In this episode we review "Immaculate", the new nun-based horror film starring the omnipresent Sydney Sweeney.
The reviewers are:
- Emma Sewell of Emma@The Movies (https://x.com/EmmaAtTheMovies) &
- Scott Forbes from The Forbes Film & TV Review on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/theforbesfilmreview/)
- Rev. Andy Godfrey of Konnect Radio (https://www.konnectradio.com) and Sorted Magazine (https://sortedmag.com).
The video version of this podcast is also available on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/C7_-thtMcCY
AI Generated Show Notes
Summary
In this episode of Flickering Dreams, Scott Forbes and Emma Sewell discuss the horror film Immaculate. Scott was pleasantly surprised by the film, finding it creepy and effective in its scares. He praised Sidney Sweeney's performance and the memorable ending. However, he was confused by the presence of the nuns with red faces and felt they could have been better utilized. Emma, on the other hand, found the film more like a heavy thriller than a horror and was disappointed by the jump scares. She also found the ending ridiculous and couldn't help but laugh. Overall, they gave the film a score of 7 out of 10, making it a marginal hit.
Takeaways
- Immaculate is a horror film that pleasantly surprised Scott Forbes, who found it creepy and effective in its scares.
- Sidney Sweeney delivers a standout performance in the film.
- The ending of Immaculate is memorable, but some viewers may find it ridiculous.
- The presence of the nuns with red faces in the film is creepy, but their role could have been better explained or utilized.
- Emma Sewell felt that Immaculate leaned more towards being a heavy thriller than a horror, and she was disappointed by the jump scares.
Music: Hip Jazz by Bensound.
Any clips used are taken from YouTube trailers or posted clips. Copyright remains with the original owners. As this podcast involves review, criticism and observation on the copyrighted materials, the clips are used under a ‘Fair Use’ policy. If copyright owners object to such use, please email bobthemovieman1@gmail.com and they will be removed.
Scott Forbes (00:01)
Hi guys, and welcome to the latest episode of Flickering Dreams with me, Scott Forbes, and my colleague Emma Sewell. And today we're gonna be speaking to you about Immaculate, which is the new horror film that is hitting our cinema screens, starring Sidney Sweeney as a American nun that has moved across to Italy and joined a convent and...
Wouldn't you know it, there is some spooky things going on within this walls. Here's a clip.
So for me with this one, I didn't have huge expectations. I looked at the trailer and thought this is going to be another run of the mill horror film that probably won't be scary, but might be mildly creepy. But I was pleasantly surprised actually. I really got into this quite early and partly through the music and just the general atmosphere of the location and the performances, I was drawn in and I was...
very keen to know where this was going to go. And boy does this go to some weird places. I thought as you can tell from the title, so obviously no spoilers, our main character, she's a nun, but she becomes pregnant without apparently having any sex. So that is a mystery that the church are trying to solve.
and she doesn't know either why this has happened to her. Now, when she first went in, she's not particularly treated the best by some of the people, some of the other nuns in there. But as soon as she's pregnant and considered like the new Mary, oh, it changes. And she is suddenly faced with some people loving her and some people being very jealous indeed. In terms of the scares, I thought this film was quite effective. It throws in a few jump scares.
Emma Sewell (02:33)
you
Scott Forbes (02:38)
And although I didn't jump, I thought that they were definitely effective in what they were trying to achieve. I think a general audience aren't so used to sort of the horror genre will probably jump at some of them. And the characters, Sydney Sweeney, she has done a lot of movies recently, some of which we've seen, some have been buried on streaming services. But oh.
Wow, this is... Could you say career performance so far? Possibly. At least in movies. Maybe a bit better in TV, but... Yes, it all comes down to... We can't talk about the end, obviously, but...
Emma Sewell (03:26)
Thank you.
Scott Forbes (03:27)
It's just so memorable, that end scene. I was reminded in some ways of Pearl in how the film leaves you. And I won't say more than that. But the one thing that I was a bit sort of confused with was the nuns with the red faces. So I found that their presence was clearly creepy and...
