My 2024 SXSW coverage continues with Michael Mohan’s nun-themed horror film: Immaculate. An attempt at “nunsploitation” that never quite reaches the requisite luridness of its subgenre, Sydney Sweeney’s scream queen turn only finds tepid scares and lukewarm thrills. Minor spoilers ahead…

Long-delayed and eagerly anticipated, Paul Verhoeven’s incisive take on “nunsploitation” is finally here. There will be many to point out Benedetta’s racy sex scenes and its high lesbian camp, but the film is so much more than that. A provocative clapback against Puritanism, Catholic hypocrisy, and the shackles we place upon women’s bodies, Benedetta once again proves Verhoeven’s directorial mettle as cinema’s resident satirist. Minor spoilers ahead…