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It’s rare to see a film that feels less influenced by other, better films and more like a direct clone of one. Even in a genre like horror, where subcategories of films like slashers and creature features frequently imitate or reference each other, making something that isn’t somehow distinct is a challenge. (Even Jason, Michael, and Freddy have always felt like their own villains, even though each of their franchises has borrowed from each other over the years.)
But Immaculatethe new horror film starring Sydney Sweeney that premiered on March 12 at the SXSW Film Festival, never manages to outrun or scare his thematic doppelgänger. Viewers will instantly recognize the similarities with the nun movies, considering both that franchise and Immaculate They are about young nuns living in a European convent who begin to experience dark forces living within the walls of their holy home. It’s not impossible that two strikingly different nun films could be shot side by side. But given that the stale rhythms and absurd twists of this new movie It is very reminiscent of the successful franchise that preceded it, Immaculate ends up feeling like one of those cheap knockoffs of popular movies that are buried in streaming services, not like a horror movie starring one of Hollywood’s most popular stars.
The nun 3…er, sorry, I mean Benedetta 2: The She-Quel…or, my bad, Immaculate is, at the very least, notable as a display of Sweeney’s indisputable talents. There’s a reason the movie follows her so closely; she is the most compelling presence on screen at any given moment. Sweeney plays Cecelia, a young woman who travels to Italy to enter a convent after being called to take her vows by a handsome and charismatic priest (Álvaro Morte). The immigration officials comment in Italian on Cecelia’s appearance and her youth, covertly suggesting to each other that her religious chastity is a “waste.”
From these opening moments, the film displays its themes in big neon lights. Body autonomy! Sexual violence! Using religion to justify nefarious misdeeds! It’s all irritatingly conspicuous enough to provoke remorse for the apparent death of subtlety, especially when Immaculate it so happily draws references from classic, slick Italian horror like 1989’s Church or the original 1977 sigh. One look at Cecelia’s journey through the Italian countryside, and it’s impossible not to be reminded of the similar trip Jessica Harper’s Suzy Banion made to the dance academy in Dario Argento’s latest film; It doesn’t help that Will Bates’ score for Immaculate remember Goblin’s famous Moog synthesizer music to sighany.
Immaculate is not so much the sum of this vast library of references as a Frankensteinized monstrosity, stitched together with little grace or insight. When Cecilia arrives at the convent, her sisters receive her coldly. This jealousy seems strange, especially considering that Catholicism purports to be about accepting your pious brethren. That peculiarity is also what makes the secrets that Immaculate Thin cases as easy to determine as looking at plot points through the transparent grate in a priest’s confessional. Once Cecelia, who is still a virgin when she arrives, becomes pregnant after her first night in her new surroundings, no divine intervention is needed to discover what is happening with this miraculous conception.
Writer Andrew Lobel and director Michael Mohan could have pulled off this ruse (or at least made the lead-up to the film’s bloody climax entertaining) if they’d known how to establish a different atmosphere. Neither Mohan nor Lobel know how to build tension and horrible suspense, much less release it to create a fluid rhythm of ebb and flow. Instead, the scares land with a thud, thrown in as if they were scripted at the last second when Lobel realized it. Immaculate It could be a horror movie and not just a religious thriller. If the film was confident enough to be the latter, it could have its own true and real identity. But Lobel abandons the horror element almost entirely in the film’s final half-hour, a baffling decision considering the film’s first 60 minutes are spent piling on cheap, predictable jump scares. While narrative deviation saves Immaculate From being a complete waste of time, the film fails to achieve its final twist, if you can call it that.
When Claudette Godfrey, programmer for the SXSW film and television festival, told audiences at the world premiere that “you don’t even know what’s about to happen,” it almost sounded like a challenge. How much could Mohan and Lobel throw at viewers? Would that be legitimately scary? If you see windows, mirrors, and dark rooms and don’t realize you’re about to get a cheap shock, maybe. But for those who have been familiar with the horror genre, Immaculate It will not offer the excitement that its premise promises. The jumps are effective, of course, and work very well with a theatrical audience. But does the trauma Cecelia faces affect your skin? Will you remember it long after the credits roll, as one does after seeing something conceptually similar for the first time? The rosemary baby? The chances of this happening are about the same as a legitimate immaculate conception: slim to none.
However, it’s not for lack of trying on Sweeney’s part. His Cecelia has everything it takes, and Sweeney uses his expressive eyes and her evocative features to turn her character into a grumpy, scared horror show. His work continues Immaculate interesting, even when nothing remotely intriguing is happening around him. Since Sweeney rescued the film and joined it not only as a lead actor but also a very active producer, that’s not so surprising. But it also offers enough heart to keep the project from seeming soulless. There’s a palpable passion behind the scenes, and that’s deeply felt in the film’s final 20 minutes, which include an extended shot of Sweeney that is the film’s most striking and visceral image. If the rest of the movie had been this disturbing, Immaculate it could have been the gut-wrenching horror it’s supposed to be. But a horror movie can’t depend on one great moment, no matter how committed its brash star is.
Although Immaculate It won’t raise any eyebrows, it should boost Sweeney’s career. She transcends all trite, proving to be the megawatt actress with virtuoso potential that she has already proven herself to be. Without her touch, Immaculate would lose its strongest element, making the film much more convent-ional of what it already is.