Immaculate

My interest in this movie came from two things. The first was how the movie was reviewing well with horror fans. Anytime a movie connects with the horror community, especially a new movie that isn’t part of some long running franchise, I’m interested. I love new ideas in horror and want them to be successful. The other reason was Sydney Sweeney. She’s the it girl lately, and her fans can’t sing her praises loud enough, and she’s become something of a cultural, even political (albeit reluctantly), icon in short order. I’ve yet to see her in anything, so I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. In both cases, what I discovered was not worthy of the hype. The movie itself has a unique twist, I’ll give it that, and I won’t spoil it. All I’ll say is the nature of this nun’s virgin pregnancy is something I’m surprised hasn’t happened before in a story. The movie has a decent atmosphere and wants that to be the driving force behind the horror. For that, it does a decent job. Lots of shadow, and a welcoming sinisterness hangs over the proceedings. Unfortunately, it’s in service of a screenplay that, at various times, seems to be missing pages. I’m all for movies staying within touching distance of an hour and a half, but not at the expense of compromising the story, and Immaculate feels like there are whole scenes, crucial connective tissue scenes, were ripped out in editing. Characters jump from attitude from fine to suspicious without notice. There’s little build-up with characters, which makes the whole package feel like it’s stuffed 120 minutes of movie into a 90 minute runtime, and yet, contradictorily, underserved. Motivations are mentioned at a passing glance, arcs resemble the topography of a table, and the third act shifts gears into carnage mode out of nowhere, but never feels like it got there naturally. For all its atmosphere, Immaculate feels like it got there in spite of itself. As for Sweeney, I’m sorry, y’all, but I don’t see it. I’m not gonna be full on contrarian and say she’s Neil Breen, but I do not get why she’s treated as the golden goddess of Hollywood. I didn’t see anything special in her performance here. And that’s not to say she’s alone here. Everything about this movie is mid: mid-level budget, mid-level direction, and mid-level acting. Nobody’s unconvincing, but nobody is compelling either. Sweeney’s it-girl factor is not enough to do this movie any special favors. In the end, Immaculate is what it is: a standard early-in-the-year horror movie. Not as dire as most, but certainly nothing that deserves special notice either.