Immaculate (2024)

Rosemary's Sweeney

Immaculate | Directed by Michael Mohan | Horror | 2024 | 89 minutes

by Aidan Beatty

2024 continues to be Sydney Sweeney’s year. Having three films come out in only two months, her big-screen presence proves to be one to stay. Her latest film, which she not only acts in but also produces, Immaculate (2024), hits theatres this month. I had the lucky chance to see an early screening and will present my honest opinions on the film.

From the cold open, we are brought into the claustrophobic world of the film. Space is utilized very well in conveying its horror. From locking characters in confined spaces, or crammed hallways, this film creates a tense atmosphere. Accompanied by its ruthless sound design, no place ever truly feels safe. There’s always this eerie feeling even when nothing sinister is truly on display. At times, the film can utilize the quiet then loud jump-scare too much, but some scares come from no build up and those are the most effective. There are also some details within the set design that give off an odd vibe, a few of which I was expecting the film to adapt upon, but they don’t. They just lingered in my mind and made the film more creepy when not addressed.

The first time we see Sydney Sweeney as Sister Cecila, we are made aware of her role in this society. We see how she is viewed and perceived. As said in the Bible, women bare the original sin of conception. The film is centered on this idea of life and death and being reborn. Her character is pure and she is tested. We as the audience are also tested with morality. What is right of the wrongness in others? The third act of the film is harrowing and much stronger than its slower first two. The ending lingers on this shot that starts unnerving, but does descend a tad comical. It does prove my theory that Sweeney could become a modern day scream queen. As the film picks up pace, so does she. By the final moment of the film, the audience had such a visceral reaction and one of the audience members even said, “Let me just sit with this for a moment before we leave.” another also said, “She totally girl-bossed that,” which was a response for sure.

A big issue with this film for me is its characters. Most of them are not given enough time to flesh out and we are left with mostly slots and archetypes rather than compelling people. Cecilia [Sweeney] is the only one we truly get to know, as those around her don’t interact much with her and when they do it’s only to talk about herself. Characters attempt to give off this mysterious backstory, but it comes across more as lazy than interesting. They follow structured horror film beats and never give us much to see in them so that when they're gone, we don’t miss them. Or if something happens to them, we aren’t inclined to feel bad, we’re more focused on the effects instead. The effects are entertaining, but do vary from effective and fun to sometimes B-level goofy.

Immaculate does proudly display its influences, but sadly, it reminds me of better films with similar themes and ideas. The likes of Rosemary's Baby (1969) and Killer Nun (1979) come to mind. I feel as though they use their respective themes better as they’re able to center in on them. This film takes too much of its time trying to figure out what it really wants to say that by its improved third act, they’ve left some of its original ideas behind. We are given more questions than answers and normally I enjoy that, but here the questions are more of plot holes rather than intriguing ones. The cold open was great and this lingering force of hooded red figures was tense, but we aren’t fulfilled with connections enough to link them all together.

While not a film I would rewatch, it was still entertaining and provided a few good gore moments that I did see myself enjoying. The music and sound design create a great bit of uneasiness to some scenes and the set design is wonderful. Sydney Sweeney proves herself to be a good candidate for an upcoming scream queen and I want more. The ending leaves you with such an impact that it's hard not to appreciate the film for where it went.