by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Mia Wasikowska, Jeremy Blewitt, Nicholas Hope, Ewen Leslie, Davida McKenzie
Intro:
Beautifully shot, skillfully acted and achingly sad and disquieting at times…
Religion and horror have always had a close, albeit uncomfortable, relationship. The Exorcist (1973), The Omen (1976) and more recently, Heretic (2024) and Diabolic (2025) all explore the intersection of faith and terror to varying degrees of success. Leviticus, the feature film debut of Aussie writer/director Adrian Chiarella, is the latest attempt to mine dogma for shudders and its name should give you a clue about its subtext.
Leviticus, you see, is the nuttiest book of the Bible by a pretty huge margin. It’s the one that has very strong feelings about mixing fabrics (Leviticus 19:19), shaving your beard or sideburns (Leviticus 19:19) and, most relevant here, homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13). That last charming verse asserts that “if a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death.”
Leviticus is the story of teenage boys Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen), two lost souls in a rather grim Victorian small town who, it just so happens, are very attracted to one another. Their mutual feelings of lust and affection wouldn’t be a problem in most places these days, but their respective parents are part of a devout, fanatical Christian group and Naim’s mum, Arlene (Mia Wasikowska) is particularly devout. Of course, eventually, the truth gets out (in a manner that’s too important to the plot to spoil) and the help of a Deliverance Healer (a brilliantly creepy Nicholas Hope) called for. During a ritual, this healer gives something to the boys, something dark and malevolent. An entity that takes the form of the person they most desire and punishes them for their “unnatural” urges. It’s basically a supernatural form of conversion therapy and it looks increasingly unlikely that Naim and Ryan will survive the experience.
In a year already stacked with horror bangers like Obsession and Backrooms, Leviticus manages to hold its own. Buoyed considerably by a strong, beautifully realised and occasionally sensual relationship between Naim and Ryan, not to mention two terrific central performances from Bird and Clausen, the film has an incredibly vivid sense of place. The town’s small minds, desolate locations and pervasive feeling of oppression set the stage for a strong allegorical genre yarn that is chewy with subtext but never preachy or didactic. On the minor downside, the horror elements, while effectively staged are not quite as deft or precise. The film is clearly very influenced by It Follows (2014) but never matches its obvious influence in terms of tension. There’s one ill-advised jump scare that isn’t particularly effective and feels like it belongs in a different, far worse film.
All that said, Adrian Chiarella manages to create a growing sense of dread and tension that builds to an engaging climax and an emotionally resonant denouement. This is a horror film about real people, and the real consequences of trying to dogmatically apply the rather stark morality of a 2000+ year old document while simultaneously ignoring all the good “love your neighbour” type gear. Beautifully shot, skillfully acted and achingly sad and disquieting at times, Leviticus doesn’t quite match the heights of Obsession, but it certainly deserves a mention in a discussion of this year’s best horror flicks.
So, gather up your favourite fabric mixing, sideburn-shaving heathens and take a pilgrimage to the cinema to see a movie that’s anything but an abomination.
