For those looking for a horror flick centered around a creepy convent, Immaculate is the perfect selection. Premiering theatrically in the United States on March 22, 2024, this Michael Mohan-directed film follows the story of a young novice, Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney), who embarks on her journey at an Italian convent that cares for dying nuns after a near-death experience in childhood. However, despite the picturesque location and journey to strengthen her faith, she soon learns the terrifying truth about the nunnery.
The film received a positive response, grossing around $35 million at the box office on a $9 million budget. Immaculate earned at 71% on Rotten Tomatoes as well. Like many religious-based horrors, there are several unexplained twists and unexplained forces at play that will leave viewers spooked. However, it is Immaculate’s unsettling ending that will leave you both shaken and wanting more. Let’s dive into the chaos, but be warned major spoilers are ahead.
We Meet the Terrifying Nuns Early
Before we meet Sister Cecilia, we are introduced to Sister Mary (Simona Tabasco). Immediately, it is apparent that she is desperate to be freed from the convent. Mary sneaks into her superior’s bedroom, seeking a set of keys to unlock the gates of the Catholic compound. Mary runs into the night, reaching the gates and trying to open the heavy entrances. As she works frantically to open the gates, four hooded figures, seemingly nuns, appear and walk toward her. It’s evident they are not coming in peace, as Mary is visibly terrified. When she finally escapes just beyond the gates, she is captured by the leg, which is immediately broken. She is then knocked unconscious and wakes up inside a coffin, having been buried alive.
Unfortunately for Cecilia, she comes into the story unaware of the harm done to Mary, though she is met with a fellow young nun, Sister Gwen (Benedetta Procaroli). She finds comfort with Gwen, who smokes cigarettes and is not the conventional holy woman. After this meeting, Cecilia takes her entry vows, with Father Tedeschi translating during the ceremony since she does not speak Italian well. It can quickly be assumed that Cecilia doesn’t completely understand what she is vowing to do. After the ritual, as her fellow nuns enjoy wine and socializing, Cecilia wanders off and discovers the unsettling nature of the institution.
Sister Cecilia is Greeted by the Red-Masked Nuns
Sister Cecilia finds a strange chamber, where she encounters a nun sprawled on the floor before a mysterious alter. While concerned, she checks on the woman, only to find that she is wearing a blood-red mark. Before Cecilia can react, Mother Superior (Dora Romano) appears, ignoring the nun lying on the floor to show Cecilia what makes the chamber so special. It holds one of the nails used to hang Jesus Christ on the cross. She seemingly falls unconscious before ending up in a terrifying vision where she is confessing to a priest, who suddenly vanishes. Cecilia is then grabbed through a wall, where she is then surrounded by several of the red-masked nuns, who repeatedly stabbed the young woman. Cecilia awakes to find that it is all a dream and, ultimately, a foreshadowing of what’s to come.
One night, as Cecilia slept, a sick nun slipped into her bed and cut a lock of hair. She told the startled woman, “All of us adore you” in Italian. After Cecilia helped the elderly woman back to bed, she noticed crosses burned into the soles of her feet. The following day, while recounting the situation to Gwen, Cecilia became ill and threw up. After being hauled into the office of Dr. Gatto (Giampiero Judica), it is determined that she is pregnant despite being a virgin. After a brief interrogation, Cecilia is then celebrated, being praised for carrying the second coming of Christ. Her pregnancy is met with both praise and resentment from the other nuns, with her worst nightmares becoming a reality.
How Does Immaculate End?
As Sister Cecilia gets further along in her pregnancy, things turn deadly when Sister Isabelle attempts to drown the expectant mother. While doing so, the irate woman yells, “You have to try again! It was supposed to be me!” After the other nuns pull Isabelle away, Cecilia is swiftly taken in for another ultrasound. There, she demands to be taken to a traditional hospital, but Father Tedeschi refuses. The next day, Isabelle falls from the convent roof for the other nuns to witness.
This entire ordeal sparks suspicion from Sister Gwen, who urges Cecilia to leave the convent. She then lashes out at leaders on the compound for failing to answer questions about how Cecilia got pregnant shortly after arriving. Tedeschi quickly escorts her away, but the matter does not leave Cecilia’s mind. Later that night, she goes looking for Gwen to discuss her own feelings about the pregnancy, only to find her missing.
While looking for her, she can hear Gwen screaming, only to find her tied up with her tongue cut out of her mouth. She immediately devises a plan to escape the sinister property by slaughtering a chicken and covering herself with blood, making it appear that she could possibly be miscarrying in an effort to be taken to the hospital. Tedeschi finally races her to get medical attention but is called by Mother Superior on the way there. She informs him of Cecilia’s plot, which forces her to jump from his car in a brazen escape. It doesn’t take long for Tedeschi to catch Cecilia and drag her back to the convent. She is then strapped to a wheelchair, with her feet branded with a cross, and Tedeschi’s true intentions are revealed.
In his past life, he was a biologist. For years, he has used the DNA of Jesus Christ from the nail in the chamber to try and impregnate a nun. This was finally achieved with Cecilia. While undergoing another ultrasound, the distraught nun is left alone with Mother Superior, whom she kills with a large metal crucifix. After wobbling into the hall, her water breaks, but that doesn’t stop her from killing Cardinal (Giorgio Colangeli), and trying to destroy Tedeschi’s biology lab for good. She attempts to burn it down with him inside, though he survives, sending her fleeing into an underground catacomb. She nearly escapes out of a tunnel, but it pulled back by a severely burned Tedeschi, who then tries to deliver the baby with a scalpel. Cecilia then stabs him to death before clawing her way out of the catacombs, all while in labor. What emerges is the growling of the creature she births, which she then kills with a large stone, freeing herself for good.
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