IMMACULATE - Blessed Be The New Mother?

Movies featuring nuns can be tricky, and usually it involves them being part of something dark more than the religious type of stories. And many would be too sacrilegious with their portrayal but not deeply rooted with the catholic practices and institution. However, when I watched the psychological horror IMMACULATE starring Sydney Sweeney, it had something that brings a thrilling story but not going overboard (except for the gore and violence) because it has a solid plot.

The story is about Sister Cecilla (Sweeney) who traveled to a isolated convent in Italy to complete her vows and provide service to the congregation. However, she observed strange things happening to the convent and its leaders who have a sketchy motive which are still a secret. And with an unexplainable turn of events, she is found out to be pregnant without being with a man, which makes it an "Immaculate Conception."

This made her somewhat similar to the Mother Mary with the same predicament yet still remains a mystery how it happened. From there things go crazy and creepy and she also discovers the secret of the congregation, the people who ran them and the victims that are trapped inside the convent.

Immaculate may not be very mystical in terms of plot but how the story plays out indeed makes it a psychological thriller which I think is scarier that the supernatural nun movies.  Seeing the pain inflicted by so many things in this movie makes you feel it like it really happened in real life. The twisted duality of the characters is somehow foreshadowed, and that doubt will add up to the anxiety when things are eventually revealed.

Being exposed to Catholic rites, institutions, clergy, and people involved in these institutions, I see that they made good research, yet they also created a fictional congregation to make sure no other existing congregations would be linked to the twisted management of this convent. 

Sydney Sweeney shines with her performance here which she shows a spectrum of emotions through the stressful situations she went through with the film. The "professor" from Money Heist Álvaro Morte is someone that I also recognize yet also his persona fit well for the character.

Immaculate stars Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Benedetta Porcaroli, Dora Romano, Giorgio Colangeli, and Simona Tabasco. Now showing in cinemas nationwide.