Immaculate
Immaculate
Cecilia, a woman of devout faith, is warmly welcomed to the picture-perfect Italian countryside where she is offered a new role at an illustrious convent. But it becomes clear to Cecilia that her new home harbors dark and horrifying secrets.
Desmond Dale reviewedJanuary 24, 2025
What a confusing film with so much squandered potential. It starts off rather slow but plodding, seemingly setting up this horrific foundation with social commentary on both the ills of organized religion and the lack of autonomy for women within such organizations. It has all the makings of a deep psychological horror in the vein of Rosemary's Baby or an Ari Aster film but it quickly goes to shit soon after it builds this very promising foundation.
Sydney Sweeney gives a good performance though she definitely seems to be channeling her roles in Handmaid's Tale and as Reality. She's sweet, naive and well intentioned but thrusted into a terrible situation where she has little to no control. She ends up subverting this veil of naivety by the end and giving a truly memorable effort.
However, Immaculate is ultimately let down by its direction. There are so many terrible choices made midway through the film which favor silly entertainment rather than provoking thought. The plot is full of red herrings and several themes are abandoned entirely in lieu of making the biggest, easiest choices. It relies on incessant jump scares to generate horror rather than believing in and fleshing out its terrifying beginning premise.
The director also decides to show too much at times when just an allusion would serve the film better by keeping the shroud of mystery intact. For example I don't think we need to see the father's lab, it comes off quite cheesy and like something out of B-horror. The ending is visceral and raw, but feels hamfisted and unearned. And thus, the film feels like it has multiple discordant identities. Does it want to be Malignant or does it want to be Rosemary's Baby?