Immaculate released in U.S. theaters on March 22, 2024. The film follows an American nun whose life turns into a living nightmare after joining a remote convent in the italian countryside.

This flick is a tale of two halves. The first was a slow exploration of the daily lives of these nuns, while also throwing in a lot of horror clichés and tropes. The opening 30ish minutes really didn’t do a lot for me, as it almost felt like we were building up to nothing. To my surprise, Immaculate completely shifted gears, delivering genuinely tense, scary and shocking moments in the second half.

Once the movie moves away from the unnecessary horror tropes and actually delves more into its central story, it becomes very engaging and tense. This portion of Immaculate is what makes it unique. While other films seem to need a grand, CGI-fest conclusion, this was able to deliver an incredibly satisfying ending, while still remaining grounded. The final few minutes of this flick left me speechless, with an extremely bold choice to close it out.

We need to talk about Sydney Sweeney. None of her previous performances have felt particularly inspired to me, but what she did in Immaculate definitely swayed my opinion. The final scene alone cements her as an actor to watch out for. She delivers an incredible performance here, carrying the film from start to finish.

While the first half of Immaculate fell flat, the second half delivered all of the scares, gore, intensity and anxiety that I had hoped for. The flick is aided by a great performance from Sweeney, probably her best yet. The final sequence may make or break this movie for many, but it worked for me. Immaculate won’t be leaving my mind anytime soon.

Rating: 4 out of 5