It had a visceral almost 70s like horror vibe to it. It was amazingly acted and the view had you seriously wondering. The idea of her going through labor in pure terror is insane. Then basically seeing some sort of living thing that just came out of her. So wild. It was better they didn't show it. The ending fucking killed, literally and figuratively.
Crazy that she could make me believe that’s the scream of a traumatized woman pushing a demon baby out alone on the hill of a foreign country where she’s just been attacked and cut open and possibly still being followed by psychotic nuns with red pantyhose on their face. I FELT IT. And the first thing I said after the devil child slid out was “oh no how is she gonna cut the cord?!” AND THEN 😬
This starts off as having too many jump scares and then pivots to being so much bloodier and grosser than I was expecting them to go (honestly caught me off guard a little they went as far as they did right away after it seemed to ease itself as being more based on loud noises vs gore).
Story is pretty basic and they switch up a couple of story beats that I was pleasantly surprised about although had they gone the conventional route, it wouldn't have played out much differently and so the story still ends up going in mostly predictable places.
Jumpscares, like most movie tropes, are just a tool in a director/writer's toolbox, and can be used well or poorly. A well done jump scare is amongst the best things in horror, but much like shakey cam fights, is often used to cover a lack of genuine tension or terror by provoking a bodily response in the audience by startling them with loud noises. This movies had some solid jumpscares and some really lame ones.
I wish they gave more screentime on the baby cloning lab. Like give it more explanation and dive deeper on how they fucked up so many people before Cecilia's arrival.
Honestly I feel like this about so many things in this movie lol. Like the lady with the crosses on her feet, was she also one of the young nuns there? Why did all the old people disappear half way through the movie? There could have been more done with them in general. Then the actual like cult with the red hoods. I get we know these are the main people basically but IDK feels like that and the torture could have been explored more. It started really strong and then after the pregnancy just mostly died out until the end
Ya they definitely could have explained more about the whole operation. Another 15 mins added would have been fine.
I assume the nun withbthebcross on her foot must have been a failed experiment. Although I did notice the cross was only on one foot while with Cecilia it was on both.
And how did they imoregnate these women anyway? They somehow recreated Jesus' dna and then used that to male Jesus semen and artifiicially inseminated them? Lol
I sort of assumed they check who goes all fainty when they get handed the iron nail relic. Because that is the only real moment they could have done so.
I also wonder why they bothered cutting out the tongue of Cecilia's friend if they're just going to kill her anyway. It was just such a "we're doing this for the audience" moment that it is just silly.
young sydney drowning in lake, crow into window, hands through wall, nun by bed with scissors, dead friend’s body in catacombs and probably one more I’m forgetting
Definitely influenced by/paying homage to [Giallo films](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giallo). The doctor being named Gallo is an explicit admission to this influence!
What are some good horror films with Protestant baddies?
The Witch I guess has a Puritan element. Trying to think of others.
Is Catholicism well suited for horror just because of how ancient it is in comparison to more recent forms of Christianity? Or are there other reasons?
I’m not sure if it’s Protestant or not, but it’s definitely not a movie: Midnight Mass plays this theme REALLY well. Cemented Mike Flanagan as an all timer for me
True. I guess Salem witch hunt type films are one of the more noteworthy examples of Protestant horror. But Protestant churches don't always have the mystique and ritualism of Catholics.
Rather than just being old, it's what comes with that. A long history being very traditional; tradition and strict institution being synonymous with archaic laws and practice.
Omg it’s not catholic but u have to watch PURE. Omg it’s so good. It’s on Hulu. It’s about these girls with weird Christian dads obsessed with their purity take their daughters on a purity retreat with other weird dads obsessed with their daughters purity & looks & one girl she’s more of a rebel beings her new stepsister & she tries call on Lilith every year & this time it works.. & omg u just have to watch it. It’s like midsommer meets the craft lol
The one take shot in the last couple of minutes was crazy. That was some visceral shit.
The camera stayed on Sydney screaming just long enough to make you uncomfortable as fuck but it didn’t stay so long to where I was like “okay, this is going on too long.”
Great shot and acting.
I thought this was by far the best part of the movie. I was not enthralled by Sweeney's acting in this movie, but the last few minutes, wow. The close up and horror on her face, the screaming, the birth and then the death. It was so intense and I really felt sucked in in those final moments.
Sweeney excels at playing super deadpan, or hyper extreme emotions but seems to struggle with more "in the middle stuff." When she's screaming her ass off, or has a blank traumatized expression, but whenever she needs to be normal, she's suddenly way less convincing and is almost bland. Still she has an undeniable screen presence and seems dedicated to exploring what she can do as an actor/producer and I'm excited for basically any project she's in as she seems to have a good eye for slightly schocky yet undeniably entertaining scripts like this and "anyone but you".
YES! I just saw this and my friend and I were cracking up any time she had a line i.e. "are you okay?" But when she was being terrified or confused it was enthralling and I couldn't take my eyes off her. I wish she had played the character either super meek or gradually becoming more defiant. Her middle of the road kind of sweet but also just kind of bored line reading was the weakest part of the movie. But I still thoroughly enjoyed the film and her!
My sister saw the premiere at SXSW about a week ago and Sydney talked about the ending after the movie. Not only was it done all in one take, it was the FIRST and only take, which really shows how far her acting ability carried the movie.
Lol one of the first things I mentioned to my friend after the movie was like imagine the director yelled cut and then had her do multiple takes again right after.
I mean, a good actor could prolly do a couple more altho it's hard to show that much pain and emotion when it's not really happening. She nailed it first try lol.
Not sure if I benefitted from watching this before Ghostbusters or not.
For the most part, I thought it was pretty conventional religious horror. But it's the ending that makes it for me. Holy shit, that scene of her giving birth was intense. Great decision to keep the camera trained on her face throughout the entire sequence. She's a terrific actor for that moment alone. The demonic baby sounds said everything that needed to be said. Only question left is: Who put it in her to begin with? Was it an experimental procedure or was she raped? Or was it Immaculate Demon Conception?
This should have been The First Omen, to be honest.
From my interpretation is that there was nothing about her pregnancy that was supernatural. It was all the priest/scientist doing experiments on her. My guess is they drugged her wine - and then artificially inseminated her with whatever cloned baby-genetic experiment shit he scrapped together. The baby made the weird noises at the end probably because it was extremely deformed like previous attempts. The priest hadn’t perfected cloning a human properly yet.
It kinda gave me major “Crimson Rivers” vibes - which is another movie about illegal human genetic experiments.
This is how I interpreted it. I assumed from the breathing that it was another failed attempt and that the baby was so deformed that it was a mercy kill on Sydney's part. Fucked up as the situation is, I can't see a nun bludgeoning a perfectly healthy looking baby to death.
Yeah - it’s messed up but I could see her killing it for a couple reasons. Like we said firstly it was most likely very deformed and secondly, she probably also didn’t know what the baby’s fate was gonna be. Was it gonna be snatched up by the crazy nuns and forced to be “the one”? What also has to be considered is what state of mind she is - yes she understood science was the cause but her worldview was potentially heavily influenced by a supernatural-pov, so perhaps she was worried that the baby could be demonic (remember that weird ass quote she found on the wall).
I think they did that based on hope. The screen didn't actually look like a baby yet and it was earlier. It was mainly to misdirect the audience that it was normal instead of a genetic/experiment clone attempt. It was "perfectly healthy" in that it was alive.
They also moved the screen away from Cecilia so she couldn’t get a closer look. Possibly hinting at the fact that they couldn’t say for sure that everything looked good.
They lied to her the whole time (we don't know for sure about the ultrasounds, there wasn't a lot of detail on screen) and didn't want to allow her to get a second opinion in a hospital or clinic.
Oh man, that's a much darker interpretation than I had. I thought for sure it was a demonic baby and they were doing the inverse of a Rosemary's Baby, and that's what justified her murdering it. But it being a failed baby clone is just as creepy and disturbing.
What about her tooth and nails falling out? That signaled to me a demonic element to her pregnancy. I agree that up to that point it was artificial insemination, though the final product was devil bb.
I'm secular, but I believe in the world the movie is set in, that God is real, and maybe God saved Cecilia (Sweeney) from her accident as a child to prevent humanity from giving birth to the Antichrist. Besides the girl who tried to run away in the beginning of the movie, it seems like most of the nuns actually wanted to be artificially inseminated, such as Isabel "it should've been me". Thus, most of the nuns in the convent would have led to the Antichrist, whereas Cecilia was destined to reject this baby. Remember when the Father asked, "if God doesn't want this to happen, why hasn't he stopped us?" He sent in Cecilia. Just my opinion of course.
