Internalized homophobia can feel like a pair of hands around your throat, slowly strangling you. In the new Australian conversion therapy horror Leviticus, that feeling becomes violently real.
Leviticus, written and directed by debut filmmaker Adrian Chiarella, is set in a small Australian town dominated by a hardline, fanatical Christian church. When the sensitive and quiet Naim (Joe Bird) and his born-again mother (a disturbingly distant Mia Wasikowska, who also served as an executive producer) join the local church community, they see the horrors of religious-based hatred up close.
When Naim and his mother first move to the town, Naim is lonely and feels out of place. Then he meets Ryan (Stacy Clausen), a handsome boy who ignores him at school but asks him to hang out one-on-one outside of it.
In typical teen boy style, they start showing affection by making fun of each other, shoving, and wrestling. Soon, they're making out on the ground. Naim thinks he's found someone to belong to.
They are still teenagers though, and soon, Naim spies Ryan kissing the pastor's son. Letting his jealousy get the best of him, he tells the pastor what he saw. This is where the horror kicks into high gear.
Whatever Naim expected to happen, he couldn't have predicted that the pastor would bring a steely faith healer who would perform a sort of reverse-exorcism. At first, the two boys laugh at the idea of having their gay prayed away, but when the healer lights a flame in front of them and speaks of retribution, they start violently convulsing on the ground.
Instead of having the "demons of homosexuality" cast out, something dark and cruel is cast into the boys. Soon, they are haunted by a murderous entity that appears as the person they desire most. And as soon as they start to "give in" to temptation, the entity violently attacks and murders them, still disguised as the person they love.
It's as if the healer has weaponized internalized homophobia, turning it from a feeling that can suffocate into a literal demon that tries to murder with its hands.
After Naim witnesses the pastor's son being killed by the entity, he and Ryan team up to try to figure out what's happening, only for Naim's mother to sign him up for the very same "healing" ritual the other boys underwent. Soon, Naim is being haunted by a violently evil version of Ryan who speaks kind words to him, then attacks when they get close.
Leviticus also knows that sometimes homophobia is a literal human trying to murder you too. In one spine-tingling scene, Naim and Ryan think they've found an ally against the evil that haunts them, when they've really been led to an isolated spot far from town where a car full of assholes is waiting to beat them to death. Another scene, one of the movie's darkest, comes when Naim learns how deeply his mother is involved in the ritual.
This queer twist on It Follows lives up to the tradition of Australian Horror like Talk To Me (in which Bird also starred) and Lake Mungo. There's the same overwhelming feeling of isolation, with night skies that swallow up the screen and every actor on it.
The film also perfectly balances its two genres, horror and coming of age. Both outside of the horror, and within, it sensitively and intimately explores the struggles and joys of teen love and exploration. Bird and Clausen are terrifically matched, and it's impossible to not root for them to survive together. When the horror gets serious, the movie doesn't abandon its romance or personal growth; instead, it ties the two together.
Leviticus is a perfect debut, and exactly the kind of horror gem you hope to find at film festivals.
Out Review: 5 out of 5 stars