They did their job in terms of setting up the weird sort of paranormal religious experiences. But I wasn't fully sure of exactly how they worked. And I don't know. I felt like they either should have had more to do or we should have just kept them in the dark and just had even more of a mystery about what's happening with our lead character.
And I felt like it was somewhere in the middle where I don't know if I loved the use of them. We have got the men in this film just being suspicious as hell. And are they good? Are they bad? You'll see for yourself.
Emma Sewell (04:44)
you.
Scott Forbes (04:46)
But I have to admit, on the whole, for a film that I didn't expect huge amounts from, I was pleasantly surprised. What did you think Emma?
Emma Sewell (04:55)
Well, I agree with you on some points.
I was very much enjoying it. I thought, you know, the whole, the story in general made sense. I liked the way they took it. You know, there were rivalries and as we saw in that, you know, some quite, the clip, there was quite horrific moments.
However, I feel like I would have enjoyed this a lot more had it been a thriller and not a horror because in the trailer I had watched it, I've seen it couple of times.
And obviously, like, they allude to the jump scares and things, and I was prepared for that. Now, I don't particularly like jump scares. I think it's just cheap ways to scare you. And to be quite honest, my heart can't take it. I've got to that point where I just like to sit back and enjoy films. But I was like, you could absolutely tell when they were coming. And so I was looking away from the screen because I knew what it was going to do. And I was like, I don't...
enjoy watching that. I don't think it really adds anything particularly good, especially when this didn't really feel like what I, apart from the outcome of the film, it didn't really feel like it was a horror up until then. Just like a really heavy thriller. That was the vibe I was getting from it. I think I found that aspect of it a little bit disappointing.
And to be honest, we got to the end and I was just laughing my arse off. I can't even lie. I was sitting there laughing hysterically because it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life. Like, you got all the way up to this point and yes, you kind of knew what was going to happen. You could see it coming. But the reality of what they made it...
I don't think was in keeping with the tone of the rest of the film at all. And I just, just hacked me. I was, I was genuinely sitting there laughing a lot.
Scott Forbes (07:03)
That's interesting, I did not get a laugh in the end.
That says a lot about you, I've got to admit Emma. I don't know who else is going to be laughing at that scene.
Emma Sewell (07:15)
Bye.
I mean, I can't really say a thing because it's just spoilers, isn't it? But it was just ridiculous. And I genuinely feel like if you'd just left it off, it would have ended perfectly well.
Scott Forbes (07:26)
Yeah.
Emma Sewell (07:35)
I keep hearing the name Sydney Sweeney, but I just genuinely, my friend had to tell me, oh yeah, she was in Madame Web and I was like, what? Genuinely wouldn't have been able to tell you any other film she was in.
Scott Forbes (07:51)
Anyone but you. Andy's favourite.
Emma Sewell (07:54)
Ah, well, still haven't seen it.
As i say i think for me potentially just a slight divergence into thriller would have been better but it was very watchable.
Scott Forbes (08:06)
Fair enough. So through the magic of editing, we've also got a clip from Andy Godfrey who's giving his opinion on this film as well.
Emma Sewell (08:07)
I'm going to go ahead and close the video.
Wow, really called you out there.
Scott Forbes (09:57)
How did he do that? Okay, cool. Clearly. Yeah, he makes a good point actually there with the Rosemary's Baby common mixed with Omen. I didn't mention it when I spoke a bit earlier, but I was getting a bit of Benedetta as well, filmed from a couple of years ago. But yeah, that's an interesting score of eight out of 10. I'm guessing you're gonna be a little bit lower than that, Emma.
Emma Sewell (09:58)
I don't... Divine intervention.
So another six from me on this one.
Scott Forbes (10:26)
Okay, well, thankfully the maths are going to be okay because I'm giving this one a seven, which is going to make the Flickering Dreams score of seven point zero, which makes it a marginal hit.
Emma Sewell (10:29)
Nice.
Scott Forbes (10:41)
Okay guys, well I hope you enjoyed this latest episode. If you'd like some more please like, share, subscribe, tell your friends, show everyone that you know, tell us, shout about us and we'll see you next time. Bye guys.