This week, Australian horror “Leviticus” landed in theaters. The feature-film directorial debut of Adrian Chiarella is far from subtle, putting the oppressive dangers of religious dogma and conversion therapy on full display. Its title is a direct nod to the Old Testament verse, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination,” which has been the foundation for Christian homophobia and hate for centuries.
At the heart of the film is Naim (Joe Bird, “Talk to Me”), a teenage boy who is made to move to a small, working-class town in Australia, where his only interest seems to be Ryan (Stacy Clausen, “Crazy Fun Park”), one of his classmates. When the two hang out at an abandoned mill, they soon realize their chemistry is deeper than a friendship, and for the first time in his life, Naim gives in to his desires. But when he later secretly catches Ryan with another classmate (Jeremy Blewitt, “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart”), jealousy and his own confusion about his feelings lead him to out the boys, putting both boys—and eventually himself—in the crosshairs of the local clergy and a Deliverance Preacher whose practices will set the boys on a path of reform, or certain death.
Once unleashed on the boys, the preacher’s blessing attaches them to a shapeshifting entity that only they can see. The true psychological horror of the film lies in the entity’s mechanics: it shapeshifts into the form of the person its victim desires most. For Naim and Ryan, the monster is literally the image of each other, brilliantly weaponizing their own budding love and turning intimacy and desire into a death sentence.
The performances at the heart of this story sell it. Both Bird and Clausen deliver impressive, intimate performances that truly convey the range of emotions these boys experience, from flirty and passionate to pained and terrified. Clausen’s performance is heightened by the physical moments endured at the hands of the film’s relentless specter as well as the human monsters in the small town.
One of those monsters is Naim’s mother, played by Mia Wasikowska. Her performance is one of the coldest, most distant maternal roles I’ve seen in recent memory. She delivers a chilling, quietly devastating portrayal of parental complicity, embodying the rigid, terrifyingly polite face of community-sanctioned prejudice.
“Leviticus” is notably a slow burn, but the payoff is well worth it. The pacing helps build the film’s tension, which continues to mount until it bursts open in the third act. While there is a constant sense of dread, the scares are few, but the ones we do get are solid. There is a jump scare in this film that is so well executed that it’s the first time in a long time I can recall an entire theater reacting to a scare.
“Leviticus” will inevitably draw comparisons to “It Follows” both in plot and stylistically, and I think that’s a fair comparison. However, Chiarella’s film possesses more than enough substance to stand on its own. By rooting its monster in the fundamental horror of suppressed desire and the cost of simply being oneself, “Leviticus” delivers a message that is as terrifying as it is vital.
