“Immaculate” Review
Sydney Sweeney finds herself blessed with an apparent miracle in “Immaculate”, a new psychological horror film from Michael Mohan.
There are countless cases of films being ruined by their endings but there are also instances where films that are either passable or straight-up dull are suddenly made stronger by their conclusions. “Immaculate” is such a film because, for the majority of the film, it plays out a by-the-numbers story until the third act got rolling and completely blew me away. With intense direction by Michael Mohan and a thrilling performance from Sydney Sweeney, “Immaculate” is a twisted thriller that deserves attention for its excellent attributes.
Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) is a nun who has just taken her vows and has traveled to Italy to live and work at a convent that tends to elderly nuns in their dying days. While a tough job, Sister Cecilia is happy and honored to serve God and her fellow nuns. However, there’s an underlying current of darkness that manifests when Sister Cecilia becomes pregnant despite being a virgin. While this immaculate conception is viewed by the priests and nuns as a miracle, Sister Cecila suspects that something is terribly wrong with her pregnancy and with the convent.
For the first two thirds of this film, the film plays out like any other average horror film with religious undertones, creepy candlelight and lots of heavy shadows. These two acts will try the audience’s patience because viewers are either going to be bored or, in my case, will take the bait and will see what will come of Sister Cecilia’s miracle. What kept the majority of the film somewhat interesting to me was Sydney Sweeney’s incredible performance. As Cecilia, Sweeney takes on so much intensity as she comes to grips with her situation and feels torn between God and her own feelings. While her faith is solid, there’s no question about that, she wonders why she’s been chosen and even if this baby is God’s will. The fact that strange things keep happening in the convent isn’t helping either.
In my case, I was cautiously intrigued while watching the film because, along with Sweeney, Michael Mohan is a competent force behind the camera. He creates a dark atmosphere that is visually interesting and kept me questioning what was occurring. You’re waiting for things to take off which eventually did happen. The way “Immaculate” ends is so insane and intense that it feels almost like it came out of “The Evil Dead” if it mated with “Rosemary’s Baby”.
It’s in the final act that everything this film has built up comes to fruition and it is exceptional. While it would have been nice for the entire film to be as entertaining, it’s almost as if “Immaculate” was purposefully underwhelming in order to completely catch the audience off guard. If that was intentional, then perhaps this film that I thought was just going to be another scary Catholic horror film is more genius than I thought.
“Immaculate” will definitely not be for everyone, especially if the viewer wants a thrilling film from start to finish, but the things that work about this film are too good not to recommend and showcase why Sydney Sweeney is such an acting force.
