---
title: "Immaculate"
year: 2024
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/immaculate"
fi1m_id: "immaculate"
imdb_id: "tt23137390"
tmdb_id: 1041613
wikidata_id: "Q116980365"
fi1m_score: 64
critics_score: 66
critics_reviews: 21
published: "2026-09-09"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:00.451438+00:00"
region: "PL"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Immaculate (2024)

Directed by Michael Mohan · 1h 29m · Horror, Mystery, Thriller

## Identity

Immaculate

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/immaculate
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** immaculate
- **IMDb ID:** tt23137390
- **TMDB ID:** 1041613
- **Wikidata ID:** Q116980365
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23137390/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1041613, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q116980365

**Fi1m score: 64** · Critics 66 from 21 reviews

*In a sentence:* Candlelit corridors, nuns in red masks, a jump scare on the quarter hour, then Sydney Sweeney screams and the film finally means it

> Michael Mohan’s convent horror is handsomely lit, briskly cut and for most of its 89 minutes the film you expect. Then Sydney Sweeney, who also produces, drags it somewhere nastier and better, and for a quarter of an hour it is worth the wait.

## Synopsis

Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney), an American novice whose parish has closed, arrives at a convent in the Italian countryside where elderly nuns are nursed through their last years. Recruited by Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte), she takes her vows under the Mother Superior (Dora Romano) and Cardinal Franco Merola (Giorgio Colangeli), and finds a friend in the less devout Sister Gwen (Benedetta Porcaroli). The place has its oddities: figures in red masks, locked doors, a sister who takes against her. Cecilia falls ill, is examined by Doctor Gallo (Giampiero Judica) and told she is pregnant. She has never been with a man. The convent calls it a miracle. Directed by Michael Mohan from a screenplay by Andrew Lobel.

## Review

Michael Mohan’s *Immaculate* opens with a nun trying to leave a convent at night, and it does not go well for her. That is the film’s promise: this is a place women do not leave. Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) arrives soon after, a young American whose parish back home has closed, brought to the Italian countryside by Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) to take her vows and help nurse the elderly sisters through their last years. Within half an hour she is pregnant, she has never been with a man, and the convent has decided she is carrying a miracle. Andrew Lobel’s script takes that idea and, for most of 89 minutes, does with it roughly what you would guess.

It looks better than it needs to. Elisha Christian shoots the convent almost entirely by candle and window, amber inside and hard white out in the garden, and holds his shots long enough that we start scanning the background for whatever is going to move. Adam Reamer’s convent is long stone corridors, a chapel, a wing of sick beds and a catacomb underneath, and the film’s best images put a single figure in white at the far end of a dark passage. Francesca Brunori puts the sisters in plain habits and the men who run the place in scarlet, so that when the red masks appear we already know whose side they are on. This is a handsome film, and the handsomeness is the main reason to stay through the middle hour.

The middle hour is the trouble. Mohan’s chosen tool is the jump scare, and he uses it on schedule: a face where none should be, a hand from the dark, each announced by a lurch in Will Bates’s score. Bates has written something interesting underneath, organ and plainsong smeared with electronic noise, but it is asked to do the frightening rather than the film, and by the fourth or fifth lurch we had stopped flinching and started counting. Christian Masini cuts briskly, which keeps the film short and also means no scene is allowed to sit long enough to become dread. Anyone who has seen *Rosemary’s Baby* knows the shape of the story and will be ahead of Cecilia for most of the way.

Sweeney, who also produces and is here making her second film with Mohan, is the reason it works as far as it does. She plays Cecilia’s faith without a wink, a girl who nearly died once as a child and has decided God kept her for something, and she makes the convent’s early kindness feel like weather closing in. Benedetta Porcaroli’s Sister Gwen, who joined to get away from a man and has no patience for the rest of it, supplies the film’s only jokes and its only friend, and every scene is livelier when she is in it. Morte’s Father Tedeschi is gentle and reasonable, which is the correct way to play him. Dora Romano’s Mother Superior and Giorgio Colangeli’s Cardinal are stern and given not much else to do.

Then comes the last act, which we will not describe. What we can say is that a film that had been nudging us for seventy minutes stops nudging and starts hitting, and Sweeney goes with it entirely. We were tense, then appalled, then, along with the rest of the cinema, laughing in the way you do when a film has gone further than you were braced for. Christian holds one shot near the end for what felt like a full minute and will not cut away, and it is the one moment where the camera, the performance and the idea about who owns a woman’s body are all doing the same thing at once. It is a proper ending. It does not make the hour before it any better.

