe D'Amato's magnum opus (only good film) Beyond the Darkness. He even looks a little like him. But the trouble is the film is a slow burn, you get the feeling something is very wrong with Sebastian. Like I said he seems to have abnormal feelings towards his mother but that situation never comes to anything. I'm not saying I wanted the two of them to jump into bed together, but there needed to be some kind of climactic resolution to that and ultimately It seems to come to nothing at all.

Instead he kind of has a relationship with his late brother's girlfriend, a lovely but hopelessly naive woman. She lives with a much older woman which is a strange choice for a roommate or friend. Her friend is a sort of medium and she immediately realizes that Sebastian is trouble. What ends up happening with her? Unless I missed it nothing.

It seems Sebastian ends up killing the naive woman (Angie) but before this happens we're treated to a very boring flashback of a different family which seems to feature a murderous young man who in some way is responsible for Sebastian's murderous psychic abilities. In the end it seems Sebastian has died but what the hell he died of is super unclear.

This is very different from the director's better known and more enjoyable Vampyres. Whereas Vampyres had no plot to speak of and was not interesting at all it was still more fun than Stigma. I think Larraz has some skill. He is very good at atmosphere. Stigma is a very atmospheric film. I think it could have been a much better film if the writing had been a bit better and events in the film were a little less vague. Mind you it seemed like some footage is missing in spots, at least in the version one can see on Tubi.

Lastly who can see Stigma without saying for heaven's sake Mr Larraz, it's stigmata not stigma. A stigma is when people shame you for something. The thing you're referring to, where people bleed for mystical reasons, is stigmata. Mind you possibly someone other than Larraz is to blame for the malapropism. After all it appears to be a Spanish film so maybe the people who handled the English dubbing screwed up.

One more thing: The first girl, Martha I think her name was, is a great beauty. I was sorry she met an early demise and was not in the film more.

Visually Stunning, Too Bad About the Plot

[thalassafischer · 6/10 · 2 May 2024]

Estigma a.k.a. Stigma in English (and that's as in religious stigmata, not social taboo) would have been a masterpiece had it been silent. The language dubbing is some of the worst I've encountered and I recommend that you watch it in Spanish even if you don't speak Spanish. The plot is so ridiculous it won't matter.

But the film is GORGEOUS - it's exactly what I look for in old horror movies. The settings are superb. The eerie darkness and gloom coloring the entire film is haunting and shadows are used artfully in a way that can only be accomplished in the old 70s style with celluloid.

I even liked the Victorian twist at the end, but the whole sub-plot with the 30 year old woman enabling the teenaged axe murderer then having the audacity to hook up with him only served to remind me that at the end of the day this is Eurotrash cinema.