Sydney Sweeney continues her ascent to superstardom with the brilliant Immaculate. The Nun-based Horror Film is one of the best films of 2024.
Director Michael Mohan’s Immaculate could have gone into Nunsploitation territory. It decidedly takes the harder turn into dread and true transgressive horror with Star and producer Sydney Sweeney continuing her ascent to superstardom in a performance worthy of the great Horror Film Star Turns. Yes, we can invoke Rosemary’s Baby in the same breath. Yes, Immaculate is that good.
Sister Cecilia (Sweeney) has taken the offer of Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) to come to a Convent in Italy that helps Sister’s transition in their final days. After a jaunty start, Cecilia begins to find her way with the help of Sister Gwen (Benedetta Porcaroli). Cecilia finds herself in the center of what Father Sal and the rest of the Convent consider a Miracle. Cecilia is pregnant without laying with a man – immaculate conception. The Convent takes this miracle with the utmost seriousness. Cecilia begins to learn that there may be something quite sinister to this miracle and Father Sal’s insistency that she says in the confines of this secluded Nunnery.
Make no mistake, Immaculate is a deeply disturbing horror film. One that does not blink in the face of scares, dread, and gore. Those expecting Sweeney in some exercise in titillation should look elsewhere. The star has come, as Roddy Piper said, “… to chew bubble gum and kick ass. And I’m all out of bubble gum”. This is the kind of serious fully committed performance we only see in the upper echelon of horror filmmaking.
Sweeney is aided greatly by Andrew Lobel’s exquisite screenplay and Mohan’s adroit visual and emotional storytelling. Production Designer Adam Reamer and Cinematographer Elisha Christian create a Convent that’s both stylishly gothic but retaining a sense of realism that strikes the right balance. Morte and Porcaroli do great work and understand the tone of the entire piece – as much as Sweeney – as do the rest of the cast including Dora Romano as the truly terrifying Mother Superior. The work of the exemplary cast and crew, to build not just the characters but the world so fully and convincingly that its swing-for-the-fences ending lands so perfectly that one will instantly want to rewatch the entire film.
Once one has seen Immaculate it will be hard to deny that it is one of the best films of 2024. A challenging Horror film that’s go for broke final 3-minute ending shot will stay with you long after the film has finished.
Trust me, this one is a Classic of the Genre in the making.