Sydney Sweeney’s “Immaculate” was released on Friday and the psychological horror movie has certainly gained several reactions that are, as “The Au Pair Nightmare” writer and diretor Joe Russo put it on X (formerly Twitter), “the kind of reaction horror filmmakers dream of.”
Russo (not of the Russo Bros.) had tweeted in response to @aurorafaced, who deleted their entire account after responding to “Immaculate” and their tweet going viral. That user wrote, “Libs saw how the anti-woke crowd embraced Sydney Sweeney as their new darling and right away had to shove her in this blasphemous, Satanic, feminist, pro-abortion, anti-life movie degrading Christians. This movie also debases Mary, mother of Christ. Don’t bother watching.”
The quote has in fact delighted audiences. Neon, the production company that backed the film, nearly immediately tweeted a T-shirt featuring Sweeney’s character and the quote.
The official “Immaculate” account had previously quoted the tweet along with a bloody photo of star and producer of the film Sweeney giving a thumbs up, making it their pinned tweet.
To be clear, beyond the moral criticism of that original tweet, they also were off on the timeline, as journalist Matthew Yglesias noted.
The movie’s official Twitter account also tweeted another reaction that appears to be written by a disgruntled religious filmgoer. The quote from @carrioncauldron reads, “Diabolical, sacrilegious, pure evil, & grossly offensive. It is profane & has a third act that spits in the face of all that is holy. Just… evil.”
One of the divisive issues of the film is that the pregnant nun, played by Sweeney, faces issues around bodily autonomy in a story that explores a potential immaculate pregnancy.
Former screenwriter H. Perry Horton was among those who praised Sweeney’s work in front of and behind the camera — and also quoted @aurorafaced’s scandalized review. He tweeted, “Sydney Sweeney auditioned for this movie in 2014, but it fell through. Two years ago she reached out to the original writer, bought the script, had it reworked and is a producer on the film. She put herself in it, genius, adjust the tin foil, you’re getting the wrong reception.”
In an interview with TheWrap, director Michael Mohan that he changed the movie’s ending from what was scripted 10 years ago. A spoiler alert — this time around, he said, “When I read the script I was just like, ‘She’s got to kill that baby.’ Everyone right now struggles with faith, right? There’s a lot of people [who] are angry out there and I want this film to bottle up that sense of anger and give them that sense of catharsis leaving the theater.”
“There’s something so beautiful to hear people, as she picks up the rock, and they’re going ‘Yes!’” he added. “Everyone’s rooting for Sydney to murder whatever it — whether it’s a baby, whether it’s a genetic abnormality, or whether that baby represents an idea. She’s murdering it in the most brutal way possible.”
Film critic Mike Thorn was among those with only glowing things to say about the movie and Sweeney. He wrote, “Immaculate is one of the best American horror movies to get wide theatrical distribution in a while. It traces a literary Gothic thread from Matthew Lewis to Ira Levin and arrives somewhere in the neighborhood of Verbinski’s Cure for Wellness. Sweeney rules.”
Sweeney’s work in “Immaculate” also received praise from her “Anyone but You” costar Glen Powell, who commented in an Instagram story, “Oh. My. This nun. Is fun.”
