 What is going on guys welcome back to the channel critical overload here So this will be a spoiler-free review for immaculate immaculate is directed by Michael Mohan It is written by Andrew Lobel or Lobel and it is starring Sydney Sweeney David Burner David Burned Jonathan DeVino Teddy schwarzen schwarzen and Michael Heimer Now this film is revolving around Cecilia played by Sydney Sweeney and American None of Devote Faith who embarks on a new journey in a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside Cecilia's warm welcome quickly devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear Her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horror Now immaculate I would have to say is a very visceral Religious horror film that may stumble at times towards its finish line But this film managed to restore my faith in 2024 releases Horror has truly been a disappointment so far this year and I needed this movie to deliver and it did that and then some So this is on the list of W's joining late night with the devil, which is the only W I have on the horror genre this year and Dune which isn't horror, but you get me I don't want to give it too much praise just to avoid over hyping it But hats off to every person who had a hand in making this movie I had a love-hate relationship with this screenplay I want to say our protagonist Cecilia survived a near-death experience Sometime ago and has decided to leave her life in America after this convent recruits her Lobo doesn't really spend too much time exploring Cecilia outside of that But the characters surrounding her are so suss shady or unreliable that it's enough to get you invested in her as a Character the way everyone is so fixated on her makes everything uncomfortable Unsettling and it's just a constant feeling you have while watching Thanks to the way the characters are written granted. They are underutilized There's still something about them that kept the story and the ongoing events very disturbing her decision-making Cecilia that being I do want to say this the decision-making from her throughout the film keeps her likeable as a Protagonist there might be a few dumb decisions here and there But immaculate seem to rely mostly on a character being aware of their surroundings Trusting their instincts and then acting accordingly like the viewers like ourselves watching would that was a breath of fresh air to see Not that you haven't seen smart people in horror films in the past but you know, there's the Cliche around horror films that there's just stupid people in them making dumb decisions And I felt like Cecilia was a very smart Protagonist to follow speaking of characters though most are underutilized and underdeveloped as I was mentioning earlier Which is unfortunate because without the shady antics that characters do and their off-putting fixation on Cecilia None of them would have been remotely interesting What this screenplay excels at is exploring how religion can be exploited or used against us by corrupt individuals and Building intrigue around figuring out what this secret is is being kept from Cecilia or what the secret is being kept from Cecilia However, it didn't dig as deep as it could have when it relates to those themes of exploitation with religion I'll blame the runtime for that one because we could have had another 40 minutes added on to this runtime I appreciate the fact that the conflict in the screenplay isn't being laid out in the most obvious fashion Only for the film to then spend five to ten minutes dumping it all on me as if I'm a blithering idiot It literally has clues that are sprinkled throughout it But not in a spill the beans early when we still have an hour left to go Sort of way the main the way movies like the nun do when the mystery is solved during an opening sequence But now let's wait for everyone else to figure it out too for another hour or so I'm as lost and unsettled as Cecilia is and I'm eager to figure out what's happening Immaculate even lets me interpret certain aspects of the story, which I also love I wasn't being spoon-fed everything The dialogue wasn't unbelievable Every word was fitting for how people likely would talk to one another the scares were Annoying though at times because Immaculate does lean on jump scares more than three times Which is getting on my nerves But then it balances it out with this unsettling imagery and a consistent unease that swells as the film is progressing If Sidney Sweeney wanted to convince us that she is ready to become the next screen queen She didn't have to go this hard y'all. She really didn't the lady is delivering Some of her best work yet in this role Cecilia's disgust pain sorrow everything she's experiencing I was experiencing it as well because of how brilliant Sidney Sweeney was as Cecilia Michael Mohan's direction I would say was phenomenal. I couldn't look away from anything on the screen, especially Sidney Sweeney's performance Most of the performances were superb and make up for how underdevelop every character not named Cecilia is Absolutely fantastic cinematography lots of white shots. They kept me on edge. Thanks to the surroundings being appearing very dreadful One particular shot in a field with Cecilia running made me anxious There was just a lot of stunning camera work in this film. They kept the tension high at all times now that finale And if you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about This is easily my favorite one take shot of the year so far and again if you've seen the movie You know exactly what I'm talking about. It gets very disturbing Sidney Sweeney is putting her all into that sequence I would say it did go on for a little bit too long at points when she is screaming like that And if you know what I'm talking about again, you know what I'm talking about Immaculate I again don't want to over-hype it, but this is a very solid horror movie for the religious horror genre or that subgenre of the horror horror genre It was very good had a lot of good performances Specifically by Sidney Sweeney who's carrying the bulk of this the pacing I didn't take too much issue with granted I do think that the third act kind of was here One second and then gone I would have preferred certain things to have gotten a little bit more fleshed out We allowed certain things to breathe a little bit longer, but for the most part I have To give immaculate a seven out of ten I do think it is better than late night with the devil late night with the devil's issue just comes down to me Not really being able to connect with a lot of the characters unless the movie was dumping things at me Whereas with immaculate, I'm not really being dumped a whole lot I'm just being allowed to experience the film. It's building intrigue around things like certain characters and their motivations Dialogue is dumped to keep you intrigued like one character saying it should have been me And I'm like, what are you talking about? And then I find out what it is later on in the movie of what this person is talking about I loved all of that. They really keep the mystery mysterious Despite the characters can be underdeveloped There's that love-hate relationship that again I have with the screenplay because while it gets so many things not so many but some things wrong It also gets so much right that I love and adore about the screenplay and again, Sydney Sweeney Phenomenal job. This is her best role yet. I would say I'm gonna go out on record and say that Let me know what y'all think about this down the comment section below. Have you seen the immaculate? Did you enjoy it? Did you not enjoy it? Why or why not? Let me know all of that down below if you haven't already, of course Make sure you subscribe turn on post notifications so that you never miss a video in the description I'll have links to all of my social media accounts. I'm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram You can message me there of course to let me know if there any movies news or views Let me to cover in the future and with all that in mind guys. I will see you in the next video