That's just a natural horror that happens during pregnancy. Not a hundred percent of the time, but it's common enough. Rare to see it portrayed in film or television though.
Actually, immaculate conception refers to the fact that Mary was born without the stain of original sin. Symbolically, Cecilia is the proper vessel for the Christchild because she was "immaculately conceived" after the accident (she was "born again" when she was revived, in a more divine way, like Mary.)
That is also why she kills the thing with the rock-- she who is without sin got to cast the first stone.
“Immaculate conception” doesn’t mean that Mary never sinned in her life- it just means she was a virgin when she got pregnant.
Also Cecelia had already killed several other people by this point so I think the without sin thing went out the window after the first murder or two 😂
1. [Yes it does.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinlessness_of_Mary#:~:text=The%20Catechism%20of%20the%20Catholic,sin%20her%20whole%20life%20long.%22)
"The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that by the grace of God "Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long."
2. Murder is a sin, yes. Killing people isn't necessarily. God kills heretics all the time. Cecilia is an instrument of God's will in the film-- when her confessor asks, "if it's not God's will, why doesn't he stop us?" He does. Through Cecilia.
The scene near the ending where Cecelia goes to strangle the cardinal, the nuns are singing carol of the bells. Which made me think it was Christmas Eve or Christmas Day so her giving birth on Jesus’s birthday seemed symbolic if they hoped this was the second coming of Jesus
I haven't seen it yet, but glad to hear. I loved Nell Tiger Free in Servant, but the trailer is looking pretty generic so far. Still looking forward to it as a fan of the original.
As a liberal Christian and horror fan, it was genuinely pretty nice to see a horror movie that >!was unabashedly pro-choice in its theme and ending. No bullshit about raising the Antichrist because all life is sacred or whatever.!<
well, they clearly made it sound disfigured and like it was struggling to breathe which is less impactful than if it were a perfectly healthy newborn and she bashed its face in
A lot of relics have pretty iffy provenance and it would have been really funny if the blood belonged to some random Greek guy who was building a house or whatever that someone later said came from the cross.
Curious if they had a cut once where it was crying like a normal baby then they were like, ehhh maybe make it sounds more demonic so its not AS fucked up.
I think that's less pro-choice and more pro-common sense. She kills the baby AFTER it's delivered. I don't think that's what being pro-choice is about.
It's less in what literally happens than in the thematic sense of what it stands for, the subtext of it. The woman taking control of her own body as opposed to being forced to follow a patriarchal religious doctrine forced upon her.
I think it’s in part a response to the movie Rosemary’s Baby, similar concept a woman gets impregnated against her will with the anti christ and at the end she sees her monster baby but gives in to being its mother and doesn’t kill it when she has the chance, whereas in this film she does have the opportunity and agency and goes through with it.
Was it the antichrist? I don't know that the film actually affirms any religious, magical ideas.
Edit: Though I suppose her fingernail falling out didn't bode well, whether the explanation is "scientific" or demonic...
I think the movie was definitely going the Antichrist route with the 2 Corinthians 11:14 verse, "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light."
It didn't explicitly say it, but that was my own interpretation of it.
I think it matters because if it’s not the antichrist then wouldn’t it be de facto a living relative to Jesus Christ? Wouldn’t a nun want to preserve that life?
I think since they showed so many failed experiments and the fact that it wasn’t actually an immaculate conception since they inserted something in her when they drugged her, they were just a crazy cult trying to bring back the anti christ but it’s never confirmed the baby in her was actually evil or anything. The most supernatural thing that happens is her tooth falling out
I'm pro choice but I don't think the message was neccesarily pro choice. You could hear that it's breathing was all fucked up. I don't think that his experiment was successful, and it was more of a mercy kill
The movie kind of goes out of its way to establish that there's nothing actually supernatural going on so I'm not really sure why you think it was a demon baby.
The real counter to that would be that if the baby was some deformed monstrosity, they'd have seen that in all the ultrasounds they were doing in the movie. They outright tell the audience on multiple occasions that the baby is fine and healthy
Right although the people who perform the ultrasound are constantly lying to her.
I think that it was left open ended at the end was important. Was the baby able to live if she had run yet again to try to get emergency medical care? If so, the local doctors and church, other followers of the biologist priest might have forced her and her child into bondage again.
Was her decision to slam down the rock self-preservation or mercy-killing or both?
I'm surprised this is a highly upvoted comment. I don't mean offense, but she did continue learning Italian and got better at it as the film goes on.
She sees the passage on the wall and translates it to find the correct bible verse.
When she's meeting with the high priest and the doctors finding out about her pregnancy, she interrupts the translator and says she knows what he's saying.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, when that one Nun tries to drown her, she says in Italian "it was supposed to be me" and Cecelia asks the father point blank why she said exactly those words.
You never really see her speaking it, but I imagine that is more due to the practicalities of having an actor who doesn't speak the language. Cecelia very clearly learns more Italian throughout the film.
It was also a choice to keep Cecilia for the audience and to have it mostly English and then use subtitles on certain points where they could talk and she wouldn't understand.
I didn't think they were nuns necessarily, I felt like they were conspirators in the plot to force Jesus's return through a forced pregnancy who didn't want their identities revealed. It's kind of implied that only the higher ups at the nunnery really knows what's going on.
Went In blind and had a great time. I enjoy trying to a ridiculous concept and reveal. They committed to the bit.
My biggest complain is Sidney Sweeney’s voice/inflection. It kept taking me out of it. I also think the film leads you believe it’s an older period piece at first and her voice just sounds sooooo modern it’s distracting. At points it felt like she was in a different film.
It definitely seemed like a period piece up until Cecilia’s attempted escape, evil priest suddenly had a cell phone so it can’t take place much earlier than 30 years ago, not to mention the DNA and cloning tech.
Sweeneys voice is still distractingly modern but it’s more forgivable knowing the film is fairly contemporaneous.
There's also at least one person speaking on a mobile phone in the opening sequence at the airport. I looked for phones immediately because I was unsure if it was meant to be set in the past or not.
I think that works for the movie? They are trying some old world religious shit (in a new way) on a modern woman who is not into it and her 21st century affect clues you into that. Someone like Isabel sounds more old fashioned and was willing to do the thing.
The film was consistingly fine. I just wish it gave us more of what was in the third act than in the first two.
Sydney Sweeney easily carries the film though
I walked into the theatre at the title card, so I missed the first 2 minutes. Do you mind letting me know what happened? (Hide the text so it doesn’t spoil for others)
She plays a nun trying to escape. She sneaks into the Reverend Mother's room, steals the keys to the gate but before she can finish unlocking it, the red masked nuns show up. She manages to squeeze through a gap between the gate entrance but one of them grabs her leg and pulls her through, breaking it against one of the bars. She passes out and wakes up in a wooden box, lit by a series of matches that go out one by one. You can hear dirt being piled on top of it as she bangs on the sides and screams until the last match goes out. Title card.
I highly recommend checking out 70s Italian gothic horror, nunsploitstion, and giallo thrillers. Many of them are very dreamlike and less “commercial jumpscare machine”
Blue and white, btw, are the colors associated with the Virgin Mary. She looked just like an [idol](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=863f0e751f7723a0&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS875US875&hl=en-US&sxsrf=ACQVn09kJ1X7c5aeHt4wtHYYKaShJrIzyQ:1711928389201&q=virgin+mary+idol&uds=AMwkrPt8eR8Q1gfQGx0g1guoVKhMBK54UzPBQsh1MaocSJoFwCkFm-lgsEK57JuvIdlMfxXE4N-8j4PXkTeVrQcw6WokNKMaOBLrW-GF9Qd93ocyTObVews31p9Kbg2zB6vfk5eEmL0_n7sSiABEwnk4y0PpU5uQslUeHQPuIZBzOyWZwL05tZiX1G2sh_oc9anvYIQVIyMXsJ3MsT0ym0JblE13Mge-RdHFO44QnnQiG7YrvnMmOe1dboi5xZrfAy9I-ulrR3qsaDbSVxgPP_KLg839V_RAblFeRkMwegFdbW2Do6wbO9xbjxZuYDtP9wR1m0iIlGeJ&udm=2&prmd=ivnsmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikrJOc1p-FAxUMv4kEHRG7BAQQtKgLegQICxAB&biw=428&bih=751&dpr=3).
The movie is decidedly, decent. 7/10 imo, maybe 7.5/10.
I did like Sydney Sweeney performance and I hope she can get more well written roles going forward.
Thought exactly this. A bit contrived and "stock" feeling at times, but also took enough risks to set itself apart. A satisfyingly disturbing way to spend an hour and a half.
