In recent years, Sydney Sweeney has become one of the most exciting young actors in Hollywood. Having been Emmy-nominated with Euphoria and The White Lotus, she has also been a favorite on the big screen, as seen in Tina Satter’s minimalist true crime drama Reality from last year. While there has been the occasional bump like Madame Web, Sweeney has been pursuing films as both actor and producer, with the romcom Anyone but You becoming a sleeper hit. In her role as a producer, Sweeney’s latest venture is in the realm of horror.
Immaculate was originally written by Andrew Lobel, and Sweeney auditioned for this film in 2014, but the project never materialized. Becoming a passion project for the young star, Sweeney revived it as a producer and brought in Michael Mohan, who previously directed her in The Voyeurs. Sweeney plays Sister Cecilia, who is invited to reside at a picture-perfect Italian convent. During her time there, she suddenly becomes pregnant, even though she is a virgin, and as the inhabitants begin to treat her as the next Virgin Mary, Cecilia slowly realizes the convent harbors terrifying secrets.
Stories about psychologically conflicted nuns have been a subject in cinema for as long as the medium has been. Though you wouldn’t rank Immaculate with the likes of Black Narcissus as Mohan’s movie has more in common with Rosemary’s Baby, as both works centered on a young woman being the target of a religious group that has sinister motives. However, Lobel’s script cleverly inverts the Rosemary’s Baby trope as the threat is not one of Satanism, but the very priests who worship the Lord Jesus Christ in their own twisted way, leading to moments of graphic violence.
Given the script’s twisty nature, the film may not initially convey that as the first act is about delivering the jump scares that are there to attract the mainstream audience who may not be as well-versed in horror. But when the film shifts gears, it finds its true horror in the depiction of the convent and its people, all of which establishes an unsettling atmosphere. From the eroticism of The Voyeurs to the nunsploitation of Immaculate, Michael Mohan is someone who can slip easily into any genre and embraces the conventions with visual flourish, and even when the film suffers from a tonal whiplash, if Mohan doesn’t scare you, he can at least disgust you.
Being surrounded by an impressive ethnic cast, including Álvaro Morte as the charming Father Sal Tedeschi, it is Sydney Sweeney who is the dominate force on screen. As Cecilia goes through quite the journey, from starting out as the innocent outsider to becoming the bloodstained final girl, Sweeney embodies all of that in a role that you initially think that she seems out-of-place, which is intentional. As deep as the horror goes, you buy into the sense of danger she goes through, whether it is her striking eyes that you see the fear, or her instantly iconic turn as a Scream Queen.
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