Leviticus

Australia has become a hub for horror films. Films like The Babadook, Talk to Me, Bring Her Back and Dangerous Animals have come from the land down under.

Naim (Joe Bird) has moved to an industrial town in Victoria with his mother (Mia Wasikowska). He ends up in a relationship with another boy in school, Ryan (Stacy Clausen), even though they are members of an evangelical Christian church. When Naim sees Ryan with another boy, Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt), he outs them in revenge. The pair are forced to undergo a ritual that causes them to see a malicious entity. 

Leviticus can be described in one sentence: the LGBT version of It Follows. Both films were about an entity that only the victim can see, which causes fear and death. There’s no running from it. There have been quite a few horror films that have used this premise recently, such as the Smile movies, It Lives Inside, Whistle, and Passenger. It Follows’ entity was sexually transmitted, and when it was transferred from one person to another, it was shown to be desperate yet malicious by the infected. In Leviticus, the entity was an extreme form of gay conversion therapy. 

Leviticus was about the contrast between Naim and Ryan’s love and the church's obsessive nature. These were scenes of the church being rigid and teenagers not wanting to be there. Ryan and Hunter made light of the cleansing ritual and tried hard not to snicker until it turned more sinister. The film opened with Naim and Ryan encountering a snake, which had religious connotations since a serpent was responsible for the first sin, and the pair gave in to their urges after they saw it. The entity was the physical threat; the real villain was the Church and the community. Naim’s mother was despicable because of her cold, cruel actions. 

The entity took the form of the person they loved. It turned love into fear, and afflicted people don’t know if they were speaking to a human or a being trying to kill them. The only safety was staying in crowded places. There was impact when Naim saw Ryan being haunted by the entity. There’s a risk that an invisible entity could look silly; It Lives Inside was an example of this, but Leviticus showed the physical impact. It was a bit more threatening. The director, Adrian Chiarella, and his editor knew what to show and what not to show. This was done when the entity attacked one of the boys in school. The aftermath was horrific, and the actual attack was left to the audience’s imagination. Nicholas Hope as the Deliverance Healer was a sinister presence because he was in a position of power and had mystical powers. 

Leviticus was only 88 minutes long, but it was a slow burn. This was felt at the beginning when Naim and Ryan started their relationship. The film was just as focused on their relationship as well as the threat. However, this slow-burn approach made Leviticus feel longer than it really was. Bird and Clausen were great in their roles and made the relationship feel organic. The film avoided making the characters into gay stereotypes: Ryan was a young Aussie bloke who was sporty and used colourful language, whilst Naim was a quieter fella. Both characters were flawed because Ryan was a bit rough and Naim did something unforgivable. Naim could challenge Bear in Obsession for committing an unforgivable action by a horror ‘protagonist.’ 

Leviticus was admirable for being a thematic horror film, and it got its message across in an effective manner. It’s not as strong as some of the other recent Australian horror flicks, but it was a solid horror film and an LGBTQ story that had lots of ideas.