Warning: The following contains major spoilers for Immaculate, very clean, very organized And The first omen.
Horror has always been a scary mirror of reality. In his 1981 thesis on this species Dance of deathAuthor Stephen King says: “We make up horror to help us deal with real horror.” Scary movies seem to help us do this since the early days of storytelling. Recent examples include Texas chain saw massacre (1974) is now considered a reaction to the 1973 oil crisis, The dawn of the dead (1978) which represents a shocking indictment of consumerism, and the explosion of the torture porn subgenre in the wake of 9/11. As the United States enters a new phase of fear, two films combine to explore the horrific burden of religious abuse. When reproduction becomes more dangerous, Michael Mohan Immaculate, very clean, very organized and Arcasha Stevenson The first omen Both follow nuns who become pregnant against their will and are forced to carry fetuses in order to save the world.
It is no coincidence that both films were released at a time of heightened threat to reproductive rights. The 2022 Dobbs decision plunged the United States into medical chaos and revoked the right to bodily autonomy for millions of women. A pregnant woman’s access to care now depends on her zip code, and laws regulating routine medical procedures create women’s deserts that threaten the health and safety of all women. The opinions of politicians and lawyers carry more weight than those of doctors, and strangers have the right to challenge a person’s private medical decisions. Regardless of belief or ideology, the truth is that childbirth in the United States is less safe than it was two years ago and that pregnancy looks like a horror movie with each passing day. Both films explore this apocalyptic atmosphere by taking us to convents where women willingly gave their lives to the Lord. But even in this restrictive environment, forced pregnancy is a gross violation and innocent women are treated as mere available wombs.
Although their stories differ greatly, both Immaculate, very clean, very organized And The first omen Start in similar places. Two novices travel to Italian monasteries and prepare to take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. cecilia (Sidney Sweeney) has just moved into a convent that serves as an assisted living facility when she discovers that she is apparently pregnant via the Immaculate Conception. Initially honored as a sacred vessel, she soon became a prisoner on Earth, forced to carry whatever was placed within her womb. Serving as a mirror image of Cecilia, Margaret, Stevenson’s apprentice (Neil Tiger Free) She is still preparing to bind the cloth when a priest approaches her with an ominous warning. When the pieces of this sinister story fall into place, Margaret realizes that she is pregnant with the devil’s child. She soon gives birth to twins. A baby girl of unknown origin and a boy who will be known as Damien. Only interested in her male offspring, the murderous clerics steal the child and place him in the arms of an American ambassador, hoping to spread their dark influence throughout the world.
“The First Omen”
Both films show the trauma of pregnancy and the violent nature of childbirth, but neither story concerns the resulting children. Glancing aside, it’s the stories of the mothers and their experiences that bring the horror. However, the characters they come into contact with only care about the contents of their wombs. When Cecilia is attacked and almost killed by a fellow sister, doctors immediately check her pregnancy status. They are relieved to see that the fetus is okay, but the frightened young woman reminds them that she is not. She asks to be seen by an outside doctor and must fake a life-threatening miscarriage in order to be taken seriously. Margaret experiences similar moments of abandonment after giving birth. A priestess carries her son into a crowd of waiting people, and they will not remember that she is still in the room until she summons the child she has just given birth to. Both films also feature a pregnant woman seeking release through a locked door, which is similar to the experience of being trapped in an unwanted pregnancy.
It is important to note that neither woman gives consent to her terms. We don’t see the moment when Cecilia becomes pregnant, but we eventually learn that a geneticist priest has impregnated her with the ancient DNA of Jesus Christ. Margaret was raised under a specific set of circumstances to create a mother capable of bearing the Antichrist. To achieve this evil goal, her fellow clergy drug her and assault her in a gruesome ritual that has been repeated many times before. Both Cecilia and Margaret had chosen a life of chastity and neither woman showed anything but terror at the painful months of pregnancy to come. Although they willingly devote their lives to God, they are forced to give up their bodies as well, sacrificing their mental and physical health for children they never expected or wanted.
Immaculate, very clean, very organized The book unfolds in three chapters, reflecting the main stages of a typical pregnancy. Sometime during her second trimester, Cecilia noticed she was missing a tooth. Likely a reference to the myths about each child losing one tooth, the horrific moment also reflects a larger reality. The growth and birth of another human being changes the human body forever. In addition to the more well-known symptoms of nausea and postpartum depression, expectant mothers also suffer from gum disease, carpal tunnel syndrome, nosebleeds, and hair loss. It is known that even the size of a woman’s feet changes after giving birth. As her due date approaches, Cecilia watches with fear as her stomach begins to move on its own. While this can be an exciting feeling with a wanted baby, Mohan presents these baby kicks with horror. An alien has taken root inside Cecilia’s stomach. A stranger has taken over her body and she can do nothing but wait for him to appear. It is easy to remember the end of pregnancy – conception and birth – forgetting that a pregnant woman is “with baby” every minute of the 280 days. Mohan shows us the messy details in the middle and reminds us that reproduction is much more than two separate events.
