The Doctor’s Diagnosis: B+
Low expectations can sometimes be a blessing. Based on the trailers, I expected Immaculate to be another jump-scare filled possession movie, the sort that makes up about 90% of modern horror films. In particular, the film looked nearly identical to Prey for the Devil, last year’s shitty jump-scare horror movie about a hot blonde nun. Well, sometimes it’s good to be wrong because Immaculate is a far better movie than the terribly generic trailers make it out to be.
The film stars Sydney Sweeney as Sister Cecilia, a young nun that is transferred from her closing convent in Detroit to a new assignment in Italy. However, things immediately feel off when she arrives. The other sisters are oddly hostile toward her and the entire place seems to be hiding something. Things escalate quickly when it’s discovered that she is pregnant despite being a virgin and the priests declare that she is the new Virgin Mary. This is a difficult movie to discuss without spoilers, but I really don’t want to, well, spoil anything. Suffice it to say that shit gets very, very weird and Immaculate goes hard in some unexpected and dark directions.
Aside from an intense prologue scene of a nun being buried alive, the first half or so of Immaculate is a pretty tepid affair that largely lives up to the mundane trailers. We get vague creepiness and a few jump scares as Cecilia becomes increasingly suspicious of her convent, evoking something of a secular version of the beginning of Suspiria (the original, not the remake that the internet is now pretending is good). Having seen so many terrible PG-13 horror movies in recent years, I was fully prepared to hate this movie.
However, once the main twist is revealed, Immaculate starts going down a truly bonkers rabbit hole that caught me completely off guard. It doesn’t reach the almost cartoonish lunacy of Barbarian, but I was thinking of that nutjob of a movie as I left the theater. I won’t spoiler it, but the movie is kind of an inverted take on Rosemary’s Baby and the plodding pace of the first two acts mirrors the tone of that film. But once it kicks in, Immaculate abandons any similarities to PG-13 horror with graphic stabbings and bludgeonings and a brutal scene of a tongue being cut out of someone’s mouth. Then there is the ending and Immaculate has a final scene that truly needs to be seen to be believed. I’ve seen a lot of movies, but the final scene of Immaculate contains two things that I have never seen on film before and, within the context of the plot, is some of the most wildly sacrilegious material put on film since The Exorcist. Yikes. I am legitimately surprised that this isn’t rated NC-17 for the closing seconds alone.
I’m also glad to finally find out why Sydney Sweeney is suddenly famous. She’s gorgeous, sure, but so are a lot of actresses and I didn’t have a lot to go on since I’ve previously only seen her in Madame Web. Here Sweeney proves that she is more than a pretty face; this woman can seriously act. Her performance runs the gamut from meek and frightened to completely frenzied and she sells every stage of the arc of this character, effectively condensing the character’s mental deterioration into the film’s slim 89 minute running time. It’s worth noting that Sweeney first auditioned for the role in 2014, but the film ended up not getting made at the time. The script stuck in her mind and she used her newfound clout (and money) to buy the script and finally put the film on the path to production. Now that’s dedication to a role. Benedetta Porcaroli’s performance in a supporting role as Sister Gwen is also worthy of recognition, as she takes what initially seems to be a generic throwaway character and, similar to the trajectory of the movie itself, manages to transform her into a surprisingly sympathetic figure.
The effective and atmospheric production design is also topnotch. Even in the earlier portions of the movie when I was ready to dismiss Immaculate completely, I had to give the movie points for looking good. Filmed in Rome, the shooting locations give the convent a mixture of grandeur and foreboding that immediately brings a sense of uneasiness. I’m not familiar with director Michael Mohan, but he does a fantastic job bringing a gothic look and general sense of tension reminiscent of something like The Haunting. Overall, it’s a well designed and great looking film.
Immaculate isn’t a perfect film and my very low expectations probably helped my viewing experience. The first act is slow and the villains are underwhelming considering the batshit insanity of their actions. However, I have to respect the sheer audacity of the last act and the strength of Sweeny’s performance. For years I have been confused by the endless praise heaped upon Hereditary, which I find to be a boring and derivative take on Rosemary’s Baby. Immaculate is another take on Rosemary’s Baby, but it goes for the jugular and is a legitimately fresh take on the material. Yeah, I’m saying it: Immaculate is better than Hereditary.
Image by: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_(2024_film)#/media/File:Immaculate_Poster.jpg