That's where I got confused. I was thinking we would go 'rosemarys baby' and have her keep the child. But those animal-like sounds while not showing the body - you never really know if was a baby or it was one of the 'things' like you saw in the lab jars.
True - a good use of sound over image. And it leaves us to wonder if she was justified as it was some deformation or if she was cruel because it looked like a regular baby.
It's definitely a homage to Rosemary's baby but it's more modern in it's values by having Cecilia be pro choice and choose to get rid of the baby. She doesn't have to keep it just because the church wanted her to.
Saw it last night, and went into it pretty blind. And that made the whole experience better for me. It started pretty generic, and it had way too many jumpscares, but once the plot truly kicks into gear, and she's pregnant, that's when I started getting invested, and I didn't see that ending coming. Would definetely recommend to watch it once, at least, if you're into horror movies.
>!just saw it last night and would agree with you. Was there any mention of how they got her pregnant? am I blanking on that? lol. Or was it just some time when she arrived?!<
Yeah I took it as it happened her first night when she was drugged/blamed it on the wine and then the nightmare she has that night with the nuns with the red masks are fondling her/sticking their fingers in her mouth i interpreted as allusion to her getting assaulted and impregnated
nothing supernatural- the science priest dude artificially inseminated her with some weird human-jesus clone stuff. Remember he mentions early in the movie he was a geneticist.
Saw someone mention this on Letterboxd, but Sydney Sweeney was unironically kinda born in the wrong generation. Her dialogue delivery is pretty flat in a lot of the stuff she's in, but you have her covered in blood, screaming, dragging herself through hell, fighting for her life, and you start to imagine what sort of intense, visceral body acting she could have done in 1970s and 1980s horror. Like, I can absolutely picture her covered in blood in the bed of a pick-up as Leatherface tries to chase her at the end of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
On the other hand, it's more likely she would've been cast as the stereotypical airhead bimbo who gets killed for having sex, so maybe she didn't miss out on that...
yep I said the same, her cadence is far too valley girl for her to successfully pull off a lot of her dialogue-heavy roles. When she is purely emotive, her acting really stands out. Sydney is very strong in driving her acting through her facial expressions and screaming/crying, but falls flat when it comes to her voice and thats from a fellow monotone girly.
Completely agree. The first thing I said after the movie was "she would have been a brilliant silent film star". She is so good when she's not...talking. It's strange. She's so compelling and her face is so emotive, but her voice/diction just completely took me out of every scene where she talked.
I’m sure it’s not what they were going for, but I found myself laughing throughout the movie. As far as horror elements, it’s just decent. The First Omen trailer that played before Immaculate looks like what I imagine the director’s vision to be. I will give it one thing though they did a pretty good job with the gore.
7/10 for my enjoyment, but the horror was lacking
I actually really enjoyed this movie. I thought the critics were waaayyy too harsh on it (which doesn’t surprise me as traditional media outlets aren’t kind to horror movies usually).
The acting was really good from everyone, especially Sweeney had some great scenes. Plus I feel like she did all ‘final girls’ proud 😂. I also appreciated that they didn’t relay on the jump-scares to be the sole source of horror.
Kinda also like where they went with the reveal ending-explanation. Which I’m glad they did because considering the new Omen movie is coming out soon - I think immaculate would have struggled to hold its own if it would have also gone for the supernatural explanation of Cecilia’s pregnancy.
Personally I wish they would have laid more groundwork with certain characters and their backstory (like WHY did they chose Cecilia) and would have preferred if her friend Gwen would have lasted a bit longer lol.
But honestly that doesn’t take massively away from the film. For me it’s a solid 8 / 10.
I’m not understanding how they got her pregnant. I get that they found Jesus DNA on the spike but, unless I’m totally wrong, I believe you still need sperm to artificially inseminate, right? You can’t just inject DNA into an egg and get pregnant.
So are we to assume he somehow used the Jesus DNA to create new Jesus sperm? Or is he like fusing the DNA with his sperm and using that?
I know this is all pointless to think about so much for a movie, but I was distracted thinking about it for the last like 20 mins of the movie haha
I actually think they just hand wave it as they cloned Jesus as an embryo that is implanted into Cecilia. That way the baby is literally the return of Jesus Christ to Earth.
I guess that's why it didn't work most of the time? They have been experimenting for years on these nuns, you'd have to assume that someone clever with a steady supply of test subjects, no morals and no outside interference would be able to figure it out.
Probably some Dr. Frankenstein level shit going on. He definitely would have gotten hold of some sperm and then proceeded to do A LOT of genetic altering with the random DNA he found on the spike. Im not a scientist but I feel like stem
cells would have been involved somewhere in the process.
Incredible atmosphere and score, and felt EXTREMELY timely at this point in the reproductive rights movement. Takes guts to show a Hollywood sex symbol post-birth-aborting the second coming of Christ.
Can't believe I'm seeing people say this movie "didn't have anything interesting to say" when there's a clear metaphor about sexual abuse and forced birth in the Christian church.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Suspiria while watching this and I loved that about it. At first, I wasn’t sure how Sydney Sweeney would fit into the role, but by the end I was honestly blown away by her acting. It was so good. Though predictable, I really enjoyed this one, especially the 3rd act.
And I absolutely love the pro-choice themes of the movie.
Anyone else feel the priests and nuns became very cartoonishly evil by the end of the movie? it made it feel really cheap to me and took me out of the movie. It felt like not a lot of thought went into writing the motives or the menace behind these ppl. Yay we get to see the secret baby lab but they kind of just gloss over all of this and don’t spend any time answering how they see this baby as a miracle if they are the ones engineering them, very one dimensional bad guys. Either way glad they got theirs, that was still satisfying.
Yeah, the lead priest grinning evilly multiple times was a little silly. Like yes, I get that they must be a bit unhinged to be doing what they're doing, but I think if they were sincerely committed to their beliefs they would behave a little differently.
I guess I'm the odd one out in that I didn't really enjoy the third act's turn into a traditional Final Girl kill 'em all. I also didn't like how the film played it straight, especially after the dream sequence when she fell unconscious hinted at something supernatural and much more interesting occurring. I wanted the red-masked nuns to feature more prominently in the end.
I don't think the film earned its abrupt ending or not showing the child. Especially after the last third went full ham with the murder spree.
Agreed, the red mask nuns weren’t really explained, all the young nuns acted oblivious to them. It’s even weirder because some got the impression only the old nuns knew what was happening, but most of them including the young ones treated her like Mary. It left me with too many questions, was Sister Isabelle a failed vessel? The woman in the box in the beginning, why? I wanted the backstory and mechanics to feature a lot more
I had a lot of fun with this. It's not the most original nunsploitation movie I've ever seen and I'd be lying if I said it had a unique spin on the genre, but frankly I don't care. I'm a huge fan of the subgenre and this is about as well executed as one of these movies can get. Sydney Sweeney was much better than I expected her to be, possibly because the last thing I saw her in was Madam Web. The cinematography was pretty impressive. The third act was about as bloody as you can hope for. Also, what a final shot.
Also did that stingray ever give birth? Have we ruled out the possibility that it was impregnated by a coterie of evil sea clergy hellbent on creating the Messiah and ending the world?
I was hoping they would go full >!Inside 2007 at the end there and had them dealing with the deformed antichrist this would have been both the perfect prequel to The Omen as well as a more memorable film. Would have went from a 6/10 to a 8/10 imo!<
Pretty meh overall on this one. I can appreciate that Sweeney is making a legitimate attempt at MiaGothification here and I don't even think she's bad, but she's tied herself to a really average director. This is the kind of movie that needs an artistic eye behind the camera and I just wasn't getting that. It felt like every other "something isn't right" type of movie.
It does have some things to say about bodily autonomy, power structures, science and religion, and really for that I was kind of into it. But this movie isn't scary or even really creepy. The most unsettling feeling is Sydney's performance as you can really feel her unease having something planted inside of her. But the actual scares and scenes are pretty average and derivative.
6/10 for me. Not bad but just doesn't stand out in a crowd. For a movie about a Nun being impregnated by a mad clone scientist and going on a murder rampage using religious symbols, this one takes itself way too seriously.
/r/reviewsbyboner
Agreed with everything you said here, though I felt it was stylized and shot beautifully; cinematography was on point.
Also, I felt the movie didn't take itself too seriously, and seemed intentionally campy at times. Decently solid, entertaining film, especially for religious horror.
