Immaculate, the 2024 religious horror starring Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney, who also produced the film, becomes all the more disturbing by the end. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who mostly praised Sweeney’s turn as Sister Cecilia. At the end of Immaculate, Sister Cecilia spends the rest of her miracle pregnancy resentful of Father Tedeschi and fearful that she will die once the baby is born due to the sinister events she'd seen at the convent — such as witnessing the other nuns cutting out Gwen’s tongue after she spoke out against the convent and the secrets they’ve been keeping.

Before Sister Cecilia’s due date, she fakes a miscarriage using a dead chicken in a bid to be taken to a real hospital. Father Tedeschi finds out and catches Sister Cecilia before she can make an escape. He explained to her that he used his background in genetics to create another Jesus using bits of DNA found on a piece of the crucifix. Sister Cecilia is horrified and burns down his lab. Her water breaks and she flees to the catacombs to escape, eventually killing Father Tadeschi and giving birth to something not-entirely-human in the final scene of Immaculate.

Does Sister Cecilia Kill The Newborn In Immaculate's Ending?

The Creature She Gave Birth To Probably Wasn't Human

After escaping at the end of Immaculate, Sister Cecilia gives birth alone after escaping the catacombs beneath the convent and gives birth. After cutting the umbilical cord with her own teeth, Sister Cecilia grabs a big rock and brings it down on the newborn. However, Immaculate cuts to black, leaving the audience to wonder whether or not she killed the infant.

Considering that Sister Cecilia became pregnant without her consent, and the horrors she went through while pregnant and not being allowed to leave, it’s highly likely she did drop the rock on the newborn, especially since it’s unclear what exactly she had given birth to. Given the strange noises that her offspring was making, it's implied that whatever she gave birth to wasn't human, and so she killed it.

With Father Tedeschi dead and his lab destroyed, Sister Cecilia could ensure that what happened to her would never happen to anyone else again. Killing the infant would doubly destroy any remaining evidence of what Father Tedeschi and the convent were up to. Sister Cecilia never wanted the child; she had been losing teeth during her pregnancy, and her pregnancy was the result of being experimented on. With all this in mind, it makes sense that Sister Cecilia would go through with killing the newborn, especially if there was a chance it might’ve brought the end of the world.

What Sister Cecilia Actually Gives Birth To At The End Of Immaculate

The Truth About Cecilia's Baby Is Left Purposefully Ambiguous

While the question at the end of Immaculate might revolve around whether Sister Cecilia killed the newborn, the clues dropped throughout the horror film also suggest that there is something not right with the pregnancy or the infant at all. After the baby is born, the rugged breathing hints that it’s not a regular baby at all. The cries of a newborn are not heard, and its breathing sounds more like that of a creature than a human. Immaculate never shows what the newborn actually looks like, which leads to much speculation around the nature of the entire pregnancy.

Is the baby actually the second coming of Christ? It’s possible, but unlikely. Considering the genetic experimentation Father Tedeschi was doing for two decades, it’s possible this child was corrupted or mutated somehow long before it saw the light of day. After all, it wasn’t born under normal circumstances — it was forced into existence by Father Tedeschi. The second coming of Jesus Christ was not prophesied in such a way, with one man pulling the strings to bring it to fruition. And so Sister Cecilia had likely given birth to something potentially evil given the situation surrounding the pregnancy.

Every Death In Immaculate's Ending Explained

Cecilia Exacts Revenge On Many Of The Convent

Immaculate had its fair share of deaths throughout, though the majority came during the movie's climax. While in labor, Sister Cecilia kills the Mother Superior with a crucifix after the latter attacks her. Cecilia later burns Father Tedeschi after setting his lab on fire, and then stabs him in the neck with a scalpel after he tries to cut her open. Gwen is killed by the nuns after they cut off her tongue, though her death happens offscreen and Sister Cecilia finds her body in the catacombs at the end of Immaculate.

And, of course, who could forget that Sister Cecilia also uses a rock to end the newborn’s life in the last seconds of Immaculate, ending the film with what is sure to be its most talked-about scene for years to come. Beyond the deaths that happen at the end, Immaculate includes the deaths of Sister Mary (played by White Lotus season 2’s Simona Tabasco), who is killed at the start of the film.

Gwen was silenced for her rebellious streak, but cutting off her tongue wasn't enough. Father Tedeschi had to make sure she wouldn't also help Sister Cecilia.

It seems Sister Mary becomes aware of what’s going on at the convent and attempts to run away to save herself before anything happens, but she’s caught and buried alive by some of the other nuns. Her death sets the tone of the film. There's also Sister Isabella, who jumps off the roof after trying to kill Sister Cecilia during her bath. Sister Isabella was angry because she believed she should’ve been the one who was pregnant in the nun-focused horror movie.

Why Father Tedeschi Wanted To Create A New Jesus

His Twisted Experiments Were To Usher In The Second Coming

In the buildup to the Immaculate ending it was explained exactly why Cecilia had been impregnated — the convent wanted to artificially usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ. Father Tedeschi made it clear that he wanted to create a new Jesus Christ by using the remaining DNA from the nail found on a piece of the crucifix.

While Immaculate doesn’t delve too deep into Father Tedeschi’s reasons, he felt it was his purpose in life to create a new Christ. Just as Sister Cecilia felt her life’s purpose was to become a nun after God saved her from being dead for seven minutes from a fall through ice, Father Tedeschi realized he could use his science background to create a new Jesus.

