Immaculate Movie Review - Sydney Sweeney Shines In An Enthralling Religious Thriller

By - Ubong Ekpo

Sydney Sweeney expands her range as she showcases the true horror of being a Virgin Mary 

 I had the pleasure of viewing Immaculate a few nights ago, I was thoroughly impressed with the film overall. Sydney Sweeney gives a breakout performance as nun sister Cecilia. I am not usually a fan of horror films, as I find the writing of films in this genre to be too on the nose and formulaic, but Immaculate was a pleasant surprise. Its one hour, thirty-three minutes runtime could’ve fooled me because I was captivated from the beginning, it felt like it was more of a two-and-a-half-hour film with how much it managed to accomplish. It was much more thought-provoking than I had anticipated and my viewing experience led for the film to resonate with me on a much more analytical, philosophical level.

  Immaculate tells the story of Cecilia, an American nun who decides to join a convent in Italy, which also serves as a hospice-like center to aide ailing Nuns who are about to pass away. While the convent is seemingly innocent at first, it soon takes a darker turn. We eventually discover the convent is a front for the priest, who is a scientist who has been attempting to recreate the immaculate conception, forcing women to be pregnant with a fetus formed from the DNA of Jesus Christ with the nails that crucified him.

    I loved that this film can be seen as a critique of the fanaticism of both religion and science, which are often pitted against each other in the search for the true meaning of the world, yet share numerous commonalities than realized. Often in the real world, the most tragic and violent events stem from a conflict between religions, such as Palestine and Israel. This level of adoration and worship can go beyond normal conventions, to the point where people will blatantly commit sins and excuse it under the guise of being “told” and directed by “ God “ to do so, we see this logic common with suicide bombers. Sweeney’s character, as we find out, was chosen as a guinea pig, to conduct experiments on impregnating her with the new world savior.

  One tactic commonly used to attract and convert new believers, one that was used to manipulate Sweeney’s character, is the weaponization of hope. Due to her surviving a traumatic childhood accident, Cecilia felt her survival was a calling, that she had to have a deeper meaning in life. This internal such for validation is what drove her to become a nun, giving her life to God, as a way to “repay” for saving her life. People will often, rationally or not, devote their lives to God, Christ, Allah, etc, due to what they perceive as miracles occurring in their lives. Even with the complete absence of evidence. In the same vein as religion, in the name of science, we human beings will conduct inhumane experiments, knowing death can be the result, to test out theories. While that is a bit more normalized, we’ve seen countless situations where those in power in Scientific communities take advantage and conduct experiments unauthorized, practically playing God. This can even extend to the power and grace we give to those in professions where people’s lives are at stake for the sake of their jobs, such as doctors and police officers, to the point where they’re even excused for taking a life if it was up to a judgment call, depending on the situation. The film manages to drive that point home, especially once Cecilia realizes she is being used as an experiment under the guise of religion, she constantly remarks how what’s being done to her isn’t “God’s work”. 

 Sydney Sweeney did an amazing job, portraying Cecilia with the truest innocence and pure intentions, then a harrowing scream queen as she attempts to escape the horrors of the convent she finds herself in. In the last twenty minutes of the film, Sweeney carries the film, her character in labor and fighting for her life at the same time. While much attention is paid to Sweeney’s sexual appeal, I find her to be an enduring actress who has much more to offer and can be one of the household-name movie stars of the next generation. Immaculate is a modern horror thriller done the right way, that doesn’t overstay its welcome and understood the exact kind of horror film it wanted to be.