Immaculate is a 2024 American horror film directed by Michael Mohan and written by Andrew Lobel. It stars Sydney Sweeney (who also produced), Álvaro Morte, Benedetta Porcaroli, Dora Romano, Giorgio Colangeli, and Simona Tabasco. The plot focuses on a young novice, who is invited to reside at a picturesque Italian convent, but slowly realizes the terrifying secrets it harbors.
Plot[]
Sister Mary sneaks into a superior's bedroom at night and steals a ring of keys to escape through the locked gates of a Roman Catholic convent. Four hooded figures capture and break her leg then knock her unconscious. Mary later wakes up in a coffin and is buried alive.
Young novice Sister Cecilia turned to Christianity at an early age. After surviving a drowning in a frozen lake and being declared dead for seven minutes, Cecilia is convinced God had saved her for a purpose. She receives an invitation from Father Sal Tedeschi to join a convent in Italy that tends to dying nuns. Cecilia takes her final vows to adhere to the evangelical counsels and becomes a nun, being decorated with a rosary.
Cecilia befriends Sister Gwen and is struck by certain oddities, such as an elder nun having cross-shaped scars on the soles of her feet. The convent's chapel houses a Holy Nail relic that crucified Jesus. After having nightmares of hooded figures, Cecilia is shocked to learn that she is pregnant, even though she is a virgin. The convent's inhabitants begin to treat her as the next Virgin Mary, with many proclaiming the child is a "blessing".
Another nun, Sister Isabelle, tries to drown Cecilia out of jealousy and later commits suicide. Cecilia throws up one of her own teeth and her health worsens. Her request to be taken to a proper hospital is denied by Father Tedeschi. Gwen publicly chastises the convent superiors for this abnormality but is then taken away by Father Tedeschi and Deacon Enzo.
Cecilia notices the inscription "2 Corinthians 11:14" behind the Virgin Mary picture in her room, which leads to an ominous phrase in the Bible. Cecilia reads her file and is shocked to find information about her childhood accident. Hearing a woman screaming, she ventures further and is horrified to witness a hooded figure cutting out Gwen's tongue. An elder nun appears and silences Cecilia. She begs to escape, but the elder chastises her, saying that she will never leave the convent.
Cecilia fakes a miscarriage to be taken to the hospital, but the deception is exposed and she is tied up. Tedeschi explains that he was a geneticist before becoming a priest and used DNA samples taken from the Holy Nail to impregnate nuns in the hopes of ushering in a new messiah. Before Cecilia, Tedeschi's numerous attempts failed, often resulting in malformed fetuses. Tedeschi brands a cross into Cecilia's foot, a symbol also on many of the other nuns.
Cecilia makes another attempt to escape. She beats Mother Superior to death using a crucifix, and shortly afterward, her water breaks. She manages to strangle the cardinal with her rosary before dousing Tedeschi's lab in ethanol. Tedeschi arrives and tries to stop her through physical force, but Cecilia narrowly escapes by igniting the ethanol with a lighter.
Tedeschi manages to break out of the laboratory after extinguishing the flames and continues his pursuit against Cecilia, forcing her to flee into the catacombs under the convent. Cecilia finds Gwen's mutilated corpse along with a hole in the catacombs walls. Tedeschi finds her just as she is about to escape and a struggle ensues. Tedeschi tries to cut Cecilia's stomach open, but she stabs him in the throat with the Holy Nail relic, which she had previously stolen from the chapel. After exiting the catacombs, Cecilia agonizingly gives birth and bites through the umbilical cord herself. She is horrified by the sight of the baby, which is heard making strange, animalistic noises. Cecilia stumbles away to grab and lift a nearby rock, which she uses to crush it to death.
Cast[]
- Sydney Sweeney as Sister Cecilia
- Álvaro Morte as Father Sal Tedeschi
- Dora Romano as Mother Superior
- Benedetta Porcaroli as Sister Gwen
- Giorgio Colangeli as Cardinal Franco Merola
- Simona Tabasco as Sister Mary
- Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi as Sister Isabelle
- Giampiero Judica as Doctor Gallo
- Giuseppe Lo Piccolo as Deacon Enzo