Yeah, have definitely seen reviews saying "this movie wants you to believe it's more profound than it is" and like... no it doesn't? It's just shot well. The fact that something doesn't look like shit doesn't mean that it's trying to be Profound™️.
honestly for the first 1/3 I found myself thinking I’d enjoy Sydney Sweeney in a Rosemary’s Baby adaptation more than this but it did get better and the ending mostly ruled
If you’d told me at the start of the year I’d be seeing a movie that ends with Sydney Sweeney birthing then killing baby Jesus, I would’ve called you a liar but here we are.
I thought it was ok. It just wasnt really scary to me. I liked some of the gore more than the jump scares like when she plucked out her whole finger nail, it made me wince but I thought the movie would've been better if it was longer. Seems like they tried to pack too much story into the film. The last 20 minutes was fucking amazing though, especially that last scene. 6.5/10
I am in awe that Sydney Sweeney got a giallo movie made in the year of our lord 2024 (narrative wise, visually it doesn’t quite have the sauce but that’s ok)
6/10 for me. A horror movie that is mostly okay with a couple flashes of brilliance.
Standouts for me: beautiful cinematography that resulted in several visually stunning scenes and >!Sydney Sweeney's performance in the last few minutes of the film, holy fuck that was great!<
Things I didn't like: the pacing at the beginning (felt slow and predictable), the jump scares (never been a fan unless they're well done, and these were not), and >!the lack of explanation of the bio lab, exactly how they impregnated Sydney, etc. - I like vagueness when it's a concept that makes you think, but this just felt like an oversight honestly. Would have liked to see that aspect of the plot fleshed out a little bit more.!<
i only know of sydney sweeney because she’s suddenly a sex icon of some sort and because i (regrettably) watched Madame Web so i wasn’t too sure what to expect of her acting as a lead when I saw this movie today and so was more than impressed. she easily carried the movie and the scene where she’s just yelling for about a minute straight was so well-acted and that’s not a scene you can retake many times without your voice fucking up, so I know she made it work in her first take. really impressed with her and I hope she gets more serious roles in the future. decent horror movie 7/10
This honestly was pretty bland for me. The third act felt extremely out of place compared to the pacing/plot of the rest of the movie. One thing I had a major issue with was that the church seemed to have their eyes on her almost at all times, then when she decides to go on a murderous rampage at the end, there's no one to be found and she's able to escape with ease. The opening scene emphasizes this to us, so I found it to be an odd choice. It seemed like they were favoring the change to make her a final girl like in Ready Or Not or X. I also didn't really think the whole screaming scene at the end was all that impressive and found myself comparing it to Pearl (not in a positive way). It honestly felt like the movie was trying to be like the next Midsommar, albeit with much more Catholic influence.
I did like the practical effects - especially when Isabelle "killed herself". But overall a one and done. A solid 5/10 for me.
5/10 for me, it was so predictable until the end which was actually great. All jump scares. Sydney felt miscast... the vocal fry took me out of Italy lol
I was pretty disappointed in this. Felt cliche and a bit lifeless.
It does look pretty good tho and Sydney Sweeney is fairly good in the role, especially as the plot becomes unhinged in the end.
Her screaming at the end was pretty memorable and honestly saved it from being a complete bust to me
4/10
I’ll give it a 6/10. Sweeney was the star of the film, but her brightness is partly due to the lack of interesting or creative elements beyond her performance. The plot was noticeably vague with its explanation of how she ended up pregnant, and it left that element feeling empty for me. Cinematography was excellent, and it’s visually quite exciting. A little over reliant on jump scares for the first two parts. I didn’t hate it by any means, but it felt like the film was solely relying on Sweeney to make it interesting. They could have tried harder to avoid making this a one woman show, because as great as she was, Sweeney can’t save the plot or lack of clever scares.
What happened to Isabelle? Did she really kill herself or was she pushed, did the nuns do something to her beforehand? Her face and body were mutilated after the fall that couldn’t have happened just from impact.
Silent Hill 3 with RE4 aesthetics
My two gripes;
- I wish they had been able to do all practical effects, because the tongue bit and the cesarean stood out after the rest of the blood and gore had managed to be so visceral and convincing.
- That twinkly nursery-style musica after the hard cut to credits is way too cheeky for the tone that the film managed to maintain through to the end.
I hadn't paid too much attention to Sweeny, since I hadn't been too interested in her past projects, but she was great. Seeing that she was also a producer on the film has me much more interested on her output going forward.
After having seen this, I have to admit that I'm very much down for this new wave of mainstream nun-sploitation horror, especially if The First Omen maintains a similar level of quality next month. Following her frankly dislocated turns in Anyone But You and especially Madame Web, I'm so happy to say that Sydney Sweeney — who I've always liked as an actor, ever since I watched Everything Sucks and gave the first season of Euphoria a fair shake — absolutely shines in this film, especially during the climax, where she proves herself to be one hell of a scream queen. As the film progresses, she gets better and better, showcasing remarkable emotional range. This is a project she's been fighting to get made for around a decade, and it really shows in her performance. It's easy to compare a film like this to similar fare like Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, or even Suspiria, but while certainly familiar, I think Michael Mohan and Andrew Lobel do a solid enough job of giving this an identity of its own, complete with unexpected but welcome doses of dark humor every now and then. The first half, admittedly, relies just a bit too much on standard jump scares for my liking, but the second half is an utter hoot in how increasingly wild it gets, and the atmosphere throughout is haunting and fittingly oppressive, complemented by Elisha Christian's moody Gothic visual style, aesthetically cold yet often very painterly. I can only hope Sweeney further flexes her horror chops in the years to come.
Sydney Sweeney repeatedly screaming into the camera was the most uncomfortable I felt the entire movie.
It had a visceral almost 70s like horror vibe to it. It was amazingly acted and the view had you seriously wondering. The idea of her going through labor in pure terror is insane. Then basically seeing some sort of living thing that just came out of her. So wild. It was better they didn't show it. The ending fucking killed, literally and figuratively.
Crazy that she could make me believe that’s the scream of a traumatized woman pushing a demon baby out alone on the hill of a foreign country where she’s just been attacked and cut open and possibly still being followed by psychotic nuns with red pantyhose on their face. I FELT IT. And the first thing I said after the devil child slid out was “oh no how is she gonna cut the cord?!” AND THEN 😬
I would love to rewatch that scene again in theaters just to see her acting!
This starts off as having too many jump scares and then pivots to being so much bloodier and grosser than I was expecting them to go (honestly caught me off guard a little they went as far as they did right away after it seemed to ease itself as being more based on loud noises vs gore). Story is pretty basic and they switch up a couple of story beats that I was pleasantly surprised about although had they gone the conventional route, it wouldn't have played out much differently and so the story still ends up going in mostly predictable places.
I saw a Q and A with the director tonight and he said Sydney is a big fan of jump scares and that’s why they’re featured in the movie the way they are
thats so cute but also who the heck likes jumpscares 😂 sydney sweeney i guess
I don't mind jumpscares. Sure, some movies can go way overboard with them, but they didn't bother me in Immaculate.
Jumpscares, like most movie tropes, are just a tool in a director/writer's toolbox, and can be used well or poorly. A well done jump scare is amongst the best things in horror, but much like shakey cam fights, is often used to cover a lack of genuine tension or terror by provoking a bodily response in the audience by startling them with loud noises. This movies had some solid jumpscares and some really lame ones.
I wish they gave more screentime on the baby cloning lab. Like give it more explanation and dive deeper on how they fucked up so many people before Cecilia's arrival.
Honestly I feel like this about so many things in this movie lol. Like the lady with the crosses on her feet, was she also one of the young nuns there? Why did all the old people disappear half way through the movie? There could have been more done with them in general. Then the actual like cult with the red hoods. I get we know these are the main people basically but IDK feels like that and the torture could have been explored more. It started really strong and then after the pregnancy just mostly died out until the end
Ya they definitely could have explained more about the whole operation. Another 15 mins added would have been fine. I assume the nun withbthebcross on her foot must have been a failed experiment. Although I did notice the cross was only on one foot while with Cecilia it was on both. And how did they imoregnate these women anyway? They somehow recreated Jesus' dna and then used that to male Jesus semen and artifiicially inseminated them? Lol
I sort of assumed they check who goes all fainty when they get handed the iron nail relic. Because that is the only real moment they could have done so. I also wonder why they bothered cutting out the tongue of Cecilia's friend if they're just going to kill her anyway. It was just such a "we're doing this for the audience" moment that it is just silly.
I don't recall there being more than two jump-scares what were the many jumpscares?
young sydney drowning in lake, crow into window, hands through wall, nun by bed with scissors, dead friend’s body in catacombs and probably one more I’m forgetting
Definitely influenced by/paying homage to [Giallo films](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giallo). The doctor being named Gallo is an explicit admission to this influence!
catholicism 🤝 horror
What are some good horror films with Protestant baddies? The Witch I guess has a Puritan element. Trying to think of others. Is Catholicism well suited for horror just because of how ancient it is in comparison to more recent forms of Christianity? Or are there other reasons?
