Immaculate
NEON
Immaculate, directed by Michael Mohan, is produced by and stars Sydney Sweeney as a devout young nun who arrives at an Italian monastery to find out that things are not as quite as clear-cut and holy as she would imagine. Other than that brief synopsis snipper, it is undoubtedly best to go into Immaculate as naive and ignorant as possible for what might be the biggest surprise and most entertaining horror to be released in the last few years.
The first thing to note about Mohan and Sweeney's feature is that, while it is unequivocally a horror, it is not the same entity as a conventional horror piece. What is meant by that is within Horror convention, it is most renowned for one-note jump scares that are effective, granted, but in their very purpose dispel tension and threat immediately and often horribly overused. Any Horror that is unable to carry its weight consistently utilises a said technique to paint over severe cracks in both the technical ability and function of the material at hand. Creative Horror icon James Wan's Insidious and Conjuring series subverted the norm by evolving the jump scare in casual moments of holding and intoxicating the audience with suspense and tension. Done so in the creative technical ability within the edit and camera work slowing down and feeding the atmosphere and reinforcing the suspense, although Blatty's Exorcist: Legion and, of course, Hitchcock's Psycho are more idiosyncratic sequences within the genre and more notable within the canon. More disposable horror goes for the easier albeit tactile elements of the jump scare and outlandish horror, and to get back to the point they are often the two characteristics that showcase – without being condescending – a simplistic or straightforward piece of material.
Immaculate does something quite special and unique here by utilising both horror conventions above but elevating them to be both more effective and horrifying than the one-note, simplistic endeavours they propose. In the context of jump scares, director Michael Mohan and editor Christian Masini craft wonderful moments of suspense by building up a jump scare and instead of utilising loud bangs and terrible effects to showcase something out of the ordinary, instead of hard cutting to the subject or terror, instead slowly pan to the terror or suspense and let it linger for ten or so seconds, just enough to engulf the viewer in the atmosphere and intensity of the scene itself. What this does is build and build upon unnerving the viewer as well as a showcase not only to the audience but to Sweeny's Cecilia the terror that is happening. The audience seeing these moments of terror and unsettling degree of horror reinforces what type of feature this is: a horror film! It is quite silly to suggest so aloud but in truth, Immaculate has the gumption and authenticity to show and prolong the conventional cutaways and the unknown horrors of screams and faces, giving credence and depth to these elements. A secondary character being tortured and the feature cutaway before the implied is even showing? No chance. Immaculate shows the torture and intensity of what it is building towards, what genuine horror awaits the viewer and Cecilia, not the implied tension but boots-on-the-ground horror that is literal and real; it is seen and, most importantly, it is felt. It is a small and probably overlooked degree of filmmaking, yet the creative team here just nails these moments of unnerving terror and fight. Small details of impacting moments of body horror are reinforced and produced ultimately to test for the final reveal but as that is unknown it offers an entertaining procedural to contextual push the audience to the extreme in an authentic build-up approach to its horror. A secondary factor that should not go amiss is the use of gore throughout. It is not for the faint of heart but never oversteps the mark in terms of what is relevant and acceptable to the nature of this story. This goes in tangent with conventions of horror tropes and ghosts etc in the context this is far more a genuine and accurate portrayal of horror that does not jump the shark, and therefore the actions that are taken and provoked here are made all the more frightening and impacting.
That impacting and frightening nature of authenticity and more down-to-earth approach is given even more credence in that the aforementioned conventions are created in tangent with a more character-driven screenplay. This is not a feature that relies on the conventions mentioned above whatsoever but undoubtedly elevates the material when the performances and material provided are as engaging and emotive as they are. This all comes down to two factors: the screenplay and Sydney Sweeney. In the former, the screenplay is weighted to give characters layers of material and engagement with actions that they deal with or are dealt with. Small, intimate moments of emotive substance that make the viewer care and feel warm about said character's impact within the film and role, only for that warmth to be circumvented into the fiery pits of hell and despair once that turn takes place. Granted, it is not anything new but feels far less contrived and inauthentic to horror characters that have come before it. The latter aspect, however, is what makes this beast work in the performance and talent of lead actress Sydney Sweeney, who is nothing short of incredible. Acting as both producer and star, having found this material at the age of just fourteen, Immaculate has been carried by the Anyone But You star for so long, and the results are ever so clear in how Sweeney takes the material as serious and compelling as is. This has been mentioned before by myself in terms of watching the evolution of television stars at a young age remaining with the stagnant material that makes them far too much money, and notoriety for too long, ultimately resulting in being unable to evolve both creatively and within performance; this has happened to those in Friends, Harry Potter and is happening now with Stanger Things. It is slightly different with Eurphora, as many pre-established performers are pulled into this world (like Zendaya and Elrodi) but it isn't any surprise that Alexa Demie and Barbie Ferreira are currently not getting booked as they are not taking risks with Hunter Schafer (which jury is still out with Hunger Games, not a great indication, and Cuckoo not yet released) and now Sweeny who has pushed into the genre market of the rom-com with Anyone But You, drama with the underrated and underseen Reality and now horror with Immaculate. It is a terrific visual genre portfolio that proves not only to any doubters of creatives that she can dabble and touch anything within this medium and can turn it over and out with great charisma and talent. Sweeny here showcases yet another terrific example of her talent, not only in external terror but the more exquisite and understated internal performance she presents here. Throughout, Sweeny nails each narrative and emotive beat presented within Immaculate, which often the camera just lingers on her in moments of visual distress and fear; she utterly commands the screen in these sequences with intensity and prowess. One such – which will soon be infamous – sequence Sweeny dominates is the impacting and utterly frighting final unbroken taken in the climax of the film which needs to be seen to be believed but it is nothing short of brutal yet screen dominating, and nails this with superb range and talent.
All this above and Immaculate only clocks in at a devilishly sweet and sour ninety minutes in length, never overstating or outstaying its welcome for impact. The costume design and iconography are both beautiful and overwhelming, perfectly evoking the same sentiment and tone of the feature itself. It also looks fabulous from the director of photography Elisha Christian's composition and framing of scenes and sequence, which find a great balance of claustrophobia and space occupied, giving a great oxymoronic and indicated relationship of where Cecelia finds herself both physically and psychologically within this compound. One such element, which is the unsung hero that goes under the radar, is the score, which again ranges in momentum and emotive predicament but wonderfully elevates and intensifies moments of fear and despair but is equally as impacting when not utilised on the screen to make for diegetic sound which again is well utilised and understated for fabulous results of atmosphere.
Not expecting anything and being somewhat flawed and severely marked by Immaculate, it has to be said that this Michael Mohan-directed and Sydney Sweeney-starring/produced horror is the biggest surprise feature of the last few years. With the budget as slim as it was and the first box office weekend making all its money back, it could not be a feature that is more worthy of not just critical but commercial success. Proving that less can be more with creativity and talent, but more importantly, affection for the material at hand which has so much passion and enthusiasm behind and in front of the camera. Immaculate might just be a one-off but it cements the fact that anything Sweeny attaches herself to and what Mohan does next will be things to keep an eye out for.
