Warning: SPOILERS for Immaculate are about to be in play. If you haven’t read this chapter from the Book of Sydney Sweeney yet, you’ve been warned.
Holy wow! I’d heard stories about the ending to director Michael Mohan’s Immaculate being something else, but after experiencing it myself, I have to agree. The wild as hell ending to Sydney Sweeney’s nunsploitation horror show from the 2024 movie schedule is something you really do need to see to believe.
But even after seeing every gory detail, you’re probably going to want some answers. And thankfully, I can provide those to you, and then some. Consider this feature an Immaculate bible study, where we really dig into what happened, what could come next and whether or not that viral T-shirt worthy reaction to Neon’s latest is truly warranted.
So if you haven’t seen it for yourself, consider this our warning and blessing to read on once you’ve caught up. With that said, it’s time to dive into some literal holy dread as we unpack Immaculate’s final act. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the spoilers.
What Happened In Immaculate's Ending?
After relocating to an Italian convent in the wake of her own parish closing, Sister Cecilia Jones (Sydney Sweeney) becomes the receiver of an immaculate conception. Progressing through her pregnancy with an increasing amount of unease, Immaculate’s young heroine learns the truth about the child she’s carrying and tries to escape. After some unsuccessful attempts, Sister Cecilia finally makes it to the outside, where she gives birth to the unseen child.
This is after an intense moment of extended pain and anguish, as we see Sydney Sweeney soaked in blood, screaming as she delivers her baby through a close-up on her face. Chewing through the baby’s umbilical cord, Immaculate treats us to one shocker of an ending, as we see Cecilia smash the baby with a rock.
Only we still don’t see the baby, but rather watch this event through the perspective of the child itself, with the movie smashing to black as the stone comes down. And if you thought that was wild, wait until you learn how and why this baby came to be in the first place.
What Was The Convent's Ultimate Plan?
I have to give Immaculate writer Andrew Lobel a huge tip of the hat for what he did with this story that, on the surface, feels like it’s been told before. In light of the couple weeks separating the release of Neon’s religious thriller and 20th Century Studios’ The First Omen, I was afraid that the comparisons between the two would turn into a bit of a competition.
As it turns out, this story is a very different case of religious conception, and it’s all thanks to the plot headed up by convent leader Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte). Don’t let his dreamy looks and reverent nature fool you, the former man of science is one of the driving forces behind trying to bring the second coming of Christ into the world, and he’s used his advanced degrees to try and make it happen.
During a scene of exposition after Immaculate sees Sister Cecilia fail to escape on her first attempt to flee the convent, Father Sal reveals that for at least 20 years, he’s been running a lab that’s tried to resurrect Jesus. Through DNA taken from blood on one of the spikes present at the Crucifixion, and a lot of genetic profiling, several failed attempts took place, including one involving Sister Isabelle (Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi), who killed herself after learning that Sister Cecilia’s efforts were more fruitful.
Immaculate's Ending Felt Open And Shut, Until I Read The Director's Pitch For A Sydney Sweeney Sequel
Admittedly, the ending to Immaculate doesn’t outright tease any sort of follow-up. With Cecilia torching the convent’s lab, and her unseen child dead by her own hand, it all feels pretty open and shut. At least, it did until I read director Michael Mohan’s pitch for a sequel that only got my mental wheels spinning even faster.
While there’s a debate as to whether Sydney Sweeney’s holy final girl survives this ordeal or not, I’m ready to squash that ambiguity in favor of Mohan’s concept for Immaculate 2. Speaking with our in-house ReelBlend podcast, Mohan planted the seed for that continuation with the following remarks:
There are two more nails out there. Are there two more labs somewhere in the world, that [Cecilia] needs to go take down?
The first thing that came to mind when I heard those words was Ms. Sweeney storming both of these labs in two long-take sequences that make up the two halves of this potential Immaculate sequel. Basically, if you took The Raid and spliced it with The Omen, you’d have what I’m imagining for what I’d like to call Immaculate 2: The Unholy Trinity.
We can workshop the title later, as it’s unclear if we’ll even see a sequel to Immaculate. However, this pitch does bring me to one final wild twist of my own. And if you know my mind and movie tastes, you probably saw this coming the minute our discussion turned to resurrecting ancient beings through recovered DNA.
Why Immaculate's Third Act Reminded Me Of Jurassic Park
To paraphrase the great Dr. Ian Malcolm, this splinter cell of religious practitioners were so preoccupied with whether they could bring Jesus back, that they never stopped to think about if they should. Immaculate hammered that home pretty hard, and now Sydney Sweeney’s Cecilia is potentially ready to travel to two more sites to teach that very lesson. Which makes me think that this movie shares a lot of DNA with Jurassic Park.
The concept of multiple labs working towards this common goal feels like such a nod to the story of The Lost World: Jurassic Park; right down to Sister Cecilia being the survivor that wants to shut it all down. Also, recovering Jesus’ DNA from the spikes of his crucifixion is straight from the original text, making me think that Michael Crichton renaissance I’ve been hoping for is closer than I think. Perhaps those Raptor Jesus memes from past eras of internet history weren't as far off as they thought.
I’d like to think that this wild recounting and thought process surrounding Immaculate’s ending may have converted some of you to my school of thought. But if you happen to have read through this rundown and haven’t seen the movie yet, you should definitely head to a theater near you and enjoy this holy terror.
For now, here endeth the lesson, and I shall send you out into the world to spread the biblically bonkers gospel of Sister Cecilia and her case of perpetual horror. However, before you depart into the world, don't forget that the world of upcoming horror movies is always just a click away, with The First Omen raising its own hell in the weeks to come.
