“Leviticus,” AKA that part of the bible referenced by President Jed Bartlet when verbally taking down a homophobic radio host in “The West Wing.”
It’s also a 2026 horror flick written and directed by Adrian Chiarella. Set in rural Australia, the movie centers on Naim (Joe Bird), who relocates to a small factory town with his mother (Mia Wasikowska) after the death of the family patriarch. There he meets and starts a relationship with another boy in town, Ryan (Stacy Clausen).
However, when their relationship is uncovered by the rather religious community, both are sent to meet with a priest known for conducting rituals as a sort of conversion therapy. The results are frightening, as both begin encountering a dangerous entity hell bent on destroying each of them.
“Leviticus” has quite a bit in common with the 2015 film “It Follows,” both in its premise and the fact that it’s also pretty good. While the concept isn’t entirely original, Chiarella does enough with the idea to set itself apart and offer something largely fresh in the horror category.
The flick’s source of frights is not just characters meeting their end in frightening ways, but the fact that the source of horror targets its victims in the most vulnerable way possible. Not only does it add a richness to the fear at play, it also makes for a fantastic, universal statement against the problematic, reprehensible nature of conversion “therapy.”
Chiarella, making his feature film directorial debut, crafted quite a solid thriller. It’s one thing to just center horror on the usual tropes, it’s another to center the scares on aspects so personal to the identity of its protagonists. It pulls an audience in and holds them there from start to finish.
The only issue is the film leaves a viewer wanting more, and not in a good way. The flick clocks in below 90 minutes, and there’s definitely a feeling, especially in the movie’s second act, that some themes and narrative elements could have been expanded upon. Now, in all fairness, this was clearly a lower budget movie so there’s certainly circumstances related to that.
Still, even with all due respect given to the film’s indie origins, it still remains a fact that an audience wishes some aspects were more fleshed out than they were. Thankfully, what is presented on screen in the hour and a half is all enjoyable. That’s especially a reality with the movie’s two leads.
Bird and Clausen are impressive in portraying both their individual characters navigating life and a relationship in a backwards community, while also displaying convincing on-screen chemistry. Clausen is particularly solid at playing a character with a certain degree of confidence with struggles lurking underneath, while Bird does admirable work as the more reserved character who has more emotional scenes as he’s the main protagonist.
Credit also has to go to Chiarella, the director of photography Tyson Perkins, and the rest of the crew for the film’s visual style. There are so many great, deliberate shots here, with fantastic framing and blocking throughout. The world captured around the two protagonists enhance things throughout. This includes a lingering factory in the background, a symbol of an industrial age from decades past representative of the town holding outdated views.
“Leviticus” is a film that has quite a bit that could have been expanded upon. The fact that it doesn’t is somewhat disappointing. Plus, there’s a sense the film could have shown more perspectives from other characters when it comes to the evil entity. However, the movie still does a lot of things right, from its solid character work, to good performances, along with its unique horror take, fine filmmaking and effective commentary. 4 out of 5.