As convent horror goes, this sits above the studio *Nun* films and well below *The Devils*. The Italian horror of the 1970s it keeps borrowing from had colour and cruelty and no interest in explaining itself; *Immaculate* has the colour and, eventually, the cruelty, and it explains everything.

Most critics land about where we do. See it with someone who can take an 18 certificate, ideally in a full cinema, because the last quarter of an hour is built for company. At home it is a well-lit 89 minutes in which not much happens and then a great deal does, which is fine, and not more than fine.

*Fi1m score 64, published 9 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics agree on one thing: Sydney Sweeney. Nearly every review, favourable or not, singles out her committed lead performance as a novice nun, and several say she carries material that would not stand up without her. The other point of agreement is the ending. Even reviewers who find the first half slow, silly or derivative tend to praise the bloody final act, and a few call it the only reason to sit through the rest. Praise also clusters around the design and cinematography, and around a plain message about the church’s control of women’s bodies.

The reservations are about the script: familiar plotting, jump scares in place of dread, thin characters. The spread is wide, from warm approval to outright dismissal. IndieWire calls it awful, Screen Daily finds it bland and predictable, and The Hollywood Reporter thinks not even Sweeney can save it. The harshest notices are mostly festival reviews; the later ones are kinder.

## Straight answers

**Is Immaculate worth watching?**

*Immaculate* is worth watching for horror viewers who will sit through a routine middle hour for a last quarter of an hour that pays off, and we scored it 64. Sydney Sweeney and the candlelit look of the convent carry it, but the jump scares arrive on schedule and anyone who knows [*Rosemary's Baby*](https://film.one/film/rosemarys-baby) will be ahead of the story. See it in a full cinema if you can.

**How long is Immaculate, and what is it rated?**

*Immaculate* runs 1h 29m. It is a horror and mystery film.

**Where can I watch Immaculate in Poland?**

*Immaculate* is available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from zł 9.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Immaculate, and is it suitable for children?**

*Immaculate* carries an 18 certificate in the UK and is not suitable for children or younger teenagers. Most of it is jump scares and unease in dark corridors, but the last act turns far nastier than what comes before, with violence the review calls appalling and a long, unflinching final shot. The squeamish should stay away.

**What should I watch after Immaculate?**

After *Immaculate*, try [*Rosemary's Baby*](https://film.one/film/rosemarys-baby) (1968, Fi1m 92): The pregnant-woman-nobody-believes story this one is retelling, done with patience instead of jump scares. Then [*Saint Maud*](https://film.one/film/saint-maud) (2019, Fi1m 82): A young woman’s faith curdles in a seaside flat; quieter, sadder and more frightening.

