The first movie of 2024 about a nun that goes to Italy and discovers that her new vocation hides a sinister agenda is not “The First Omen” (2024), but the thunder-stealing “Immaculate” (2024). American Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) goes to a gated, countryside convent, Our Lady of Sorrows, that serves elderly nuns. She discovers a mysterious relic hidden in the back of the chapel. Soon thereafter she has unsettling experiences and starts exhibiting unusual symptoms such as getting impregnated without sleeping with a man. Neither Satan nor jackal-like animals bear a whiff of responsibility for this immaculate (get it) conception. Is it a miracle or a man-made conspiracy?
Just like “The First Omen,” Sister Cecilia does not speak Italian and is in a foreign country, which leads to a sense of disorientation and introduces the possibility that nothing unusual is happening, but a loss in translation. Sister Ceceilia seemed like a more credible character because upon landing, she made an inappropriate work bestie, Sister Gwen (Benedetta Porcaroli), and gained a hater—that bitch from work, Sister Isabelle (Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi). A convent is not just a calling, but a job. The events are set in contemporary times so even the nuns allude to inappropriate priests and controversy. The occasional cell phone appears. Sister Cecilia is also from Detroit so while she may be a devout nun who is ready to work hard and appears sweet, she holds the threat of being about that life. When Sister Isabelle challenges the newbie, Sister Isabelle is taken aback when Sister Cecilia holds her ground and exhibits a steady resolve. Also these nuns are disinterested in men whereas the “The First Omen” made being a pretty heterosexual woman who dressed like a floozy once into the gateway drug of becoming the Anti-Christ’s mom thus eliminating the implicit victim blaming of “If you weren’t wearing that, maybe a jackal wouldn’t have raped you.”
Initially Sister Cecilia mournfully accepts a role that she never consented to and does not know how it happened though physical contact with the strange relic and strange visions happen around the same time. Visually director Michael Mohan depicts her as if she is a living statue of Mary, and Sweeney has mastered weeping gracefully with a single tear gliding across her face-Denzel Washington of “Glory” (1989) fame is proud. It is a stunning transformation from buttoned up nun to a pampered, redolent woman with her hair loose around her face. She gradually begins to reflect ambivalent enjoyment in her newfound freedom and physicality until nuns who express their doubts about whether this pregnancy is a miracle start disappearing or meeting untimely ends. Mohan also offers a throwback horror staple equivalent of a wet t-shirt contest as the women take baths in their flimsy, loose-fitting gowns. Exploitive? Absolutely, but it felt reminiscent of Hammer Film Productions.
The setting of “Immaculate” feels pitch perfect. Instead of an orphanage, a retirement community carries the weight of elderly nuns credibly behaving strangely. Are they experiencing the customary mental health challenges which ensue with aging or have some intimate knowledge of what happened to Sister Cecilia? The older ladies come from a time when indoctrination was easier, “Suffering is love.” By the end of the film, Sister Cecilia is done being pious or sad once she pieces together that a conspiracy, not God, knocked her up. In the confessional, a muted yet defiant cardinal dismisses Sister Cecilia’s assertion that she knows God’s will, “Then why hasn’t He stopped us?” And she took that personally.
Unlike “The First Omen,” the message never overwhelms the reason for the season: horror. The horror is rooted in the lack of bodily autonomy for women, the inherent horror and limitations of pregnancy, the internalized misogyny embedded in women who are religious fanatics or male medical practitioners who are supposed to be serving women but supplant their authority.
“The First Omen” dropped the ball when it was time to balance the scales and deliver on the protagonist’s final girl status. The slow burn film erupts into a gonzo, blood-drenched roller coaster ride that may remind horror fans of “Carrie” (1976) and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974). Every kill is related to some Catholic spiritual practice or the victim’s role in Sister Cecilia’s predicament. If there was ever any doubt that Sister Cecilia is done with her mission, she starts cursing along the way. Sweeney snatched the scream queen crown from Mia Goth’s head with a merciless ending.
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The conspirators were trying to bioengineer the Second Coming of Christ! It is a horror movie with a mad scientist sci fi theme! If you hate this story, I can’t make you feel differently, but I loved it. Strictly speaking, it is not an Anti-Christ film! It is the nightmare mash up of science and fanatic religion without ethics. Please note that the conspirators burn Sister Cecilia’s feet with a poker shaped in a cross so that she cannot run away, and the older ladies had the same scars on their feet. “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Game match. This conspiracy has existed for a long time. It is also possible that these elderly nuns have mental disabilities as a long-term effect of the experiment, which may explain why Cecilia had the fortitude to take her final stand before giving birth. I loved that Doctor Gallo (Giampiero Judica) started running away from Sister Cecilia when she went on her revenge rampage: bludgeoning Mother Superior with a huge crucifix, garroting Cardinal Franco Merola (Giorgio Colangeli) and stabbing Father Sal Tedeschi (Alvaro Morte) with the relic, a nail that pierced Christ’s body during the Crucifixion. Please note that she could not seal the deal and kill the priest with an ordinary weapon like a lighter and flammable fluid, though kudos for destroying the lab.
Sister Cecilia said that she got saved for a reason, and she did. She is God’s instrument put on Earth to stop them single handedly and kill the human experiment that the Church wants to masquerade as the authentic coming of Christ. For once, a woman who delivers a demented brainchild baby does not fall in love with it. Cecilia squashes it with a rock! Her bestie encourages an abortion. This child is not the Anti-Christ in the traditional sense of the word. Human experimentation and eugenics are lumped together with religious sentiment that women are simply vessels for giving birth, and it is a much-needed analogy. Treating women like cattle needs “The Island of Doctor Moreau”/Frankenstein treatment.
It was interesting to note that Father Tedeschi put on black gloves to touch the relic, which is a nail that pierced Christ’s body during the Crucifixion. Loved that Sister Cecilia has her own resurrection when she emerges from the catacombs, i.e. underground tombs. She also gets pierced in her side like Jesus, and if Father Tedeschi’s scalpel stab got deep enough, it would be water (amniotic fluid) and blood, which is an allusion to John 19:34. When Jesus rose from the dead, He conquered death and similarly so does Cecilia who crushes the demented baby. This act obviously signifies her break with the Church as she deconstructs her faith in the most literal way possible. Delightful and deliciously subversive ending.