Michael Mohan takes desire seriously and gets committed work from Sydney Sweeney. We find his genre films worth a qualified look, but his attention to actors is too often undermined by busy plotting and mechanical scares.
Fi1m perspective
In The Voyeurs (2021), Michael Mohan lets the sex scenes be pleasurable. The wish to keep watching matters, and he gives desire attention rather than hurrying past it to the next complication. This is where we find him most persuasive: close to his actors, taking their appetites seriously. His genre films offer enough for enthusiasts, though the writing and pacing give us reservations.
His early features were One Too Many Mornings (2010) and Save the Date (2012). Save the Date established his independent comedy-drama work; with The Voyeurs and Immaculate (2024), he moved into erotic thrillers and religious horror. It is a direction that makes sense for someone willing to let actors communicate through desire or fear, rather than simply explain themselves.
With Sweeney and Justice Smith, The Voyeurs has a couple whose shared curiosity makes the spying inviting. We were frustrated when Mohan's screenplay kept interrupting their chemistry to make the plot more complicated. The dialogue explains what their performances have already made clear, and the characters become harder to care about as the plotting grows busier. Enthusiasts may forgive the contrivance; we would have preferred more time with the couple.
In Immaculate, Sweeney's Cecilia arrives at an Italian convent to take her vows and care for elderly sisters. Mohan benefits from her decision to play Cecilia's faith without a wink: the welcome becomes troubling because she accepts it so sincerely. Andrew Lobel's script is largely predictable, but Sweeney gives the character enough conviction to keep us interested. Benedetta Porcaroli, as the impatient Sister Gwen, also makes the scenes livelier whenever she appears.
The difficulty is Mohan's reliance on jump scares. Christian Masini's brisk editing keeps Immaculate moving but rarely lets a scene settle into dread, while Will Bates's score is repeatedly called upon to supply the shock. Bates's organ, plainsong and electronic noise suggest something more unsettling than the scheduled jolts allow. Mohan can get committed work from his performers, but he needs to give their unease time to reach us. Next time, we would like him to leave a scene alone long enough for us to become afraid.
Biography
Michael Mohan is an American director and screenwriter. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he is known for directing the feature films Save the Date (2012), The Voyeurs (2021) and Immaculate (2024). He also created, wrote and directed the Netflix series Everything Sucks! (2018).
Mohan directed an episode of the children's series Ghostwriter (2019) and received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Children's or Young Adult Program.