### Reviews we read (28)

- **Empire**, Kim Newman (80/100, inferred): The film goes further than typical convent horror by critiquing the church's exploitation of women, with a committed lead performance from Sydney Sweeney that elevates it. It builds to a gruelling and brutally effective climax. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/immaculate/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (80/100, inferred): Mohan’s cheeky, freaky nunsploitation riff is lushly designed and takes the genre seriously with ironic wit, building to a feral climax where Sweeney embodies animal honesty. The swift film drenches every frame in color, light, and shadow while evolving into a taut survival thriller. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-03-20/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney-michael-mohan-nun-horror)
- **Slant Magazine**, Derek Smith (80/100, inferred): The film abandons elevated horror aspirations for brash exploitation in its final act, delivering some of the gnarliest violence in the subgenre. Sydney Sweeney's vibrant, impassioned performance grounds the insanity and transforms the story into one of self-empowerment. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney-michael-mohan/)
- **Sight and Sound** (75/100, inferred): The film is presented as a nasty nunsploitation thriller that reimagines Rosemary’s Baby as a giallo set in a convent. It singles out the sharp political message about female bodily autonomy and the church’s patriarchal control. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/immaculate-rosemarys-baby-reimagined-giallo-convent)
- **The Guardian** (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a fun, nasty throwback to nunsploitation and gialli that comments on female bodily autonomy. Sweeney’s knowing star persona and expressive eyes are singled out for making the material work. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/20/immaculate-sydney-sweeney-review)
- **The AV Club**, Matthew Jackson (B-): The film is uneven and sometimes predictable but works as Catholic horror thanks to its subgenre button-pushing. Sydney Sweeney is fantastic and committed, elevating the material with her fearless performance as the central nun. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/immaculate-movie-review-sydney-sweeney-1851352864)
- **Vulture**, David Edelstein (70/100, inferred): The film is tense and gruesome yet tasteful and elegant, functioning more as an art film than full-on nunsploitation or giallo. Sydney Sweeney delivers a spectacular central performance that engages on an elemental level. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-sydney-sweeneys-immaculate-is-an-art-film-at-heart.html)
- **The i Paper**, Geoffrey Macnab (65/100, inferred): This gory nunsploitation horror is a scary and stomach-churning romp with effective shock tactics and strong sound design, but it lacks human empathy and character depth. Sweeney shines as a resilient heroine who knows how to scream. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney-2965525)
- **Little White Lies**, Hannah Strong (4/3/2): The review finds the film a slightly underwhelming take on the nunsploitation genre with a derivative plot. It singles out Sydney Sweeney’s committed performance and scream as the standout element. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/immaculate)
- **Radio Times**, Patrick Cremona (3/5): This is described as a slight but mostly effective horror that reunites Sweeney with her previous director. It singles out the magnificently deranged climax as the moment that makes the whole film worthwhile despite derivative influences and an underbaked script. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ys5ve9/immaculate/)
- **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (60/100, inferred): The review notes the film’s slow pacing and silliness in the first half but praises the bloody, rage-filled climax and Sweeney’s performance in the finale. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2024/03/21/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeneys-pregnant-nun-horror-takes/)
- **Time Out**, Phil de Semlyen (3/5): The film is called a workmanlike monastery horror that Sydney Sweeney turbocharges with her charismatic performance. It singles out her arc from innocent novice to blood-caked avenger as what makes the watch oddly habit-forming. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/immaculate-2024)
- **Total Film**, Kevin Harley (60/100, inferred): Sydney Sweeney delivers an impressive lead performance in this choppy horror about a pregnant novitiate nun, but the film emphasises thudding shocks over atmospheric mood and stumbles in its payoff. The cast saves it from worse flaws. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/immaculate-review/)
- **IndieWire**, Rafael Motamayor (30/100, inferred): The nun horror movie is awful and fails to deliver on its premise. It is still somehow better than similar entries like The Nun. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney-nun-horror-movie-1234964318/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Brian Tallerico: The film attempts a throwback to Italian horror and commentary on bodily autonomy but lacks visual flair and thematic depth. Sydney Sweeney delivers a committed performance as the lead nun, particularly in the finale, but the surrounding execution feels underambitious and flat. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/immaculate-film-review-2024)
- **Screen Daily**: The review calls the film a bland, unoriginal horror that fails to distinguish itself from other religious horror entries. It singles out the dull, predictable affair built on inconsequential jump scares and a half-baked screenplay. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/immaculate-sxsw-review/5191527.article)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Lovia Gyarkye: The film is cartoonish and fussy, relying on jump scares and an illogical plot that fails to engage. It works better in its B-movie camp moments, but even Sydney Sweeney's performance cannot save the overall effort. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney-1235851555/)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (Critic's Pick): The slickly diverting horror-thriller features a plucky heroine and an irreverent twist, with Sydney Sweeney turning a potentially thin character into a compelling survivor through her sly, full-throttle performance. Director Michael Mohan delivers a scare-fest with enough narrative ambiguity to provoke discussion. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/movies/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney.html)
- **The Times**, Tom Shone (★★★☆☆): The critic sees the premise as promising but faults the director for ogling Sweeney and relying on predictable jump scares and hokey plotting. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/the-best-films-reviewed-this-week-immaculate-and-robot-dreams-vj90cs8xr)
- **Variety**, Stephen Saito: The reteaming of Mohan and Sweeney offers a lurid delight as an enjoyable if uneven horror film with a captivating star turn and a hell of an ending. It evolves into a taut survival thriller in the second half, highlighted by extraordinary long takes and a riveting finale. [Read](https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney-1235940458/)
- **The Wrap**, Chase Hutchinson (85/100, inferred): The critic raves about Sydney Sweeney's performance as the standout, calling it her greatest yet, in a bold, brutal horror film with dynamic scares and strong direction and visuals. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/sydney-sweeney-immaculate-review/)
- **Digital Spy**, Ian Sandwell (4/5): The critic highlights Sweeney's compelling, committed lead performance as the standout in this nunsploitation-tinged religious horror with a shocking final act. While it leans on familiar tropes and jump scares, the film smartly updates the genre with timely themes of bodily autonomy and packs a memorable punch. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a60187062/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney/)
- **Film Stories**, Maria Lattila (80/100, inferred): The critic hails it as the first great horror film of 2024, praising Sweeney's committed and believable performance especially in the bold ending, and the film's entertaining, fun direction with effective jumpscares and gore. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/immaculate-review-the-first-great-horror-film-of-2024/)
- **Polygon**, Austen Goslin (80/100, inferred): The critic highlights the film's committed throwback nunsploitation style with graphic violence and sleaze, beautiful cinematography, and Sydney Sweeney's captivating, unshowy star turn as its strongest elements. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/24099874/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney-nun-movie)
- **Collider**, Matthew Donato (5/10): The critic praises Sydney Sweeney's committed lead performance and the film's striking visuals and sound design but finds the storytelling haphazard and lacking depth or substance beyond its influences. [Read](https://collider.com/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney/)
- **Deadline**, Valerie Complex (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the film struggles with overplayed tropes and lacks genuine horror despite good visuals and an unconventional ending. Praises the cinematography and the ending twist but criticizes narrative and character development. [Read](https://deadline.com/2024/03/immaculate-review-michael-mohan-film-sydney-sweeney-overshadowed-overplayed-tropes-sxsw-1235857426/)
- **/Film**, Witney Seibold (4/10): The critic finds the film dour and humorless, stuck in a frustrating middle ground between arthouse and grindhouse, with poor characterization and dialogue, though it ends strongly with some effective horror violence. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1543313/immaculate-review-sydney-sweeney/)
- **Den of Geek**, David Crow (3 out of 5): The critic views the film as a pointed, unsubtle allegory about patriarchal control over women's bodies in a modern context, praising Sweeney's shift to a gonzo final-girl performance full of fury. Mohan’s direction is often lurid and reliant on jump scares, falling short of psychological depth but delivering a bloody, entertaining third act. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/immaculate-review-holy-hell-sydney-sweeney/)

