I have a lot of mixed feelings about 'Immaculate'. It did some stuff I really liked, but then let itself down in other areas. It kept the jump-scares to a minimum, but the ones it did have were pretty easy to spot and ineffectual. It had a lot of gory and hard to watch scenes which were pretty effective and probably when the film was at its strongest. It also contained a fake-out dream sequence which is my most hated horror trope. For everything this film did well it seemed to do something else to offset it.

At first I had trouble buying Sydney Sweeney as a nun. I just couldn't make it work in my head. What I realised as the film went on however, was that her charisma and natural likeability was what was carrying the film. The absolute fundamental key to any horror movie working is that we have to care about the fate of the character/s. And because of her I did.

I liked this film a lot more than I thought I was going after about 15 minutes of the runtime. It's certainly a film that gets better as it goes along. It also does well to not outstay its welcome and keep the runtime to a brisk 89 minutes. I couldn't say this is must-see horror, but I could say it's worthy of giving a chance. 6/10.

For much of its runtime, Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney, treads very familiar religious horror ground, as young nun Sister Cecilia arrives at an Italian convent to take her vows only to find that something about the place isn't quite right. The pace of the film is very deliberate, director Michael Mohan gradually building the creepy atmosphere and delivering the expected jump scares, but it's nothing that we haven't seen before.

However, the pace picks up considerably once it is revealed that Cecilia has somehow fallen pregnant, despite not having had congress with a man, and that her superiors will stop at nothing to ensure that she stays at the convent to see the pregnancy through to full term; the remainder of the film is the opposite side of the coin to Satanic classic Rosemary's Baby and it is a lot of fun. The level of violence increases as the film approaches its tense climax, several acts of extreme nastiness definitely deserving of the 18 rating.

Immaculate ends with a final act of defiance from Cecilia that is both shocking and thought provoking, ensuring that viewers will be thinking about the movie long after they have left the cinema.

Cecilia dies for 7 minutes which leads to her seeking a purpose for her survival, so she makes her vows at a convent in Italy. Of course, old Italian convents are creepy, people are suspicious, and bad dreams suggest worrying stuff is on the way. But when that includes pregnancy despite any, you know, dot dot dot, what will people at the convent think?

This horror movie threatened to go in one direction but went in another, which I quite liked: the early surprise scares proved to be a bit of misdirection. I liked the story.

For most of the film's length, I wondered at the 18 certificate but, by the very end, I got it. The film was very atmospheric, aided by the location. And Cecilia?

This is the third Sydney Sweeney film I've seen in fairly quick succession. I went into the first thing thinking she was a pretty girl capitalising on her boobs. After a romcom, superhero movie, and horror, two of which are self-produced, tell me I was wrong. She's a good actress and has real screen presence. She anchors this film.