Madame Web and Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney reunited with the director of The Voyeurs Michael Mohan for the new horror movie Immaculate, which the MPA has just given an R rating. The movie earned the rating for “strong and bloody violent content, grisly images, nudity, and some language.” Despite the fact that the film takes place in a convent, it’s clear that the sacred setting won’t see the experience pulling its punches, and will likely make for an experience all the more unsettling, much like how The Voyeurs didn’t hold back on provocative themes. Immaculate is set to hit theaters on March 22nd.
The film is described, “Sydney Sweeney (Anyone But You, Euphoria, The White Lotus) stars as Cecilia, an American nun of devout faith, embarking on a new journey in a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside. Cecilia’s warm welcome quickly devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.”
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Also starring in the film are Simona Tabasco, Álvaro Morte, and Bendetta Porcaroli.
While TV series like Euphoria and The White Lotus were arguably Sweeney’s breakout roles, the horror realm is something she already has a long history in, having appeared in projects like Nocturne and Night Teeth. With the actor going on to star in the biopic Reality and the rom-com Anyone But You, she continues to expand her career, and finally ventures into superhero territory with Madame Web.
Clearly the collaboration between Sweeney and Mohan was a fulfilling one for both figures, despite its boundary-pushing content. With that film falling into the realm of erotic thrillers, a largely abandoned genre, the rating of Immaculate teases that the project won’t hold back from mature subject matter. Back in 2021, Mohan reflected on the dwindling state of horror movies embracing adult themes.
“I think that there’s this last genre of erotic thrillers that has somehow mysteriously disappeared since 2006,” Mohan detailed of developing The Voyeurs‘ shocking storyline. “I think the last proper one was maybe Unfaithful, which was just as visceral as ours, and nominated for Oscars, and made a ton of money. It was a total mystery to me why they ceased to exist. No good art comes from a place of fear, and I think me and Sydney and the whole cast were fearless.”
As far as why this genre of erotic thrillers has declined, Mohan theorized, “I think some of these movies haven’t stood the test time. I think, in 2021, if an audience is going to see a scene of intimacy, the way that you can enjoy it is with the knowledge that the performers involved had agency and bullet-proof consent. I think that, in the past 10 years, I think we’ve now been able to solve that with the advent of intimacy coordinators. I think, on this film, what we wanted to do is we didn’t want to just adhere to intimacy standards, we wanted to set a new bar. I don’t know if that explains why [erotic thrillers] don’t exist anymore. I don’t actually know the answer to that question, but I do know that we are actively trying to bring it back for a modern audience.”
Immaculate lands in theaters on March 22nd.
Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!
