10 Horror Movies Critics Were Way Too Harsh On

Somehow, 1999's Stigmata only has a 22% approval rating over on Rotten Tomatoes.

For anyone who's seen this Patricia Arquette vehicle, you'll be well aware that Stigmata is worth a far, far higher rating than that meagre number. But this is the perfect example of the difference between critical opinion and fan opinion.

By comparison to that 22%, the audience approval on RT stands at a respectable 63%, which feels about right. The film is good, not great, and it's a picture that received far too much negative critical backlash when it made its way to the big screen in September '99.

The heavy themes of Catholicism were highlighted by critics as making a mockery of those beliefs, with people seemingly forgetting that this is just a movie. We're not talking about a Passion of the Christ-style retelling of the tales of the 'good book'.

Stigmata was clearly taking creative license with a purported real phenomena - that being the appearance of wounds replicating those supposedly suffered by Jesus Christ.

Just a look at Stigmata's profit margins tells you that moviegoers found far more to enjoy in Stigmata than what the critics did. From its $29 million budget, the Rupert Wainwright-helmed picture more took more than triple that at the global box office, nabbing a solid $90 million return.