What The Nuns' Red Masks Mean In Immaculate

The Thematic Meaning Of The Masks In Immaculate Is Still Unclear

Throughout Immaculate, Sister Cecilia runs into nuns wearing red masks, one of which she finds lying at the altar of Christ. The reason for the red masks is never thoroughly explained, but it’s possible the red masks represent the blood of Christ. The nuns who wear the red masks are likely Father Tedeschi’s followers, adhering to certain rituals.

They probably work alongside him to ensure the genetic experiments are as successful as possible, and that the other nuns don’t ask too many questions or try to escape. It's certain that there's a deeper thematic meaning behind the red masks in Immaculate, though the movie itself doesn't elaborate on what this is.

The Real Meaning Of Immaculate's Ending

Immaculate's Core Message Is One Of Bodily Autonomy

Immaculate’s ending sees Sister Cecilia taking matters into her own hands as she finally regains control over her own body and life. The horror film’s ending alludes to bodily autonomy and a woman’s reproductive rights. Sister Cecilia is treated as an afterthought until she becomes pregnant, in which Father Tedeschi and the other nuns only care for the wellbeing of the fetus and not at all for her. Issues of consent are also present, with the ending underscoring the horrors of pregnancy and Sister Cecilia’s ability to choose what she wants to do after being forced through an unwanted pregnancy.

How The Immaculate Ending Was Received

The Immaculate ending received a mixed, but mostly positive, response from critics, as did the wider movie itself. It's of little surprise that the most divisive element was the ambiguity. Not showing exactly what Cecilia had given birth to in Immaculate, and the movie refusing to confirm if she had indeed killed it, was seen by some as incredibly clever filmmaking, while others felt the movie would have done better with a more conclusive finale.

Sydney Sweeney explained in an interview with EW that there were actually several different shots filmed for the Immaculate ending, and that the ambiguous finale was chosen as both she and director Michael Mohan felt it was the best choice for the plot:

"We shot it multiple ways. What you see is actually the first take that we shot, and then we did two more that covered our bases in case we wanted to show different angles, but our instinct was always to never show it, and so we went with our first take"

However, while the questions left by the end of Immaculate were seen by a few critics and viewers as being too vague (especially given the intense build-up to them throughout the rest of the 2024 horror movie), other aspects of the climax were notably celebrated. Sweeney's performance during the final scene has been highlighted in many reviews, as have several key moments, such as when Cecilia bites through her own umbilical cord.

Overall, Sweeney and Mohan took a thought-out approach to the ending of Immaculate, and it does seem to have paid off, since the majority of critical responses have been positive. It's an ending that was semi-improvised too, as Sweeney also revealed, which explains why it took the somewhat-unconventional approach of never revealing exactly what the result of the pregnancy was:

"It was kind of one of those moments where we blocked the camera out and then Mike was like, 'Okay, Syd, what do you think you want to do?' And I was like, 'Let's just go for it and see what happens.' And then that's what happened."

What Sydney Sweeney Said About The Immaculate Ending

The Star Of The Horror Movie Has Revealed Some Intriguing BTS Info

As co-producer and star of the 2024 horror, Sydney Sweeney has answered many questions about the creative process behind Immaculate and its ending. In her EW interview, she also revealed that there was a creature that Cecilia gives birth to, which Sweeney described as "an animatronic thing that was there [on set]," though they decided not to use it in the final cut. Sweeney also explained a great deal about Cecilia's actions towards the end of Immaculate, including pinpointing the moment her character decides to no longer be a victim of the cult.

Sydney Sweeney revealed that Cecilia decided to violently take matters into her own hands at the end of Immaculate during a specific scene. She gains the confidence to fight against her captors when in the confession booth with Cardinal Franco Merola (Giorgio Colangeli). According to Sweeney, this is the most important scene when it comes to Cecilia's rampage during the Immaculate ending:

"When she says, 'This is not God's plan.' And then he leans in and he says, 'If this is not the will of God, then why does God not stop us?' She in that moment realized that she is going to have to stop them herself, and so the only way to stop them and to escape was to murder her way out."

Sydney Sweeney was an incredibly important part when it came to crafting the story and ending of Immaculate, and worked closely with director Michael Mohan when on set. Mohan has also revealed some interesting details about the final scenes of the movie too. Speaking to Collider in March 2024, the Immaculate director explained that while there were shots that included the creature Cecilia gave birth to, he and Sweeney always had the idea that it wouldn't be shown:

"[Not showing Cecilia's baby] was always the intention. After she's basically reborn, where she climbs out of that little tunnel and comes back out to the world, I took it very seriously. We designed a puppet that cost quite a lot of money and made it. I didn't phone it in. We shot something absolutely terrifying, but it was still literal. It suddenly took any meaning out of it and turned this into a creature, a physical creature. Even though it was scary, it was then about that. The larger context was gone."

He then went on to explain the rationale behind the decision. According to Mohan, the baby isn't show at the end of Immaculate because he and Sydney Sweeney didn't want the focus to be on what Cecilia had given birth to. The focus of the 2024 horror movie was always supposed to be on Cecilia and her emotional response to her ordeal, something both Mohan and Sweeney felt showing the baby detracted from:

"Yeah, the creature doesn't matter. It's really just about capturing that pain, anger, relief, disgust, all of those things that Sydney conveys so brilliantly. I've never analyzed it because it just works and, when something works, I don't want to become self-conscious to it."