Leviticus - Review

Australia is a scary place, we know this. Bugs, snakes and worst of all, bogans. So why they would ever need to make a horror movie set in Australia is beyond me. However, the Australian population seem to be quite adept at the horror genre, with Talk to Me and The Babadook for example, two films that scare me just to type. I wouldn’t consider Leviticus to be a traditional horror like those two, but it definitely has its moments. The film’s scares not only come from the incredible sense of paranoia that it sets you in, but also from the people around our main characters, who are the worst of us, and should be treated as such. The film is a little too short in my opinion, rushing you into the action, but the acting and concept of the film are strong enough to carry you through to a very satisfying conclusion.

A cold open in a swimming pool sets the stage for our premise, not giving away anything but a tense and well shot opener. It's then a quick cut to an Australian industrial town and a snake with a frog in its mouth. Ryan (Stacy Clausen) pokes the snake with a stick while provoking Naim (Joe Bird). They run off together, into an old mill where some aggression and a little scrap fight later, they share an angry and passionate kiss. Confusion pushes them apart until they can’t stay away. Once both boys are found out by their religion loving parents, a deliverance healer is brought in to pray the gay away. It does more than that though, targeting both boys with an entity that looks just like the other, so they can never know who is real.

The premise of Leviticus is mean. It strips the safety almost completely away from every scene as soon as the entities are revealed to be the other partner. It's an incredibly effective device to convey the metaphor that the film is going for. It may be quite on the nose for a horror film, but by complicating the metaphor for the sake of “sophistication” I think you risk watering down the strength of the peril that our characters are in. Not to say that the script is surface level, because it isn’t at all. Writer and director Adrian Chiarella focuses their story around Naim and Ryan, while not forgetting to give depth to surrounding characters. A good example of this is Naim’s mum, Arlene (Mia Wasikowska). With less care to her character, she can be seen as a one dimensional antagonist, but Chiarella gives her motivation, that while flawed logic and utterly stupid, comes from a place that makes sense to her.

The writing is elevated by stellar performances from the leads. Joe Bird and Stacey Clausen put in some good work here to form an instant connection that you care about, and continue to foster throughout the film. The stakes are only heightened because of their chemistry, aligning so well with the premise to make every intimate moment a win for their relationship and a terrifying potential outcome if one of the two are not as they seem.

The horror is executed really well here too. While it is a horror film, it is not all horror in the traditional sense, apart from one jump scare that is so effective that I felt cold for the first time in about two months. Other than that, the horror comes from simply being alone. Both characters have moments that feel relatively safe, where the rug is pulled from underneath you, and the threat becomes more real. The film doesn’t feel the need to do too much explanation of the concept, and any escalation of the horror is not told through dialogue, which makes it much more effective.

As far as queer horror goes, having your romantic pursuits violently pursue you is not fun. They mention it in the film itself, but the fear they feel when looking at each other is exactly what the homophobes wanted. Beyond the metaphor for the film, it works really well to convey a feeling that so many queer people feel when they begin to fall for someone that they are told they shouldn’t. You could look into the actions of the entity even more as the violence carried out mirrors a frustrated, scared and unsure person who is living in the closet. I love to see gay stories told on screen, and seeing them manifested in this way both feels obvious but also incredibly poignant.

Some bold choices are made in the presentation of the film too. Where we don’t see the entity from an outside point of view, and when you do, there are no physical differences from the actual person. The story also mostly follows Naim, so you lose Ryan from the screen at times and then as soon as he returns, you are completely on edge about his motivations. We’re up close a lot of time, basking in the perilous intimacy, which is where a lot of the most positive and negative moments come from in the growth of their relationship.

I do think there is room at the front of this film to develop their relationship. There is a moment about 25 minutes in that feels less impactful as a betrayal because we haven’t gotten enough time between the boys to let that sink in. You only feel their connection strengthen as the terror starts to happen. I don’t mind the cold open, but replacing it with some more time on the central relationship would have worked much better for me. Without such a strong chemistry, I do think this lack of setup could have been a huge downfall of the film, but it very quickly sinks you into the relationship as the horror starts.

I have spoken previously about being burned by expectations, but Leviticus lived up to my personal hype level with its strong ideas, excellent cast and effective execution. It does lack some setup that would help make this hit even harder, but the continuous raising of the stakes and obvious yet intriguing metaphor make it a memorable and enjoyable horror film. Leviticus thinks highly enough of its audience to allow the story to unfold in real time with the characters rather than explaining everything through hammy dialogue. The connection between the leads is definitely the strongest element of the film though, where you both root for and loathe their time together.

Leviticus is in cinemas now in the US and is opening here in the UK on the 2nd of September.