Written by Melly Merida
Leviticus, written and directed by Adrian Chiarella, an Australian director making his feature debut, is a queer coming-of-age supernatural horror film that perfectly places the audience in a constant state of fear of the unknown and doesn’t shy away from shedding light on the brutality of conversion therapy and homophobia.
After a bone-chilling opening sequence that hooks the audience, we are introduced to a small religious community where our protagonists, Naim (Joe Bird), and Ryan (Stacy Clausen) live. The two teens sneak off to secret areas within the town to hide their forbidden romance. However, due to unfortunate circumstances, the boys are caught and put through an “exorcism.” The exorcism is led by a reverend who places a demon on the boys during the ritual. This demon can shape-shift into whomever a person desires most. Throughout the rest of the film, Naim and Ryan try to find ways to survive this demon while also dealing with the effects of a deeply homophobic town.
Chiarella shapes this strange idea of a shape-shifting demon with an It Follows-style — stalking our main characters when they’re alone. This demon is not only horrifying, but it can be interpreted as a form of trauma caused by religion and conversion therapy. This leaves Naim and Ryan in a constant state of anxiety, fear, and always at the center of harm.
The exorcism scenes have different energies. Ryan’s starts humorously, as both the audience and Ryan don’t believe this “exorcism” will actually have an effect — until it does. Clausen does a fantastic job contorting into a possessed-like state and crying out in a skin-crawling way.
Naim’s scene is far sadder, as the audience knows what will happen next. In the eyes of this religious community, this ritual is to “cleanse” their homosexuality. When Naim is forced through the ritual, it visually represents how queer children are forced into conversion therapy by their own ignorant parents, who believe it will “fix them.”
Leviticus doesn’t hold back in showing the audience the complexity of heavily religious followers and their leaders, and how these groups of people tend to use religion as an excuse for their homophobic actions. The majority of the adults completely ignore the pain their children go through. They believe that any horrible crisis that happens isn’t their fault, but the fault of their children’s desires.
Love and lust play important roles in this film, as for the most part, the acts Ryan and Naim engage in are lustful. Additionally, the demon always shifts into a person the characters desire most, luring them in like a siren before it brutally attacks. However, when love comes into play, it gives the protagonists the power to overpower the demon. There’s a scene where the demon is about to kill one of the characters, but it stops when the character places a loving hand on its cheek, giving the character time to run away.
Leviticus, in terms of scare factor, is a solid 9 out of 10, as it doesn’t rely heavily on jump scares. Overdone jump scares in a horror film can be its weakest link, as they become predictable and, at times, comedic. In the case of Leviticus, tension hangs in the air. The feeling is similar to The Thing, where the audience feels a constant looming threat and an instinct not to trust what a character sees. As a result, the audience is in a constant state of high-alert, so that when the jump scares do happen, they are incredibly effective.
One issue, though, is the characters themselves. While the chemistry between Ryan and Naim is fantastic, there isn’t enough time to get to know them. There’s a lot of time spent on Naim. However, we know little about the backstory of Naim and his mother. We know that they moved there, yet there’s not enough explanation of what happened before their move. Naim also isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, as he falls for the demon’s trap time and time again and risks getting killed many times, even though he knows he shouldn’t trust what he sees.
People who aren’t fans of horror films often see only the blood and gore, not realizing that the genre can be incredibly nuanced, creating awareness of the legitimate social and political problems the world faces daily. Leviticus is a fantastic, must-watch film, as it personifies homophobia and trauma into the cruel creature that it truly is.