‘Immaculate, very clean, very organized’
Also during the second trimester of pregnancy, Cecilia experiences what appears to be a miscarriage. She wakes up screaming and notices copious blood flowing from between her legs. The frightened mother begs the priest to take her to the hospital and cries because she does not want to die. This terrifying sight will likely shock any woman who has experienced a pregnancy loss. This brutal experience is often characterized by heavy bleeding as the body attempts to expel the non-viable fetus. If emergency care is not followed, the mother can die due to excessive blood loss. If the uterus is not cleaned of all fetal tissue, sepsis, infection, organ failure, and death may follow. We eventually learn that Cecilia faked this abortion to escape the convent. With chicken blood covering her legs, she runs across the field as two priests drag her to a parked car. Although Cecilia’s life is not in immediate danger, this scene represents a terrifying reality happening across the country. Cecilia simply wants medical attention, but the men controlling her fate must believe she is minutes away from death before they take action.
Margaret only had a few hours to experience her terrible pregnancy, but her labor was intense. Due to the child’s demonic lineage, her stomach quickly swells as the evil twin expands inside her. At the chosen hour, she suffers debilitating convulsions and falls to her knees as fluid flows from between her legs. Cecilia’s water also breaks in the film’s final act, before her daring escape while in active labor. After killing her caretakers, she staggers through the halls of the convent seeking to kill anyone who stands in her way. But as she continues her righteous rampage, contractions begin to tear through her body. It is a powerful depiction of this unique kind of pain. Massive spasms drown out everything else, and Cecilia has no choice but to wait for the current contraction to subside. Maybe she’s fleeing from a murderous priest who will surely cut out her stomach and leave her for dead, but even then, the pain is so great that it stops her in her tracks.
In addition to the trauma of labor, both films accurately depict the brutality of childbirth. While childbirth can be a beautiful process, many women report a traumatic, violent experience. Moments after her stomach swelled, Margaret was strapped into a stretcher and rolled into a secret operating room. The stoic faces ignore her pleas for help and inject her with drugs to calm her down. Ominous medical instruments are presented as instruments of torture and Margaret watches in helpless horror as the surgeons begin their work. They cut open her abdomen and scrambled inside her abdomen as they searched for the membranous sac containing the twins. This terrifying scene reflects the experience of a caesarean section. Numb from the rib cage down, you can still feel the surgeon’s hands moving your body from side to side, realigning the internal organs and opening a passage to withdraw the baby.
“The First Omen”
Cecilia has a different birth experience, which is arguably the most powerful scene in the film. After escaping the monastery, she finds herself on the edge of a cliff surrounded by wilderness. The camera hovers inches from her face as she labors and screams through her final contractions. The baby soon leaves her body and Cecilia desperately tries to regain her breath. Although we hear coughs and small gurgles from the product of her womb, we never see the face of the alleged savior. Cecilia cuts the umbilical cord with her teeth and moves away from the reddish-brown creature writhing on the ground. After locating a heavy rock, you brace yourself and then slam it onto the newborn creature. This shocking moment perfectly captures her anger at this little stranger. She did not allow the fetus to grow inside her and is upset about the way she has turned her life upside down.
Both films explore the concept of good and bad women by following nuns who go to the end of sacrificing their wombs. Margaret tells a misunderstood orphan that she is not “bad”, explaining: “They only tell you that you are because you don’t do what they want you to do.” The Catholic Church has been telling these two women what to do ever since. birth. They were always governed by someone else’s religious ideals and were given no choice in how they lived out their faith. As long as Cecilia and Margaret play their assigned roles in an infernal plot, they are considered good, even holy. But the moment they exercise any will, they are slandered and targeted for death. Another nun tells Cecilia that “suffering is love,” hoping to convince her to allow her body to be abused. But suffering is only love when it is a choice. Cecilia never chose to be in this situation, and what happens to her can only be seen as punishment. She and Margaret were punished simply because their wombs were fertile—a powerful reflection of how women feel in the United States today.
When Margaret realized she was pregnant, she immediately requested an abortion, insisting that “I need her out of my life now.” Although this feeling is uncomfortable, it is familiar to millions of women facing pregnancy in a country where religious ideology takes precedence over medical care. Both films explore these interconnected horrors and follow women who refuse to allow their bodies to be sacrificed for the sake of another person’s understanding of God. Traumatized, assaulted, and violated in every conceivable way, Margaret and Cecilia attempt to kill their unholy offspring with varying levels of success. Although horrific, their actions challenge the patriarchy that views them as mere vessels for procreation. Neither woman has abandoned her faith, and both stand against the hypocrisy that would harm one of God’s children to produce another. Although their stories end in different places, both women decide that a church that does not care for the mother does not deserve the child.
‘Immaculate, very clean, very organized’
