Director Adrian Chiarella clearly understands that sometimes the most frightening thing is what lies beyond traditional jump scares. He captures that feeling with his first full-length feature film, Leviticus, which takes its title from the biblical verse so often used against members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Set against a drab and dreary industrial town in Australia, Chiarella’s horror follows Naim and Ryan as they find themselves very much attracted to one another. They are happy, but as we know in a horror film, that soon dissipates.

When male students in the town are seen being intimate with each other, their parents are informed, and so is the pastor. The so-called pastor casts a sort of evil prayer, more like a curse, on the ‘troubled teens.’ From here on, the movie takes an immediate turn for the worse.

There is enough gore and enough jumpy moments to qualify Leviticus as a true horror film. Chiarella has a knack for scares beyond the obvious. Its horror comes from what Naim and Ryan feel toward each other, as much as from whatever may be lurking around them.

Each boy who was unfortunate enough to receive this curse starts seeing an evil entity, one that physically harms them. The entity shows up as something they desire most: each other.

 

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As Naim and Ryan become increasingly distrustful of each other. They never know whether what is happening is caused by the entity or by each other. The uncertainty makes their relationship increasingly difficult to trust. A look, a gesture, or a moment of hesitation can suddenly create a different scenario. Nowhere is safe as long as they are apart.

The film’s moody atmosphere makes it an enjoyable yet unnerving ride; there is something more interesting underneath its scares. Leviticus can be seen as portraying a feeling that applies to so many real experiences: the fear of wanting something, the fear of being found out, and the damage caused when desire is treated as something that needs to be corrected.

There is an uneasiness during the film when we realise that the adults might actually know what’s happening to the boys, and are refusing to help.

The actors do an amazing job of showing passion and fear, both of which are truly believable and all the more terrifying.

In Leviticus, desire becomes something to be frightened of, and like real life, something we cannot control. There is hope – it doesn’t fully give way to hopelessness – all while staying true to the genre. It’s a must for fans of cult classic It Follows.

Leviticus has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 92%, based on 155 reviews. You can see it in Irish cinemas from September 4, 2026.