The horrors of conversion therapy are the subject of a terrifying horror movie in Leviticus, now in wide release after taking the Sundance Film Festival by storm.
Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen) are two high school boys living in an uptight Christian town somewhere in Australia. They have a budding relationship, much to the chagrin of the townsfolk, who perform some sort of psycho ritual on them to “protect” the boys from homosexuality.
The ritual has a very nasty twist: Each boy is haunted by a horrible entity that takes the form of the person they desire, that being each other. So Naim and Ryan never really know if they are seeing each other or some sort of violent demon representation of the other.
Adrian Chiarella’s directorial debut is a constant freakout that never feels routine, even when it is going for jump scares—and he pulls off some good ones.
Bird and Clausen are terrific in the film. It’s a hardcore horror movie for sure, but they somehow still manage to keep the relationship at the center of the film sweet. It’s surprising how moving the film is, even when it is scaring the shit out of you.
Mia Wasikowska, the former Alice in Wonderland, plays Naim’s mom, a softspoken, seemingly sensible person making horrendous decisions. Jeremy Blewitt and Davida McKenzie round out the supporting cast as two people who have also gone through the ritual.
Leviticus is satisfying as both a horror movie and a needed commentary on the travesty that is conversion therapy. It’s a masterful take on the subjects, with an unexpected conclusion. It’s one of the summer’s best movies.