Sydney Sweeney's Immaculate Ending Is Horrifying Viewers (For A Good Reason)
Contains spoilers for "Immaculate"
After starring in the massive box office bomb that is "Madame Web," Sydney Sweeney has bounced back in a major way with an excellent horror flick: "Immaculate." The film sees Sweeney play Sister Cecelia, a nun who goes to an Italian convent and miraculously becomes pregnant, seemingly ushering in the second coming of Jesus Christ. The ending has gotten people talking, with @IAmKyndle writing on X (formerly Twitter): "You know, I've seen some really f'd up s*** in my 30 years of life ... but that ending to #IMMACULATE..."
The movie ends with Cecelia escaping the convent and murdering some of her captors along the way. She winds up giving birth to something the audience doesn't see, only hearing strange, almost demonic gurgling sounds. Cecelia then picks up a rock and crushes the newborn entity, which could either be viewed as another Christ or perhaps an Antichrist. It's preceded by Sweeney's character screaming ferociously while covered in blood, so it makes sense it's made an impression on viewers.
Many have taken to social media to discuss the positively bonkers finale, like @neverthetories: "Thinking about the ending of Immaculate and [I don't know] if we've heard a scream that scary in years." Of course, while some enjoy the gruesome "Immaculate" finale, there are also stories of audience members who didn't like it as much, as evidenced by this anecdote from @PiecingPod: "Leave it to my wife to applaud hoot and holler at the ending of ['Immaculate']. (And immediately after some lady started yelling at her husband for making her go to 'that terrible movie')."
Some have compared Immaculate's ending to Rosemary's Baby
What Cecilia gives birth to during the ending of "Immaculate" is open to interpretation, namely whether it's Christ, the Antichrist, or simply a deformed newborn, as viewers saw many of Father Sal Tedeschi's (Álvaro Morte) other failed experiments. Regardless, a discussion on Reddit sees the finale as a response to one of the greatest horror movie endings ever — "Rosemary's Baby."
In that film, Rosemary (Mia Farrow) gives birth to the Antichrist but raises it as her own in the end, giving in to her maternal instincts. Redditor u/kiskafut drew the following parallel: "I think it's in part a response to the movie 'Rosemary's Baby' ... Whereas in ['Immaculate'] she does have the opportunity and agency and goes through with [killing it]." That's assuming Cecilia gives birth to the Antichrist, which is merely one possibility. Even if she gives birth to something else, u/menouthiz feels as though the ending still works in closing out the character's arc, writing, "The message was more like it was forced on her and she doesn't want it. Demon or not is irrelevant. She just wants no part of it."
From its potential sacrilegious content to Sydney Sweeney's performance, there's a lot to digest from the ending of "Immaculate." One thing many can agree on is that Sweeney needs to do more horror movies, as one X user writes, "Sydney has definitely earned the title of a scream queen from one movie alone. I can't wait to see her in more horror." Sweeney may have thrown shade at "Madame Web," but there's nothing to make fun of for "Immaculate." It's solid horror thrills all around.