Immaculate First Reviews and Reactions: “Sweeney Has Never Been Better” and “Unhinged in All the Right Ways”

Billie Melissa
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Michael Mohan's Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney, debuted last night at SXSW, and the first reactions and reviews are rolling in.

Sweeney stars as Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who travels to the picture-perfect Italian countryside, where she is offered a new role at an illustrious convent. However, it slowly becomes clear to Cecilia that her new home harbors dark and horrifying secrets.

Also a producer on the film, Sweeney reunites with executive producer of Euphoria, Will Greenfield, to bring this religious horror story to life.

First reactions say it "might just be one of the best religious horror films in ages" that is "unhinged in all the right ways".

Reviews, however, are a little less enthusiastic as the film debuts on Rotten Tomatoes with 67%, saying Immaculate suffers from "stale beats and absurd twists" "relying on tawdry visual effects".

Here's a closer look at some of the first reviews out of SXSW.

  • Screen International: By the time the film develops a perceptible pulse, it's nearly over. The final tiny freakout is overly sanitised, relying on tawdry visual effects and isolated shocks of violence to demand an unearned angst on the part of the viewer.

  • The Daily Beast: Given that the stale beats and absurd twists of this new film very much recall the successful franchise preceding it, Immaculate ends up feeling like one of those cheap knockoffs of popular movies that are buried on streaming services.

  • Bloody Disgusting: The film's breakneck plotting, inert jump scare overreliance, and familiar tropes undermine a fierce performance by its lead.

  • Collider: Mohan's direction is confident, the film's visuals emblematic and elegant, yet lasting impressions aren't quite in line with the film's dreadful tone.

  • TheWrap: Giving life to a horror vision that would not have nearly the same power and potency without her at the forefront of it, Sweeney has never been better than she is here. What a darkly beautiful yet brutal, bloody and bold film this is for her to wield.

Immaculate hits theaters on March 22.