The title of this scary movie refers to the term "immaculate conception", the belief that God preserved the Virgin Mary of original sin when she was conceived. Mark Kermode gave it a positive review including about it going over the top and the ending being unforgettable, so I was definitely up for that. Basically, during the night at a convent in Italy, Sister Mary (Simona Tabasco) sneaks into the bedroom of a superior and steals a bunch of keys from a drawer to escape. She reaches the locked gates of the convent but is captured and knocked unconscious by three hooded figures. She later wakes up in a coffin and is buried alive. Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney, also producing) has received an invitation from Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) to join an exclusive convent in Italy that looks after dying nuns in their last days. Mother Superior (Dora Romano) instructs Sister Isabelle (Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi) to show Cecilia around. Isabelle acts very cold towards Cecilia, who is disturbed by many of the patients. In a private conversation with Father Tedeschi, Cecilia explains that she turned to religion at a young age after nearly drowning in a frozen lake. She was declared medically dead for seven minutes, she was convinced that God saved her for a purpose. Cecilia befriends Sister Gwen (Benedetta Porcaroli), and they often do chores together, including washing and drying clothes. She is also tasked with killing a chicken by chopping its head off, but she refuses. Cecilia attends several church services presided by Cardinal Franco Merola (Giorgio Colangeli), along with the dozens of other nun staff members, and Tedeschi sits beside her to translate the Italian language, which has not fully learned. During her time at the convent, Cecilia is disturbed by certain oddities, including an elderly nun having scars on her feet in the shape of a crucifix. She later sees a nail said to have been taken from the cross on which Jesus was crucified. One day, after being sick and taken to resident Doctor Gallo (Giampiero Judica), Cecilia is shocked to learn that she is pregnant. Tedeschi and the doctor question her about having intercourse, but she insists she has never broken her vows to God, that she is a virgin and has never had relations with a man. Several staff members begin to treat her as the next Virgin Mary, with many proclaiming the child is a "blessing". But some treat her with contempt believing that she has committed sin. One night, while she is in the bath, Sister Isabelle tries to drown Cecilia, jealous of the "miracle", shouting that it "should have been her." During the first trimester, Cecilia experiences bad health, and is shocked to find one of her teeth has fallen out whilst vomiting. She requests to be taken to a hospital and seen by a proper doctor, but Tedeschi will not allow it, saying that hospitals are filled with harmful diseases. One day, while Cecilia is walking through the cloister, Isabelle is seen falling to her death, but it is unclear if she jumped or was pushed; she also notices strange figures wearing red masks and cloaks, during this time, and other moments around the convent. Gwen publicly chastises the convent superiors for turning a blind eye to the death; she is last seen taken away by Father Tedeschi and Deacon Enzo (Giuseppe Lo Piccolo). During the night, concerned for her safety, Cecilia enters the main office and breaks open a drawer containing all the files. Finding her file, she is shocked to find information on the accident in her childhood. She then hears screaming coming from outside and ventures further to find the female voice. Peaking through a wooden door, Cecilia sees Gwen restrained against a wall by a hooded figure, and she is horrified as she witnesses her friend having her tongue cut out. Cecilia steps back in terror and the elderly Sister Francesca (Betty Pedrazzi) appears and silences her. She begs to escape but Francesca chastises her, saying no one ever leaves. During the second trimester, Cecilia is found heavily bleeding and crying for help, and Tedeschi is forced to take her to hospital. Mother Superior sobs that the child may have been lost, but then she finds a dead chicken beheaded beneath Cecilia's bed. She realises Cecilia has faked a miscarriage in an attempt to escape the convent. During the car journey, Cecilia realises she has been rumbled following a phone call, she tries to run before being forcibly brought back by Tedeschi and Enzo. While Cecilia is tied up, Tedeschi reveals that before becoming a priest he was a geneticist and carried out biological experiments. He has been experimenting with DNA samples taken from the crucifixion nail, wanting to resurrect Christ and bring the Second Coming, but it is only twenty years later he has had his success with Cecilia. Cecilia is branded with heated crosses to burn the crucifix onto her feet, a symbol she had seen on many of the other nuns; this also makes it more difficult to walk and attempt another escape. By the third trimester, Cecilia is heavily pregnant and due any day now. She is horrified that the child could save the world or end it as written in the Bible in Revelation. When the opportunity presents itself, Cecilia makes another attempt to escape. She hits Mother Superior over the head with a crucifix and beats her to death. Shortly after, she curses as her water breaks. Next, she strangles the cardinal to death using her rosary (a string of knots or beads). Finally, she hobbles to Tedeschi's laboratory, which contains several failed attempts to create a baby, including deformed infant samples, using the DNA from the nail. She finds a canister of ethanol and douses the underground chamber of demented experiments. Tedeschi arrives and tries to stop her through physical force, but Cecilia narrowly escapes, drops a lighter inside and ignites the ethanol, with the priest trapped inside. Cecilia stands back and gleefully watches Tedeschi presumably burning to death inside, but she is stunned as he has found an extinguisher to put out the flames. She is forced to flee into the catacombs of the convent with Tedeschi in pursuit. She travels through many unending tunnels until she reaches a chamber and hides as Tedeschi calls after her. In this chamber, she is frightened to find Gwen's mutilated corpse, then she walks out to continue looking for a way out. Eventually, Cecilia reaches a hole in the walls of the catacombs. She tries to escape before Tedeschi arrives, with severe facial burns. Pinning her down, Tedeschi attempts to perform an improvised caesarean section, cutting her stomach open to get the baby. But Cecilia manages to stab Tedeschi in the throat with the crucifixion nail, which she had previously stolen, killing him instantly. Cecilia exits the catacombs, finding herself outside some ruins on a countryside hillside. A blood-covered Cecilia screams in both painful agony and trauma of her experiences as she gives birth to the child. After delivering her baby, she bites through the umbilical cord herself. It remains in close-up on her face as she looks down in horror at the sight of the baby, which does not cry, only making unnerving gurgling grunting sounds. She walks away to a nearby crumbling wall and grabs a nearby rock, walking back to the baby and lifting it high above her head, and screaming as she smashes it downwards, and it cuts to black after she has presumably crushed the unseen child to death. Also starring Cristina Chinaglia as Sister Friede, Niccolò Senni as Customs Official, Isabel Desantis as Young Cecilia, Viviane Florentine Nicolai as Sister Sally, and Marisa Regina as Sister Joan. Sydney gives a fantastic leading performance as the devout young woman who becomes pregnant without having sex, it took a long time for her to bring this film to life, which she auditioned for ten years ago(!), Morte is well cast as the priest you slowly realise is a mad scientist with nasty intentions, and there is good support from Romano and others. It should be mentioned that there were two single takes filmed for the powerful ending, it was the first take used, which is all in Sweeney's performance/face, and you must imagine what you don't see, we don't if the child is human or hideous, which makes it all the more memorable. It is the usual kind of setup, an innocent victim going to somewhere seemingly idyllic and slowly uncovering its dark secrets, and an unwanted pregnancy that becomes like something from Rosemary's Baby, and it is suitably chilling and atmospheric, a creepy nun movie that works, a most worthwhile psychological horror. Good!
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