After escaping relatively unscathed from the horror show that wasMadame Web, Sydney Sweeney is going full scream queen this week in an actual horror flick,Immaculate. It’s one of this spring’s two nunsploitation flicks, and it’s beatingThe First Omento theaters by two weeks. Sweeney also producedImmaculate, which casts her in the leading role as Sister Cecilia, a deeply religious young nun who is invited to live at a remote convent in Italy.
Of course,Immaculatewouldn’t be a horror film if Cecilia’s new home was idyllic, and let’s just say that the movie’s name wasn’t randomly chosen. But assuming that you have seenImmaculateand that you enjoyed it, we’ve picked the three horror movies that you should watch next — and none of them areThe Nun.
The Convent (2018)
Thematically.The Coventhas a lot in common withImmaculate, although the films are set in very different timeframes. This story takes place in the 17th century, as a young woman named Persephone (Hannah Arterton) has been accused of witchcraft and condemned to burn at the stake by the Magistrate (Michael Ironside). Persephone’s life is only spared when a nun, Sister Margaret (Katie Sheridan), gives her a chance to serve alongside her in the Sisters of the Eucharist.
Persephone is grateful for the reprieve, but she can’t help noticing that strange things are afoot at the convent. Many of the nuns are stricken by fever, and Sister Margaret doesn’t have much tolerance for anyone who questions her about it. But Persephone is soon convinced something evil lurks in the convent, and she has to find a way to save herself and her new sisters.
WatchThe ConventonPrime Video.
Saint Maud (2019)
The title character ofSaint Maudis no nun, and she certainly isn’t a saint! Katie (as played byThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s Morfydd Clark) was a nurse who did everything that she could to save one of her patients. When she failed, Katie reinvented herself as Maud and became devoutly religious.
That’s why Maud is convinced beyond all reason that it’s her job to save the soul of her new patient, Amanda Köhl (Jennifer Ehle), a terminally ill woman who is both an atheist and a lesbian. Maud can’t wrap her head around either of those things and the harder she pushes Amanda about eternal salvation, the more Amanda pulls away from her. However, Maud simply won’t take no for an answer, and her religious visions suggest that she’s either been touched by the divine or she’s out of her freakin’ mind.
WatchSaint MaudonPrime Video.
Verónica (2017)
There is a nun nicknamed Sister Death (Consuelo Trujillo) inVerónicawho eventually got her own prequel movie. But this film centers on Verónica (Sandra Escacena), a 15-year-old girl living in Spain with her family. Because Verónica desperately misses her recently deceased father, she participates in a séance gone wrong during a solar eclipse.
Sister Death warns Verónica that an evil spirit has attached itself to her, but no matter what Verónica tries, she simply can’t shake its influence. Now, Verónica’s friends are shunning her, her younger siblings are afraid of her, and she may only have days to live if she can’t cast the demon out of her body.
