I’ll be honest, when I heard the premise of this film, and watched the trailer, I had certain expectations. A combination of ‘Rosemarys Baby’ and ‘The Exorcist’ was pretty much what was in my head.
It opens with a nasty murder that certainly lingers in your mind before we embark on the story of Cecelia, Sydney Sweeney. Cecelia is a fish out of water, an American nun who had struggled to find her place back home and is now starting a new life in a remote Convent in Italy. This Nunnery is special however, because it houses retired nuns who are now facing either mental or physical health conditions. It is an end of the line place for nuns who are no longer active, for some a hospice, for others a place to hide the broken-minded.

When she gets there, it’s like high school, there are nuns to welcome her, nuns who talk behind her back, nuns who are outright rude to her face, and nuns who smoke in the toilet.
Not being a religious person, I found some of the behaviours to be unexpected, I was surprised to see nuns and priests socialising at a gathering where they talked and drank wine as if guests at a party.
That night, Cecelia stumbles upon a secret place within the nunnery, where secret things happen. Overwhelmed, she passes out and the next day when she awakens she’s unsure of exactly what she witnessed, what she experienced. After this the plot takes several turns that surprised me, and it all led to a truly shocking and pretty great finale.

Directed beautifully by Michael Mohan, this is a handsome and sensual film, with some lovely Italian countryside and that echoey austere nunnery; there are some deeply creepy shots in here.
The acting by the supporting cast is good and no one drops the ball, but this is Sweeney’s show and she acts the ‘hell’ out of it! Her guttural screams and round expressive face are all we need to feel how she does, running about those halls at night in nothing but a cotton nightie and some bravado.
The story itself threatens to collapse under the weight of its pseudoscience and the questionable motivations of its ‘villains’, but in the end that’s not what you’ll remember – it’s that last five/ten minutes that will stun you into incredulous silence.
Ultimately this is a schlocky good time with a 70s sploitation vibe and some seriously impressive all-in acting from Sweeney. The underlying theme of women’s bodies being used without our consent and our bodily autonomy in danger is a timely and important one.
The churches condemnation of this film is the icing on the cake!
7/10