By Ben Wright (@Iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)
This review is spoiler-free.
Leviticus is set in a bleak, isolated industrial town in Australia, where high school students Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen) begin to develop secret feelings for each other. When their relationship is discovered by the strict religious community around them, a local pastor brings in a deliverance healer to perform a ritual that is supposed to change them. Instead, the ritual unleashes something much darker. A supernatural entity begins stalking the two boys, taking the form of the person they desire most. For Naim and Ryan, that means each other.
Leviticus allows the tension build rather than filling every scene with cheap jump scares. The whole film has this bleak, oppressive atmosphere to it, which really suits the story. The industrial setting works particularly well too, with the machinery and smog sitting alongside all the religious imagery. That contrast between the dirty, industrial surroundings and the idea of God and faith gives the film another visual layer without it ever feeling like it’s trying too hard.
Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen are probably my favourite part of the film. The chemistry between them is fantastic and their relationship feels really natural. There is an organic quality to the two of them together that makes you buy into Naim and Ryan straight away, and it gives the horror something more to latch onto emotionally. They aren’t just characters there to be chased around by a monster. You actually care about what happens to them, which makes some of the more uncomfortable moments hit harder.
And the supernatural side of Leviticus is certainly creepy, especially with the idea of the entity taking the form of the person each boy wants most. It creates this constant uncertainty because you can’t always tell whether they are actually looking at each other or the thing that is hunting them. Their feelings and desires become part of the horror, which fits really well with everything happening around them.
But honestly, the most frightening part of Leviticus isn’t the monster. It’s the conversion therapy element and the people behind it.
There is something genuinely disturbing about watching these young boys being told that there is something wrong with them, while the adults around them refuse to listen. The deliverance ritual is uncomfortable to watch because of how much it feels like a physical and psychological violation rather than some harmless religious ceremony. There is a real cult-like feeling to some of these scenes, and that’s where the film gets under your skin.
It’s also a good reminder that the real-world side of this story can be just as scary, if not scarier, than anything supernatural. The horror works because you know that the fear being explored here isn’t something completely made up for the film. Shame, guilt, isolation and being made to feel like you need to change are very real things, and Leviticus doesn’t shy away from that.
I also really liked how restrained the film is with its jump scares. There aren’t loads of them, which makes the one that does come along incredibly effective. It genuinely got me and had me jumping in my chair. I can’t remember the last time a horror got me quite like that, so fair play to Adrian Chiarella for knowing when to hold back and when to finally go for it. It’s a simple thing, but when you’ve spent the film slowly building that tension, it works.
Chiarella’s direction is a big reason the atmosphere works as well as it does. The film looks suitably grim and uncomfortable, and there is a constant feeling that something isn’t quite right even when nothing particularly scary is happening. It gives the quieter moments room to breathe, while the horror that does arrive feels like it has actually been earned.
There is quite a lot packed into Leviticus, but I never felt like the themes completely swallowed up the horror. It still works as a creepy supernatural film, while the story of Naim and Ryan gives it a much stronger emotional side than you might expect going in. The performances from Bird and Clausen are a big part of that, and their chemistry makes the relationship feel believable rather than simply being there to serve the plot.
Leviticus is a haunting and atmospheric horror with a genuinely unsettling story at its centre. Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen have fantastic chemistry, Adrian Chiarella creates a suitably oppressive world around them, and the slow-burn approach makes the moments of horror hit harder. The conversion therapy angle gives the film an extra layer of real-world fear, and that one jump scare absolutely got me. An uncomfortable and surprisingly affecting piece of horror.
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