Leviticus
Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most – each other. – "IMDb"
Excerpt
"Where Leviticus could have been an undeniable hit, it serves instead as a stepping stone. That’s not a bad thing, it’s a show of faith in Chiarella’s vision."
Recently I watched Dan Levy’s Big Mistakes (2026) and noticed it seemed to turn a growing trope on its head. When characters in these special projects make wild decisions or don’t do something that falls under the basic rubric of “common sense” it can be frustrating to the audience. While the characters in Big Mistakes were in larger than life situations, it didn’t stop them from trying to figure out what was going on. They asked questions, and when they didn’t, the reasons were believable and kept the twisting plot surprisingly grounded.
In Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut Leviticus (2026), we’re treated to a slick queer thriller romance that doesn’t ask or answer nearly enough questions to be cohesive. The main character is Naim played by Joe Bird of 2022’s Talk To Me (also an Australian horror). Naim is friends with Ryan (Stacy Clausen in what appears to be his feature debut), and on the precipice of discovering they are actually more than friends. This leads to the boys forming an unbreakable bond until Naim sees something he shouldn’t and makes a decision that changes the course of his life, Ryan’s and others as collateral damage.
The town Naim and his mother Arlene (Mia Wasikowska) live in is very small and very religious. It seems like everyone knows everyone, and secrets are the devil’s manna. Sin isn’t just prayed over and forgiven, it’s used as a weapon to anyone who would find themselves in its way. Naim tries to explain to his mom about the horror that’s happening to him, and ends up revealing his sexuality. Arlene sees this as an opportunity to “save” her son and she enlists the local Deliverance Healer (Nicholas Hope) to help her son.
Through a mystical procedure the Deliverance Healer opens a gate in Naim, exposing him to terror in the form of the one he desires most. What this means is when he’s alone he sees Ryan, and if they “cross the line”, Ryan tries to kill him.
The metaphor is not subtle. Leviticus is the book of the Bible where homosexuality is called an abomination whose consequences mean eternal damnation. The film Leviticus is clearly a conversion therapy horror thrust into the supernatural space, but a baffling lack of curiosity, flimsy rules and weak lore don’t drive the point home as well as it could. With this being Chiarella’s first feature, I’m willing to give a lot of grace based on the potential alone. It’s a fascinating idea that stays with you and I have great hopes for his future projects. Where Leviticus could have been an undeniable hit, it serves instead as a stepping stone. That’s not a bad thing, it’s a show of faith in Chiarella’s vision.
Here’s the thing; the idea of parents allowing a relative stranger to hurt their children is terrifying because it’s real. Conversion therapies cause physical, psychological and emotional damages that can cause or lead to death. There’s a prevailing sentiment that the ends justify the means; the ends being that your kid won’t be gay anymore – and/or go to hell apparently. It’s a distressing delusion to put the safety of your child into a procedure with a nonexistent success rate on the off chance that they’ll save their child from an intangible after-life. There are so many blinders that have to be worn and the scary thing is those blinders are near automatic once trauma enters the villa.
It’s never specified, but it appears that the murderous violence only happens when the spirit is engaged in a forbidden way. As it takes on the appearance of your heart’s desire, it’s almost like a test. Which leads to the conclusion of “well, they chose the wrong path despite our bullying, so the consequences are theirs”. It removes the culpability and guilt the adults will feel when the child fails.
It’s a fascinating thought experiment that causes the viewer to consider the world around them and not just the one on the screen. My only gripe is all of this is just a well educated guess when it comes to the intentions of the director. For every theory, there’s a caveat that could dismantle it. There’s a difference between being shown the rules and spoonfeeding the audience and I believe that in a bid to avoid the latter, they erred too far in the wrong direction. Along with a couple cheap though admittedly entertaining jump scares, the message of the film seemed to take a back seat to the sensationalism.
I did enjoy the film overall and loved that it was hard to know when moments between our main couple were peaceful or primed for violence. The insecurity was the point, however it felt throughout the film that they were relying on confusion to raise the stakes.
We learn the apparition is called upon by the Deliverance Healer through a ritual that invokes fire. The healer very plainly says what he’s doing and throughout the film there is zero attempt to even work backwards or disrupt the ceremony.
Leviticus is aesthetically pleasing and the cinematography mixed with the sound design and deft performances create a film that’s great to watch despite some minor flaws. As NEON inches closer to A24-like acclaim, their catalogue grows increasingly creative and pleasingly weird. Leviticus is a great addition.
Leviticus will arrive in theaters on June 18th 2026.
Score 7/10