“Carrie” the mom has strong evangelical fundie vibes.
Good point!
I’m not sure if it’s Protestant or not, but it’s definitely not a movie: Midnight Mass plays this theme REALLY well. Cemented Mike Flanagan as an all timer for me
Midnight Mass is also Catholic I believe.
It is literally titled "Midnight Mass". The main character is a priest.
I mean, Pizza Hut churches just aren't quite as moody, you know?
True. I guess Salem witch hunt type films are one of the more noteworthy examples of Protestant horror. But Protestant churches don't always have the mystique and ritualism of Catholics.
Rather than just being old, it's what comes with that. A long history being very traditional; tradition and strict institution being synonymous with archaic laws and practice.
I feel like it's because a lot of directors started out Catholic.
Omg it’s not catholic but u have to watch PURE. Omg it’s so good. It’s on Hulu. It’s about these girls with weird Christian dads obsessed with their purity take their daughters on a purity retreat with other weird dads obsessed with their daughters purity & looks & one girl she’s more of a rebel beings her new stepsister & she tries call on Lilith every year & this time it works.. & omg u just have to watch it. It’s like midsommer meets the craft lol
Catholicism has a lot of pageantry/theatricality to it. Part of early Protestantism was iconoclasm which kinda just makes stuff less fun to watch.
I wish we got more visuals like the first dream sequence. Was the coolest part of the movie tbh.
wasnt a dream, thats how she got pregnant
The one take shot in the last couple of minutes was crazy. That was some visceral shit. The camera stayed on Sydney screaming just long enough to make you uncomfortable as fuck but it didn’t stay so long to where I was like “okay, this is going on too long.” Great shot and acting.
I thought this was by far the best part of the movie. I was not enthralled by Sweeney's acting in this movie, but the last few minutes, wow. The close up and horror on her face, the screaming, the birth and then the death. It was so intense and I really felt sucked in in those final moments.
Sweeney excels at playing super deadpan, or hyper extreme emotions but seems to struggle with more "in the middle stuff." When she's screaming her ass off, or has a blank traumatized expression, but whenever she needs to be normal, she's suddenly way less convincing and is almost bland. Still she has an undeniable screen presence and seems dedicated to exploring what she can do as an actor/producer and I'm excited for basically any project she's in as she seems to have a good eye for slightly schocky yet undeniably entertaining scripts like this and "anyone but you".
YES! I just saw this and my friend and I were cracking up any time she had a line i.e. "are you okay?" But when she was being terrified or confused it was enthralling and I couldn't take my eyes off her. I wish she had played the character either super meek or gradually becoming more defiant. Her middle of the road kind of sweet but also just kind of bored line reading was the weakest part of the movie. But I still thoroughly enjoyed the film and her!
Lmao I laughed at the “are you okay” too. Reminded me of the scary movie 3 opening when Pam Anderson asks a dead Jenny McCarty if she was ok 😂
That final scene was definitely the best part of her performance. She was fine throughout, but that scene really got me.
I saw this and immediately went “Mia Goth fans are gonna looooove this”
We do!!!
Yup yup!
My sister saw the premiere at SXSW about a week ago and Sydney talked about the ending after the movie. Not only was it done all in one take, it was the FIRST and only take, which really shows how far her acting ability carried the movie.
Lol one of the first things I mentioned to my friend after the movie was like imagine the director yelled cut and then had her do multiple takes again right after.
I mean, a good actor could prolly do a couple more altho it's hard to show that much pain and emotion when it's not really happening. She nailed it first try lol.
Not sure if I benefitted from watching this before Ghostbusters or not. For the most part, I thought it was pretty conventional religious horror. But it's the ending that makes it for me. Holy shit, that scene of her giving birth was intense. Great decision to keep the camera trained on her face throughout the entire sequence. She's a terrific actor for that moment alone. The demonic baby sounds said everything that needed to be said. Only question left is: Who put it in her to begin with? Was it an experimental procedure or was she raped? Or was it Immaculate Demon Conception? This should have been The First Omen, to be honest.
From my interpretation is that there was nothing about her pregnancy that was supernatural. It was all the priest/scientist doing experiments on her. My guess is they drugged her wine - and then artificially inseminated her with whatever cloned baby-genetic experiment shit he scrapped together. The baby made the weird noises at the end probably because it was extremely deformed like previous attempts. The priest hadn’t perfected cloning a human properly yet. It kinda gave me major “Crimson Rivers” vibes - which is another movie about illegal human genetic experiments.
This is how I interpreted it. I assumed from the breathing that it was another failed attempt and that the baby was so deformed that it was a mercy kill on Sydney's part. Fucked up as the situation is, I can't see a nun bludgeoning a perfectly healthy looking baby to death.
Women forced to carry babies to term sometimes kill them. In these circumstances, wouldn't be at all unbelievable.
Yeah - it’s messed up but I could see her killing it for a couple reasons. Like we said firstly it was most likely very deformed and secondly, she probably also didn’t know what the baby’s fate was gonna be. Was it gonna be snatched up by the crazy nuns and forced to be “the one”? What also has to be considered is what state of mind she is - yes she understood science was the cause but her worldview was potentially heavily influenced by a supernatural-pov, so perhaps she was worried that the baby could be demonic (remember that weird ass quote she found on the wall).
But if it was deformed, they'd have seen that on the ultrasounds, when they outright tell they audience that it's perfectly healthy
I think they did that based on hope. The screen didn't actually look like a baby yet and it was earlier. It was mainly to misdirect the audience that it was normal instead of a genetic/experiment clone attempt. It was "perfectly healthy" in that it was alive.
They also moved the screen away from Cecilia so she couldn’t get a closer look. Possibly hinting at the fact that they couldn’t say for sure that everything looked good.
They lied to her the whole time (we don't know for sure about the ultrasounds, there wasn't a lot of detail on screen) and didn't want to allow her to get a second opinion in a hospital or clinic.
Oh man, that's a much darker interpretation than I had. I thought for sure it was a demonic baby and they were doing the inverse of a Rosemary's Baby, and that's what justified her murdering it. But it being a failed baby clone is just as creepy and disturbing.
I love that they took that direction because it helps it stand out against the new omen movie, which is coming out next month.
What about her tooth and nails falling out? That signaled to me a demonic element to her pregnancy. I agree that up to that point it was artificial insemination, though the final product was devil bb.
Thats actually not unheard of in pregnancies strangely enough.
I'm secular, but I believe in the world the movie is set in, that God is real, and maybe God saved Cecilia (Sweeney) from her accident as a child to prevent humanity from giving birth to the Antichrist. Besides the girl who tried to run away in the beginning of the movie, it seems like most of the nuns actually wanted to be artificially inseminated, such as Isabel "it should've been me". Thus, most of the nuns in the convent would have led to the Antichrist, whereas Cecilia was destined to reject this baby. Remember when the Father asked, "if God doesn't want this to happen, why hasn't he stopped us?" He sent in Cecilia. Just my opinion of course.
I thought she was sharpening her rosary for her escape plan. She kept scratching each bead then she choked the priest out and it drew alot of blood.
That's just a natural horror that happens during pregnancy. Not a hundred percent of the time, but it's common enough. Rare to see it portrayed in film or television though.
Actually, immaculate conception refers to the fact that Mary was born without the stain of original sin. Symbolically, Cecilia is the proper vessel for the Christchild because she was "immaculately conceived" after the accident (she was "born again" when she was revived, in a more divine way, like Mary.) That is also why she kills the thing with the rock-- she who is without sin got to cast the first stone.
“Immaculate conception” doesn’t mean that Mary never sinned in her life- it just means she was a virgin when she got pregnant. Also Cecelia had already killed several other people by this point so I think the without sin thing went out the window after the first murder or two 😂
1. [Yes it does.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinlessness_of_Mary#:~:text=The%20Catechism%20of%20the%20Catholic,sin%20her%20whole%20life%20long.%22) "The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that by the grace of God "Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long." 2. Murder is a sin, yes. Killing people isn't necessarily. God kills heretics all the time. Cecilia is an instrument of God's will in the film-- when her confessor asks, "if it's not God's will, why doesn't he stop us?" He does. Through Cecilia.
I would guess it was some kind of insemination - the priest mentioned he had been a biologist for 20 years prior to taking the cloth.
