by Eric Lindbom
THREE SNAKES
IMMACULATE (In Theaters): If many admit that clowns scare them, why do nuns run a close second? Is it their decision to live a cloistered life of sacrifice and destitution that screams repression waiting to leach out? Maybe their habits, those black tunics and white apostolnik scarves, signifying the colors of light and dark, good and evil. Ever since the arrival of demon nun Valak in THE CONJURING II (and her return as THE NUN), habit horror keeps filling box office coffers with IMMACULATE the newest gambit.
Since it’s set in a majestic but creepy nunnery in the Italian countryside, IMMACULATE has a bloody giallo tint and enough gore to quench the thirst of Dario Argento addicts. If it doesn’t cling to our nightmares as incessantly as his original SUSPIRIA, IMMACULATE is a largely effective, well-mounted entry in the convent carnage genre.
When Michigan transplant Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) arrives in Italy, the nubile woman who barely speaks the language causes the Customs officer to sadly snicker to his compatriot that her career choice is ‘a waste.’ She’s devoting her life to God after surviving a near drowning as a child and she views her survival as a miracle. Though she befriends a mouthy young nun, sister Gwen (the feisty Bendetta Porcaroli), who’s joined the convent to escape an abusive relationship, most of the nuns are enigmas in cultish thrall to charismatic, young Father Teschi (Alvaro Morte).
Like Mother Mary before her, Cecilia experiences a virgin pregnancy (as proven by a gynecological examination) and rises to the top of the pecking order over her fellow sisters. Has God, the Devil or someone in-house provided the miracle sperm? So, despite its liturgical trappings, IMMACULATE is more indebted to ROSEMARY’S BABY than THE EXORCIST.
Screenwriter Andrew Lobel tells the story methodically in the first half; he leans on so many faux jump scares early that a friend noted his ankles ached. However, once Cecilia turns from anxious Mom-to-be to Nancy Drew, director Michael Mohan gooses the action with some harrowing scenes of the sisters meting out torturous punishment on any rule violators. Cecilia becomes a prisoner and in the ferocious final reels resorts to spilling some of her captors’ blood.
Sweeney makes a believable screen queen (she can pop her eyes like poached eggs to convey shock and fright). She co-produced IMMACULATE and has collaborated with Mohan previously on the television series EVERYTHING SUCKS and the film THE VOYEURS. IMMACULATE, a classy, lush production, keeps us off balance with florid color and swooshing camera moves from Mohan and cinematographer Elisha Christian.
Viewers’ verdict will fall on their reactions to a climax some will find shocking, others inevitable (like I did) or somewhere betwixt and between.
Eric Lindbom is a hardcore horror buff with a strong stomach, weaned on the Universal classics from the ’30s and ’40s. He’s written film and/or music reviews for City Pages, Twin Cities Reader, LA WEEKLY, Request magazine and Netflix. He co-edits triggerwarningshortfiction.com, a site specializing in horror, fantasy and crime short stories with illustrations by co-editor John Skewes. He lives in Los Angeles.
