With Leviticus, This First-Time Director Delivers a Standout Horror Film That Blends Real-World Intolerance With a Classic Curse Story
Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut turns homophobia and jealousy into a curse that leaves teens seeing the person they desire as a killer, critics said.
- Opens tomorrow, June 19, the horror-satire Leviticus marks the feature debut of Australian writer-director Adrian Chiarella, exploring a queer relationship shattered by a demonic curse linked to so-called "conversion therapy."
- Set in a small Australian town, the film follows Naim and Ryan as they fall for each other while a Deliverance Healer attempts to suppress their sexuality, inadvertently unleashing a demon that manifests as the person they desire most.
- Stars Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen anchor the film, which features a score by Jed Kurzel and stylistically nods to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Nightmare on Elm Street to heighten tension.
- Chiarella uses the horror genre to critique homophobia, depicting how societal suppression forces young men to view their desires as dangerous; Frank Ocean provided production rights to his song "Self Control."
- With his film, Chiarella joins a 2026 triumvirate of young horror filmmakers alongside Curry Barker, director of Obsession, and Kane Parsons, known for Backrooms, cementing his emerging genre status.
11 Articles
11 Articles
With Leviticus, This First-Time Director Delivers a Standout Horror Film That Blends Real-World Intolerance With a Classic Curse Story
Leviticus will be released in theaters on June 19.A year of strong films from debut horror directors continues with Leviticus, the feature debut from Australian writer/director Adrian Chiarella. Joe Bird stars as Naim, a teenager living in a small, very religious town. Naim’s newfound secret romantic relationship with his classmate Ryan (Stacy Clausen) and subsequent discovery of Ryan’s dalliances with another boy, Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt), have …
Adrian Chiarella’s ‘Leviticus’ explores the horror of conversion therapy
Out gay writer/director Adrian Chiarella’s astonishing feature debut, “Leviticus,” opening June 19, has queer teens haunted by their desires. Naim (Joe Bird) and his mother, Arlene (Mia Wasikowska), have moved to a small town in Australia where Naim falls for his classmate, Ryan (Stacy Clausen). They love each other in secret — Naim questions why Ryan treats him differently when they are alone — but their relationship changes when Naim spies Rya…
Leviticus Review: Desire Becomes The Demon In Disturbing Horror Debut
The book from which Adrian Chiarella's Leviticus gets its title from is a not-so-subtle reference to what the first-time director is going for. There have been plenty of horror movies about conversion therapy, but none like this one. Though it is at times terrifying, capturing the isolation of the queer experience with bone-deep emotion, the first-time director's new film is a surprisingly tender look at the shapes love and demons can take.
Movie Review: ‘Leviticus’ makes a demon out of desire in an auspicious debut for Adrian Chiarella
What if the object of your desire was also the thing that’s trying to kill you? Not slowly irritating you to death for leaving the toilet seat up again. We mean actively trying to strangle you. That’s the intriguing premise behind the horror-satire “Leviticus,” an auspicious feature film debut for writer-director Adrian Chiarella that’s both...
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