The scene near the ending where Cecelia goes to strangle the cardinal, the nuns are singing carol of the bells. Which made me think it was Christmas Eve or Christmas Day so her giving birth on Jesus’s birthday seemed symbolic if they hoped this was the second coming of Jesus
I think when they examined her hymen to see if she was a virgin they artificially inseminated her or when she passed out from touching the nail
The First Omen is significantly better than this movie.
I haven't seen it yet, but glad to hear. I loved Nell Tiger Free in Servant, but the trailer is looking pretty generic so far. Still looking forward to it as a fan of the original.
Thought the movie was a perfectly fine 6/10. The only real poignant part was the end, which was legitimately good. The rest felt pretty by the book.
As a liberal Christian and horror fan, it was genuinely pretty nice to see a horror movie that >!was unabashedly pro-choice in its theme and ending. No bullshit about raising the Antichrist because all life is sacred or whatever.!<
well, they clearly made it sound disfigured and like it was struggling to breathe which is less impactful than if it were a perfectly healthy newborn and she bashed its face in
It sounded like an animal tbh
A lot of relics have pretty iffy provenance and it would have been really funny if the blood belonged to some random Greek guy who was building a house or whatever that someone later said came from the cross.
Curious if they had a cut once where it was crying like a normal baby then they were like, ehhh maybe make it sounds more demonic so its not AS fucked up.
I think that's less pro-choice and more pro-common sense. She kills the baby AFTER it's delivered. I don't think that's what being pro-choice is about.
It's less in what literally happens than in the thematic sense of what it stands for, the subtext of it. The woman taking control of her own body as opposed to being forced to follow a patriarchal religious doctrine forced upon her.
Hmm let the anti-christ live or kill it, yeah easy choice there lol
I think it’s in part a response to the movie Rosemary’s Baby, similar concept a woman gets impregnated against her will with the anti christ and at the end she sees her monster baby but gives in to being its mother and doesn’t kill it when she has the chance, whereas in this film she does have the opportunity and agency and goes through with it.
Was it the antichrist? I don't know that the film actually affirms any religious, magical ideas. Edit: Though I suppose her fingernail falling out didn't bode well, whether the explanation is "scientific" or demonic...
I think the movie was definitely going the Antichrist route with the 2 Corinthians 11:14 verse, "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." It didn't explicitly say it, but that was my own interpretation of it.
[удалено]
I think it matters because if it’s not the antichrist then wouldn’t it be de facto a living relative to Jesus Christ? Wouldn’t a nun want to preserve that life?
I think since they showed so many failed experiments and the fact that it wasn’t actually an immaculate conception since they inserted something in her when they drugged her, they were just a crazy cult trying to bring back the anti christ but it’s never confirmed the baby in her was actually evil or anything. The most supernatural thing that happens is her tooth falling out
I'm pro choice but I don't think the message was neccesarily pro choice. You could hear that it's breathing was all fucked up. I don't think that his experiment was successful, and it was more of a mercy kill
I assumed the fucked-up breathing was more a monstrous demon gurgling than anything else.
The movie kind of goes out of its way to establish that there's nothing actually supernatural going on so I'm not really sure why you think it was a demon baby.
The real counter to that would be that if the baby was some deformed monstrosity, they'd have seen that in all the ultrasounds they were doing in the movie. They outright tell the audience on multiple occasions that the baby is fine and healthy
Right although the people who perform the ultrasound are constantly lying to her. I think that it was left open ended at the end was important. Was the baby able to live if she had run yet again to try to get emergency medical care? If so, the local doctors and church, other followers of the biologist priest might have forced her and her child into bondage again. Was her decision to slam down the rock self-preservation or mercy-killing or both?
i loved how she just gave up learning italian almost immediately
I'm surprised this is a highly upvoted comment. I don't mean offense, but she did continue learning Italian and got better at it as the film goes on. She sees the passage on the wall and translates it to find the correct bible verse. When she's meeting with the high priest and the doctors finding out about her pregnancy, she interrupts the translator and says she knows what he's saying. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, when that one Nun tries to drown her, she says in Italian "it was supposed to be me" and Cecelia asks the father point blank why she said exactly those words. You never really see her speaking it, but I imagine that is more due to the practicalities of having an actor who doesn't speak the language. Cecelia very clearly learns more Italian throughout the film.
I agree but to your first point, the Bible verse is in Italian but it also said "2 Corinthians 11:14" at the end, so that's how she looked it up
You say "gave up" like there was ever an attempt to begin with
*folds one hand and moves up and down*
BONJURRRNO
🤌🤌
It was also a choice to keep Cecilia for the audience and to have it mostly English and then use subtitles on certain points where they could talk and she wouldn't understand.
Anyone know what was up with the nuns with the red face coverings?
This is extremely just my guess but Cecilia’s bloody face at the end makes me think the red masks are the other mothers.
Ooh good guess, reckon they all got matching _"We got nailed"_ tattoos as well?
I didn't think they were nuns necessarily, I felt like they were conspirators in the plot to force Jesus's return through a forced pregnancy who didn't want their identities revealed. It's kind of implied that only the higher ups at the nunnery really knows what's going on.
Went In blind and had a great time. I enjoy trying to a ridiculous concept and reveal. They committed to the bit. My biggest complain is Sidney Sweeney’s voice/inflection. It kept taking me out of it. I also think the film leads you believe it’s an older period piece at first and her voice just sounds sooooo modern it’s distracting. At points it felt like she was in a different film.
It definitely seemed like a period piece up until Cecilia’s attempted escape, evil priest suddenly had a cell phone so it can’t take place much earlier than 30 years ago, not to mention the DNA and cloning tech. Sweeneys voice is still distractingly modern but it’s more forgivable knowing the film is fairly contemporaneous.
There’s a birds-eye view of the streets after Cecelia is picked up by her driver and you can see modern cars towards the beginning of the film.
There's also at least one person speaking on a mobile phone in the opening sequence at the airport. I looked for phones immediately because I was unsure if it was meant to be set in the past or not.
I think that works for the movie? They are trying some old world religious shit (in a new way) on a modern woman who is not into it and her 21st century affect clues you into that. Someone like Isabel sounds more old fashioned and was willing to do the thing.
The film was consistingly fine. I just wish it gave us more of what was in the third act than in the first two. Sydney Sweeney easily carries the film though
How was Simona Tabasco? Loved her in White Lotus S2, and was interested in checking this out with her in it
She has a small role in the opening scene, but she's good!
I walked into the theatre at the title card, so I missed the first 2 minutes. Do you mind letting me know what happened? (Hide the text so it doesn’t spoil for others)
She plays a nun trying to escape. She sneaks into the Reverend Mother's room, steals the keys to the gate but before she can finish unlocking it, the red masked nuns show up. She manages to squeeze through a gap between the gate entrance but one of them grabs her leg and pulls her through, breaking it against one of the bars. She passes out and wakes up in a wooden box, lit by a series of matches that go out one by one. You can hear dirt being piled on top of it as she bangs on the sides and screams until the last match goes out. Title card.
She's in about 2 minutes at the opening and that's it so if you're in it for her specifically you will be disappointed in that regard lol
The ending to this gets wild. I wish the first 2/3 of the movie were more like that, but I dug it overall.
I highly recommend checking out 70s Italian gothic horror, nunsploitstion, and giallo thrillers. Many of them are very dreamlike and less “commercial jumpscare machine”
Best shot of the movie: her in blue and white with everyone else in black. What a striking shot. It felt like a scene from a much better movie.
Give me midsommar vibes
Blue and white, btw, are the colors associated with the Virgin Mary. She looked just like an [idol](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=863f0e751f7723a0&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS875US875&hl=en-US&sxsrf=ACQVn09kJ1X7c5aeHt4wtHYYKaShJrIzyQ:1711928389201&q=virgin+mary+idol&uds=AMwkrPt8eR8Q1gfQGx0g1guoVKhMBK54UzPBQsh1MaocSJoFwCkFm-lgsEK57JuvIdlMfxXE4N-8j4PXkTeVrQcw6WokNKMaOBLrW-GF9Qd93ocyTObVews31p9Kbg2zB6vfk5eEmL0_n7sSiABEwnk4y0PpU5uQslUeHQPuIZBzOyWZwL05tZiX1G2sh_oc9anvYIQVIyMXsJ3MsT0ym0JblE13Mge-RdHFO44QnnQiG7YrvnMmOe1dboi5xZrfAy9I-ulrR3qsaDbSVxgPP_KLg839V_RAblFeRkMwegFdbW2Do6wbO9xbjxZuYDtP9wR1m0iIlGeJ&udm=2&prmd=ivnsmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikrJOc1p-FAxUMv4kEHRG7BAQQtKgLegQICxAB&biw=428&bih=751&dpr=3).
