20 Best Horror Movie Final Girls of the 2020s (So Far)
9. Sister Cecilia - Immaculate
While the "embattled nun who fights back against a religious conspiracy" archetype has felt a little played out in recent years, Sydney Sweeney breathed unexpected life into Sister Cecilia - the protagonist of her 2024 horror film Immaculate.
Though many chuckled when the confident, outgoing Sweeney was cast in the role of a demure novice, she acquits herself ably here, making Cecilia a sympathetic character who has to deal with the traumatic revelation that somebody has impregnated her against her will.
One could initially picture Cecilia crumbling under the pressure of it all, but over the course of the film she steels her resolve and transforms into a righteously angry agent of vengeance.
This is typified by the unforgettable finale, where Cecilia stages an ultra-violent last stand, culminating in her crushing her own demonic baby to death with a nearby rock, reclaiming her bodily agency in the process.
The image of Sweeney's blood-splattered face is one of the genre's most iconic of recent years, and rightly so.