Immaculée

The echoes of Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby" are undeniable, from the secluded convent setting to the paranoia and isolation Cecilia experiences. But "Immaculate" carves out its own space in the genre with a surprising amount of bite.

"Immaculate," starring Sydney Sweeney as a young nun named Cecilia, delivers a captivating performance as a woman of quiet strength thrust into a horrifying situation. Where Mia Farrow's Rosemary Woodhouse in "Rosemary's Baby" was a naive outsider, Cecilia possesses a steely resolve. This subtle difference fuels the film's suspense. We see the cracks in Cecilia's faith as she grapples with the inexplicable, but she never loses her agency.

The film tackles themes of female subjugation and bodily autonomy within a religious framework. Cecilia's struggle for control over her own body becomes a potent allegory, particularly in today's social climate. It's a film that will stay with you long after the credits roll, leaving you questioning faith, free will, and the immaculate deception that can lurk behind holy walls.

If it wasn't for Sydney, no one would have seen this movie. I honestly don't understand what the higher reviews were watching...

This movie lacked both depth and any sort of character development. The movie would've been better if captions were provided, yet we had to rely on translations from another character.

On numerous occasions, what appeared to be a major development of the movie was either not explained or followed up. Just left there and the director moved on.

I was very disappointed by the movie and felt that they could have done a much better job of developing a storyline. Instead they phoned this one in...

Don't go see it in theatre, wait until it's out to steam if you want to see it. It's certainly not worth the price of admission.

Immaculate

In Immaculate, we're given a nunsploitation story. Sister Cecilia relocates to an Italian convent following the closure of the one where she was raised in America. Soon after her arrival, she becomes pregnant and this is tagged an immaculate conception seeing as she's still a virgin.

The film explores the concept of women's bodily autonomy and challenges the perception of women solely as vessels for reproduction.

This psychological religious horror is mostly good but the religious aspects could have gotten more emphasis. The social commentary on faith could have been explored better. However, it delivers a satisfying amount of scares and builds to a pulsating final act. The restraint we'd gotten in the previous acts is tossed in the final act, and here is where the movie shines best. The pacing is good even though it does take time to get to the juicy parts but with the limited runtime, it avoids being tedious. The creepy atmosphere also effectively carries the film through its initial stages.

Sydney Sweeney delivers as sister Cecilia. Remarkably, she auditioned for the role at just 17 years old before the project was shelved. Years later, as a producer, she secured financing for the film, demonstrating her dedication to the project. This dedication is palpable in the performance she gives.

In conclusion, Immaculate is a solid psychological religious horror and although it falters in some areas, particularly in its underexplored themes, the film's gripping final act and Sweeney's impassioned portrayal make it a worthy watch for horror enthusiasts.

7/10.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about 'Immaculate'. It did some stuff I really liked, but then let itself down in other areas. It kept the jump-scares to a minimum, but the ones it did have were pretty easy to spot and ineffectual. It had a lot of gory and hard to watch scenes which were pretty effective and probably when the film was at its strongest. It also contained a fake-out dream sequence which is my most hated horror trope. For everything this film did well it seemed to do something else to offset it.

At first I had trouble buying Sydney Sweeney as a nun. I just couldn't make it work in my head. What I realised as the film went on however, was that her charisma and natural likeability was what was carrying the film. The absolute fundamental key to any horror movie working is that we have to care about the fate of the character/s. And because of her I did.

I liked this film a lot more than I thought I was going after about 15 minutes of the runtime. It's certainly a film that gets better as it goes along. It also does well to not outstay its welcome and keep the runtime to a brisk 89 minutes. I couldn't say this is must-see horror, but I could say it's worthy of giving a chance. 6/10.

In 2024's "Immaculate" we are introduced to the young nun named Cecilia who is portrayed by Sydney Sweeney. She is the main selling point for this movie with her remarkable rise in Hollywood right now. It's also interesting how this movie was made because Sweeney auditioned for this movie in 2014 but the project never materialized. Now that she is a big name in Hollywood, she reached out to the writer and went on to produce this movie with her in the leading role. I love that she is so dedicated to making a horror movie and a project she was certainly passionate about. And you could tell because her acting is really great and even though it was hard seeing her as a nun at first, she did the great job bringing her character to life. Although I find it a little weird that even in a movie about a nun, we somehow get to see her naked multiple times because she can't seem to leave her clothes on. Not a complaint but more of an observation.

The movie went in a different direction than I initially expected it to go which was a nice surprise. On the other hand it is really predictable and you immediately know where the threat lurks. There are some cheap jump scares in this but also some rather suspenseful moments that kept the tension high. The movie also looks pretty decent and overall entertains. But just like this review mainly focuses on Sydney Sweeney herself, the movie does too. Like I said she is the main selling point and the most memorable thing in an otherwise rather generic film that would be forgotten about easily. [5,7/10]