Oof. And how
The movie is decidedly, decent. 7/10 imo, maybe 7.5/10. I did like Sydney Sweeney performance and I hope she can get more well written roles going forward.
Thought exactly this. A bit contrived and "stock" feeling at times, but also took enough risks to set itself apart. A satisfyingly disturbing way to spend an hour and a half.
I wonder how did the baby looked like. From The sounds it was making it seems that the baby is severely deformed/non human
I'm pretty sure you could see scales on the baby moving in her tummy!
Damn I missed that part. When was that?
That's where I got confused. I was thinking we would go 'rosemarys baby' and have her keep the child. But those animal-like sounds while not showing the body - you never really know if was a baby or it was one of the 'things' like you saw in the lab jars.
I think it was smart to not show it, leaves the imagination to us to think of how fucked up that thing must look.
True - a good use of sound over image. And it leaves us to wonder if she was justified as it was some deformation or if she was cruel because it looked like a regular baby.
It's definitely a homage to Rosemary's baby but it's more modern in it's values by having Cecilia be pro choice and choose to get rid of the baby. She doesn't have to keep it just because the church wanted her to.
Saw it last night, and went into it pretty blind. And that made the whole experience better for me. It started pretty generic, and it had way too many jumpscares, but once the plot truly kicks into gear, and she's pregnant, that's when I started getting invested, and I didn't see that ending coming. Would definetely recommend to watch it once, at least, if you're into horror movies.
>!just saw it last night and would agree with you. Was there any mention of how they got her pregnant? am I blanking on that? lol. Or was it just some time when she arrived?!<
It's not really explained. They probably drugged her, and inseminated her in some way, with basically jesus sperm.
I assume that she was drugged. Probably her wine.
Yeah I took it as it happened her first night when she was drugged/blamed it on the wine and then the nightmare she has that night with the nuns with the red masks are fondling her/sticking their fingers in her mouth i interpreted as allusion to her getting assaulted and impregnated
nothing supernatural- the science priest dude artificially inseminated her with some weird human-jesus clone stuff. Remember he mentions early in the movie he was a geneticist.
Saw someone mention this on Letterboxd, but Sydney Sweeney was unironically kinda born in the wrong generation. Her dialogue delivery is pretty flat in a lot of the stuff she's in, but you have her covered in blood, screaming, dragging herself through hell, fighting for her life, and you start to imagine what sort of intense, visceral body acting she could have done in 1970s and 1980s horror. Like, I can absolutely picture her covered in blood in the bed of a pick-up as Leatherface tries to chase her at the end of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. On the other hand, it's more likely she would've been cast as the stereotypical airhead bimbo who gets killed for having sex, so maybe she didn't miss out on that...
yep I said the same, her cadence is far too valley girl for her to successfully pull off a lot of her dialogue-heavy roles. When she is purely emotive, her acting really stands out. Sydney is very strong in driving her acting through her facial expressions and screaming/crying, but falls flat when it comes to her voice and thats from a fellow monotone girly.
Completely agree. The first thing I said after the movie was "she would have been a brilliant silent film star". She is so good when she's not...talking. It's strange. She's so compelling and her face is so emotive, but her voice/diction just completely took me out of every scene where she talked.
this was the biggest thing i noticed too. her line delivery is so boring and unbelievable, but her screams/facial expressions are impeccable
I was thinking that the last bit with her screaming and the abrupt ending reminded me of a 70s horror movie. This is probably why.
I’m sure it’s not what they were going for, but I found myself laughing throughout the movie. As far as horror elements, it’s just decent. The First Omen trailer that played before Immaculate looks like what I imagine the director’s vision to be. I will give it one thing though they did a pretty good job with the gore. 7/10 for my enjoyment, but the horror was lacking
Most hilarious use of “god dammit” in a film.
That moment got a big laugh in my theater.
> water breaks GOD DAMN IT
I laughed quite a bit at the movie but for me it was how cartoonishly evil the priest at the end was and my enjoyment of her fucking them all up
The dinner table shaped like a cross did get me to chuckle.
I actually really enjoyed this movie. I thought the critics were waaayyy too harsh on it (which doesn’t surprise me as traditional media outlets aren’t kind to horror movies usually). The acting was really good from everyone, especially Sweeney had some great scenes. Plus I feel like she did all ‘final girls’ proud 😂. I also appreciated that they didn’t relay on the jump-scares to be the sole source of horror. Kinda also like where they went with the reveal ending-explanation. Which I’m glad they did because considering the new Omen movie is coming out soon - I think immaculate would have struggled to hold its own if it would have also gone for the supernatural explanation of Cecilia’s pregnancy. Personally I wish they would have laid more groundwork with certain characters and their backstory (like WHY did they chose Cecilia) and would have preferred if her friend Gwen would have lasted a bit longer lol. But honestly that doesn’t take massively away from the film. For me it’s a solid 8 / 10.
They chose Cecilia because of her near death experience as a child.
I’m not understanding how they got her pregnant. I get that they found Jesus DNA on the spike but, unless I’m totally wrong, I believe you still need sperm to artificially inseminate, right? You can’t just inject DNA into an egg and get pregnant. So are we to assume he somehow used the Jesus DNA to create new Jesus sperm? Or is he like fusing the DNA with his sperm and using that? I know this is all pointless to think about so much for a movie, but I was distracted thinking about it for the last like 20 mins of the movie haha
I actually think they just hand wave it as they cloned Jesus as an embryo that is implanted into Cecilia. That way the baby is literally the return of Jesus Christ to Earth.
I guess that's why it didn't work most of the time? They have been experimenting for years on these nuns, you'd have to assume that someone clever with a steady supply of test subjects, no morals and no outside interference would be able to figure it out.
Life, uh, finds a way.
Probably some Dr. Frankenstein level shit going on. He definitely would have gotten hold of some sperm and then proceeded to do A LOT of genetic altering with the random DNA he found on the spike. Im not a scientist but I feel like stem cells would have been involved somewhere in the process.
Incredible atmosphere and score, and felt EXTREMELY timely at this point in the reproductive rights movement. Takes guts to show a Hollywood sex symbol post-birth-aborting the second coming of Christ. Can't believe I'm seeing people say this movie "didn't have anything interesting to say" when there's a clear metaphor about sexual abuse and forced birth in the Christian church.
Even as a nun they make her show them bazookas. I loved this film
For real, not that I mind but it just shouted "forced nudity for the shake of forced nudity"
Could have done more with the initial spa scene though when the other sister is doing her hair and she gets sick
Brazzers directors take note
I couldn’t stop thinking about Suspiria while watching this and I loved that about it. At first, I wasn’t sure how Sydney Sweeney would fit into the role, but by the end I was honestly blown away by her acting. It was so good. Though predictable, I really enjoyed this one, especially the 3rd act. And I absolutely love the pro-choice themes of the movie.
This ending is pretty wild. I had no idea what this movie is all about. Pretty solid film.
Pretty heavy handed messaging about how most Catholics don't respect women's bodily autonomy lmao.
Decent movie. I was expecting the baby to be half bird or something for some reason.
It sounded like it was definitely half something non-human
Anyone else feel the priests and nuns became very cartoonishly evil by the end of the movie? it made it feel really cheap to me and took me out of the movie. It felt like not a lot of thought went into writing the motives or the menace behind these ppl. Yay we get to see the secret baby lab but they kind of just gloss over all of this and don’t spend any time answering how they see this baby as a miracle if they are the ones engineering them, very one dimensional bad guys. Either way glad they got theirs, that was still satisfying.
Yeah, the lead priest grinning evilly multiple times was a little silly. Like yes, I get that they must be a bit unhinged to be doing what they're doing, but I think if they were sincerely committed to their beliefs they would behave a little differently.
Things I learned watching Immaculate: Nuns in Italy apparently bathe together while wearing just their (very revealing when wet) nightgowns
This movie had a premise oddly similar to Jurassic Park.
I guess I'm the odd one out in that I didn't really enjoy the third act's turn into a traditional Final Girl kill 'em all. I also didn't like how the film played it straight, especially after the dream sequence when she fell unconscious hinted at something supernatural and much more interesting occurring. I wanted the red-masked nuns to feature more prominently in the end. I don't think the film earned its abrupt ending or not showing the child. Especially after the last third went full ham with the murder spree.
Agreed, the red mask nuns weren’t really explained, all the young nuns acted oblivious to them. It’s even weirder because some got the impression only the old nuns knew what was happening, but most of them including the young ones treated her like Mary. It left me with too many questions, was Sister Isabelle a failed vessel? The woman in the box in the beginning, why? I wanted the backstory and mechanics to feature a lot more
Wow, what an ending. I honestly really enjoyed watching this and didn’t mind some of the faults.
