Religious horror has been a major mainstay in the genre. William Friedkin’s The Exorcist unleashed a wave of films like Richard Donner’s The Omen and Brian De Palma’s Carrie in the ’70s. Last year alone, The Exorcist: Believer and The Pope’s Exorcist indicated that this subgenre is going nowhere. Immaculate now joins the neverending roster. Produced by and starring Sydney Sweeney (Anyone But You, Euphoria) in her second collaboration with director Michael Mohan (The Voyeurs), the film’s hook of a nun getting pregnant by seemingly immaculate conception is a great one. Certainly, that’s what drew Sweeney to the project, who first auditioned to be in this horror movie 10 years ago only for development to stall until she revived it as a producer. But despite a playfully demented third act, Immaculate doesn’t reinvent the wheel nearly enough to make it stand out from standard religious horror fare.
Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) values nothing more than her faith. When the young woman gets the opportunity to join a prestigious “Our Lady of Sorrows” convent in Italy, she accepts the position with gusto. Led by Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) and Cardinal Merola (Giorgio Colangeli), Cecilia is taken under the wing of an uncouth fellow nun named Sister Gwen (Benedetta Porcaroli). She, of course, quickly begins to feel something’s not right. Her suspicions are confirmed in the strangest of ways when she wakes up pregnant, even though she hasn’t come close to sleeping with anyone. Her fellow sisters then look to her as a holy figure set to bring out about the rebirth of Jesus Christ. Cecilia grows more and more distraught in her role as the convent’s influence sinks in. Unsteadiness turns to terror as Cecilia uncovers the truth behind her “miracle” pregnancy.
Immaculate does most things adequately. Cinematographer Elisha Christian gets a lot of mileage out of the gorgeous Italian countryside. The convent itself is captured in decadent fashion, the Catholic old-world aesthetic adding distinct character to the proceedings. Meanwhile, Composer Will Bates deserves serious praise for his score, which carries much of the film. Traditionally inspired horror music, heavily fueled by an arrangement of strings, brushes up against less conventional elements like choirs and jangling Italian instruments, creating ample anxiety and discomfort in the viewer.
In the lead role of Sister Cecilia, Sydney Sweeney at first feels unsteady and potentially miscast. That worry dissipates the further Immaculate goes on. The key to great acting is reacting. By that trade, Sweeney works miracles. Through her facial expressions and delivery, she gracefully navigates the transition from confusion to fear to anger. She has great chemistry with Benedetta Porcaroli, the dynamic between the two nuns hinting at a more explorative version of the film that dives deeper into the interpersonal relationships in the convent. Álvaro Morte is at first disarming as the handsome and kind Father Sal, but he especially gets to shine in the back half when a more complicated undercurrent to the character comes to light. Giorgio Colangeli, on the other hand, does what he can with Cardinal Merola, who’s basically a stock priest cliché.
Clichéd comes to mind a lot during Immaculate. Director Michael Mohan and screenwriter Andrew Lobel enjoy playing the hits of religious horror. The admittedly great opening scene portrays the claustrophobic demise of a previous nun (Simona Tabasco). Immaculate then predictably makes the audience wait through a slow burn until the third act. For the most part, Mohan’s direction and Lobel’s script coasts on jump scares, dream sequence fake-outs, and whatever else one usually sees in this kind of horror flick. Some of it is effective, some of it not so much. Mostly, though, it merely keeps the cogs turning and not much else. There’s a decent amount of mystery and intrigue without a real sense of mounting dread.
A lot of these issues come from a lack of definition in the convent itself. The audience never really gets to know who the convent are. There are two modes for supporting nuns: reverence and spite. Fine characteristics, sure, but they overwhelm the story. A longer runtime or a more ambitious screenplay would have done wonders for Immaculate. Having a distributor like Neon should indicate a certain level of distinction that isn’t apparent for a lot of the movie. Parts of this might as well have been a standard early-year Blumhouse release. That’s not to say that Immaculate isn’t a good film, it certainly is. It’s just that it is very standard until a certain point.
When that certain point arrives, Immaculate almost morphs into something pretty damn amazing. A plot twist revealing why Cecilia is pregnant flips the entire movie on its head. Director Michael Mohan boldly takes the film in a trashier direction that ventures into a whole different subsection of horror. The stakes become larger yet more intimate at the same time. Once Sydney Sweeney starts fighting the machinations of the convent, she truly comes into her own. As a “scream queen,” she is formidable, single-handedly tearing down the foundation of Immaculate in the best possible way. And it just keeps getting better and better. The third act builds up until it arrives at an ending that is the best in religious horror since Saint Maud. It’s bound to be highly controversial, even perhaps considered sacrilegious.
That’s the kind of risk Immaculate should’ve been taking the whole time! In one particular scene where Sydney Sweeney is screaming at the camera in pain, one can see why she fought so hard for this movie to get made. Imagining what this might’ve been if its third act was used as the jumping-off point instead of the conclusion invites a real feeling of disappointment. It’s important to take Immaculate for what it is. Immaculate is a solidly above-average piece of religious horror that may be a gateway for a younger crowd to get into horror, showing clear inspirations from Rosemary’s Baby and more. One can already vividly see certain scenes being clipped on TikTok or various social media platforms. For that reason, no matter what, Immaculate is a net positive in getting more people into horror. Here’s hoping Sweeney’s next horror film is something a little more ambitious.
Release Date: March 22, 2024.
Directed by Michael Mohan.
Written by Andrew Lobel.
Produced by David Bernad, Sydney Sweeney, Jonathan Davino, Teddy Schwarzman, & Michael Heimler.
Main Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Benedetta Porcaroli, Dora Romano, Giorgio Colangeli, & Simona Tabasco.
Cinematographer: Elisha Christian.
Composer: Will Bates.
Production Companies: Black Bear Pictures, Fifty-Fifty Films, & Middle Child Pictures.
Distributor: Neon.
Runtime: 89 minutes.
Rated R.