## Details

- **Director:** Michael Mohan
- **Director:** Michael Mohan
- **Screenplay:** Andrew Lobel
- **Cinematography:** Elisha Christian
- **Editor:** Christian Masini
- **Music:** Will Bates
- **Production design:** Adam Reamer
- **Costume design:** Francesca Brunori
- **Producer:** Sydney Sweeney, David Bernad, Jonathan Davino
- **Cast:** Sydney Sweeney as Sister Cecilia; Álvaro Morte as Father Sal Tedeschi; Simona Tabasco as Sister Mary; Benedetta Porcaroli as Sister Gwen; Giorgio Colangeli as Cardinal Franco Merola; Dora Romano as Mother Superior; Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi as Sister Isabelle; Giampiero Judica as Doctor Gallo
- **Runtime:** 1h 29m
- **Release (Poland):** 26 April 2024
- **Genres:** Horror, Mystery, Thriller
- **Budget:** $9 million
- **Box office:** $35 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11gb7q1tosI

## Where to watch in Poland

- Amazon Prime Video: rent zł 9.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy zł 34.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BR, CA, CL, CO, DK, EC, ES, FI, FR, GB, IN, IT, KR, MX, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, SE, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Rosemary's Baby* (1968), Fi1m 92: The pregnant-woman-nobody-believes story this one is retelling, done with patience instead of jump scares. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/rosemarys-baby.md)
- *The Devils* (1971): Ken Russell’s convent goes properly mad; still the loudest, angriest film about the Church and women.
- *Suspiria* (1977): Argento’s girls’ school in red and blue; the colour and cruelty Mohan is reaching for.
- *Saint Maud* (2019), Fi1m 82: A young woman’s faith curdles in a seaside flat; quieter, sadder and more frightening. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/saint-maud.md)
- *Benedetta* (2021): Verhoeven’s Renaissance nun with visions; cheerfully blasphemous and far more interested in its people.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/immaculate