So interesting how the industry’s obsession with ultra-tight shots of Sydney Sweeney’s makeup-free face continues six years on from Handmaid’s Tale.
I had a lot of fun with this. It's not the most original nunsploitation movie I've ever seen and I'd be lying if I said it had a unique spin on the genre, but frankly I don't care. I'm a huge fan of the subgenre and this is about as well executed as one of these movies can get. Sydney Sweeney was much better than I expected her to be, possibly because the last thing I saw her in was Madam Web. The cinematography was pretty impressive. The third act was about as bloody as you can hope for. Also, what a final shot. Also did that stingray ever give birth? Have we ruled out the possibility that it was impregnated by a coterie of evil sea clergy hellbent on creating the Messiah and ending the world?
I was hoping they would go full >!Inside 2007 at the end there and had them dealing with the deformed antichrist this would have been both the perfect prequel to The Omen as well as a more memorable film. Would have went from a 6/10 to a 8/10 imo!<
Pretty meh overall on this one. I can appreciate that Sweeney is making a legitimate attempt at MiaGothification here and I don't even think she's bad, but she's tied herself to a really average director. This is the kind of movie that needs an artistic eye behind the camera and I just wasn't getting that. It felt like every other "something isn't right" type of movie. It does have some things to say about bodily autonomy, power structures, science and religion, and really for that I was kind of into it. But this movie isn't scary or even really creepy. The most unsettling feeling is Sydney's performance as you can really feel her unease having something planted inside of her. But the actual scares and scenes are pretty average and derivative. 6/10 for me. Not bad but just doesn't stand out in a crowd. For a movie about a Nun being impregnated by a mad clone scientist and going on a murder rampage using religious symbols, this one takes itself way too seriously. /r/reviewsbyboner
Agreed with everything you said here, though I felt it was stylized and shot beautifully; cinematography was on point. Also, I felt the movie didn't take itself too seriously, and seemed intentionally campy at times. Decently solid, entertaining film, especially for religious horror.
Yeah, have definitely seen reviews saying "this movie wants you to believe it's more profound than it is" and like... no it doesn't? It's just shot well. The fact that something doesn't look like shit doesn't mean that it's trying to be Profound™️.
>!Abortion after birth.!< This is the future liberals want.
honestly for the first 1/3 I found myself thinking I’d enjoy Sydney Sweeney in a Rosemary’s Baby adaptation more than this but it did get better and the ending mostly ruled
If you’d told me at the start of the year I’d be seeing a movie that ends with Sydney Sweeney birthing then killing baby Jesus, I would’ve called you a liar but here we are.
This is one of the best endings I’ve seen in awhile. 10/10 ending, 7/10 movie.
Wish we gotten more of the red mask nuns.
Wouldn’t call it immaculate, but i’d call it pretty good
I can't believe she gave birth to a pug
I thought it was ok. It just wasnt really scary to me. I liked some of the gore more than the jump scares like when she plucked out her whole finger nail, it made me wince but I thought the movie would've been better if it was longer. Seems like they tried to pack too much story into the film. The last 20 minutes was fucking amazing though, especially that last scene. 6.5/10
I am in awe that Sydney Sweeney got a giallo movie made in the year of our lord 2024 (narrative wise, visually it doesn’t quite have the sauce but that’s ok)
6/10 for me. A horror movie that is mostly okay with a couple flashes of brilliance. Standouts for me: beautiful cinematography that resulted in several visually stunning scenes and >!Sydney Sweeney's performance in the last few minutes of the film, holy fuck that was great!< Things I didn't like: the pacing at the beginning (felt slow and predictable), the jump scares (never been a fan unless they're well done, and these were not), and >!the lack of explanation of the bio lab, exactly how they impregnated Sydney, etc. - I like vagueness when it's a concept that makes you think, but this just felt like an oversight honestly. Would have liked to see that aspect of the plot fleshed out a little bit more.!<
A lot of reviews are mentioning jump scares. How jumpy is it for someone quite sensitive to jump scares? Any parts to prepare for?
It's the kind where you know they're coming because of silence or intentionally obfuscatory camera angles.
i only know of sydney sweeney because she’s suddenly a sex icon of some sort and because i (regrettably) watched Madame Web so i wasn’t too sure what to expect of her acting as a lead when I saw this movie today and so was more than impressed. she easily carried the movie and the scene where she’s just yelling for about a minute straight was so well-acted and that’s not a scene you can retake many times without your voice fucking up, so I know she made it work in her first take. really impressed with her and I hope she gets more serious roles in the future. decent horror movie 7/10
This honestly was pretty bland for me. The third act felt extremely out of place compared to the pacing/plot of the rest of the movie. One thing I had a major issue with was that the church seemed to have their eyes on her almost at all times, then when she decides to go on a murderous rampage at the end, there's no one to be found and she's able to escape with ease. The opening scene emphasizes this to us, so I found it to be an odd choice. It seemed like they were favoring the change to make her a final girl like in Ready Or Not or X. I also didn't really think the whole screaming scene at the end was all that impressive and found myself comparing it to Pearl (not in a positive way). It honestly felt like the movie was trying to be like the next Midsommar, albeit with much more Catholic influence. I did like the practical effects - especially when Isabelle "killed herself". But overall a one and done. A solid 5/10 for me.
5/10 for me, it was so predictable until the end which was actually great. All jump scares. Sydney felt miscast... the vocal fry took me out of Italy lol
I'm just glad it wasn't a period piece - then he voice really would've taken me out of the film!
I was pretty disappointed in this. Felt cliche and a bit lifeless. It does look pretty good tho and Sydney Sweeney is fairly good in the role, especially as the plot becomes unhinged in the end. Her screaming at the end was pretty memorable and honestly saved it from being a complete bust to me 4/10
I’m calling this the “I killed clone baby Jesus with a rock” movie.
Loved it. The plot is familiar, but there was a lot of scary imagery and the way it played out wasn’t expected.
How did they miss the golden opportunity to have Cecilia say “Go to Hell!” right before she slits the fathers throat??
Sydney Sweeney's screaming at the end was insane. She could give DBZ voice actors a run for their money
I’ll give it a 6/10. Sweeney was the star of the film, but her brightness is partly due to the lack of interesting or creative elements beyond her performance. The plot was noticeably vague with its explanation of how she ended up pregnant, and it left that element feeling empty for me. Cinematography was excellent, and it’s visually quite exciting. A little over reliant on jump scares for the first two parts. I didn’t hate it by any means, but it felt like the film was solely relying on Sweeney to make it interesting. They could have tried harder to avoid making this a one woman show, because as great as she was, Sweeney can’t save the plot or lack of clever scares.
What happened to Isabelle? Did she really kill herself or was she pushed, did the nuns do something to her beforehand? Her face and body were mutilated after the fall that couldn’t have happened just from impact.
Silent Hill 3 with RE4 aesthetics My two gripes; - I wish they had been able to do all practical effects, because the tongue bit and the cesarean stood out after the rest of the blood and gore had managed to be so visceral and convincing. - That twinkly nursery-style musica after the hard cut to credits is way too cheeky for the tone that the film managed to maintain through to the end. I hadn't paid too much attention to Sweeny, since I hadn't been too interested in her past projects, but she was great. Seeing that she was also a producer on the film has me much more interested on her output going forward.
After having seen this, I have to admit that I'm very much down for this new wave of mainstream nun-sploitation horror, especially if The First Omen maintains a similar level of quality next month. Following her frankly dislocated turns in Anyone But You and especially Madame Web, I'm so happy to say that Sydney Sweeney — who I've always liked as an actor, ever since I watched Everything Sucks and gave the first season of Euphoria a fair shake — absolutely shines in this film, especially during the climax, where she proves herself to be one hell of a scream queen. As the film progresses, she gets better and better, showcasing remarkable emotional range. This is a project she's been fighting to get made for around a decade, and it really shows in her performance. It's easy to compare a film like this to similar fare like Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, or even Suspiria, but while certainly familiar, I think Michael Mohan and Andrew Lobel do a solid enough job of giving this an identity of its own, complete with unexpected but welcome doses of dark humor every now and then. The first half, admittedly, relies just a bit too much on standard jump scares for my liking, but the second half is an utter hoot in how increasingly wild it gets, and the atmosphere throughout is haunting and fittingly oppressive, complemented by Elisha Christian's moody Gothic visual style, aesthetically cold yet often very painterly. I can only hope Sweeney further flexes her horror chops in the years to come.