Finally, international audiences can experience a true Australian nightmare – growing up queer in a small country town.
Aussie horror is in business again overseas (think Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek and Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook) – film distributor NEON has just picked up Adrian Chiarella’s feature film debut Leviticus and it promises to be an absolute banger.
The film was treated to a Midnight premiere at Sundance late last week to rave reviews all ‘round, with Neon reportedly closing a seven figure deal for global distribution rights soon after.
Produced by Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton at Causeway Films (the team behind 2022’s smash hit Talk To Me), and developed with financial support from VicScreen’s Originate Features initiative; this biblically-infused shocker is supported by a stellar cast including Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen, and features the return of gothic icon Mia Wasikowska after a three-year hiatus.
Leviticus follows teenagers Ryan (Clausen) and Naim (Bird) as they endeavor to keep both their queerness and blossoming relationship a secret in their rural Victorian town where morals of Christianity reign supreme.
Their relationship is fragmented by the local pastor’s son (Jeremy Blewitt), and soon all three are brought before the congregation to meet with a “deliverance healer.”
The boys quickly realise they have been punished via curse in the form of a shape-shifting demonic entity that morphs into the form of whom they desire most. Imagine the plot of It Follows if it happened in the same small town as The Dry.
Early reviews are citing Leviticus as stylish yet blood-curling – a film that recognises the real horror in what we are willing to accept as normalcy. Variety promises Chiarella will quickly find himself upon Aussie horror’s gory hall of fame, amongst directors like Talk To Me’s Danny and Michael Philippou and James Wan of Saw and Insidious legacies.
Dealing with desire and the confines of religion, Leviticus is gearing up to tell a story that feels all-the-more necessary right now; hot on the heels of last year’s Sinners, a film with fangs that continues to pierce the necks of even the toughest critics worldwide.
There’s no word yet on an Australian release date for Leviticus, but Neon is aiming for a 2026 US release. Maslow Entertainment reportedly has the Australian and New Zealand distribution rights.
