‘Leviticus’ Is the Queer Horror Film That Could Redefine Australian Genre Cinema
Few horror films arrive with the kind of critical weight already attached to ‘Leviticus’ before most audiences have even had the chance to see it. Written and directed by Australian filmmaker Adrian Chiarella, the queer coming-of-age psychological horror premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and was subsequently acquired for international distribution by Neon. The project announced itself as something genuinely different from the moment it screened, and anticipation has only grown since.
Named for the book of the Old Testament long cited to justify homophobia, the film begins with Naim and Ryan breaking into an abandoned mill, their playful dynamic soon giving way to a charged homoerotic tension that the boys struggle to name or contain. Set in a small Australian town dominated by a hardline Christian church, the story follows Naim and his born-again mother, played by Mia Wasikowska, as they join the local religious community and witness the horrors of faith-based hatred up close.
The supernatural engine driving ‘Leviticus’ is one of the most unsettling premises in recent horror memory. Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most, which in their case means the creature appears to each of them as the other. When they try to act on that desire, the spirit responds by pursuing and attempting to kill them, turning the very act of queer longing into a mortal threat.
A new teaser released ahead of the film’s wide theatrical debut has brought fresh attention to the project, and the response has underscored just how much the horror community has been waiting for this one. The film currently sits at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 83 on Metacritic, with Neon planning its theatrical release for June 19. Variety’s review called it “a tightly conceived, gripping queer horror that reaches for unassuming brilliance through a supernatural premise that’s as terrifying as it is thematically relevant,” marking it as a Critic’s Pick.
The Hollywood Reporter similarly praised it as “a stylish, urgent allegory,” drawing comparisons to ‘Talk to Me’ and ‘It Follows.’ Those touchstones are fitting given that ‘Leviticus’ shares its producers, Causeway Films’ Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton, with the ‘Talk to Me’ team. Neon acquired worldwide distribution rights excluding Australia and New Zealand in a deal worth around $5 million, one of the biggest sales from that Sundance edition.
Chiarella has been open about the deeply personal impulse behind the project, describing ‘Leviticus’ as a film about homophobia in all its forms, with the monster serving as a metaphor not just for conversion therapy but for every variation of queer erasure. Speaking to IndieWire, Chiarella noted his anxiety and excitement about releasing a queer love story into the current cultural climate, adding that it had been a long time since an Australian film with a queer romance at its heart opened as widely in his home country.
The film has drawn comparisons to the work of Jennifer Kent and the Philippou brothers, with critics positioning Chiarella as a significant new voice in Australian horror. With Neon’s theatrical push and a chorus of critical praise already behind it, ‘Leviticus’ looks poised to become one of the defining horror releases of the year. Whether you see it as a supernatural thriller, a conversion therapy allegory, or a devastating queer love story, the conversation this film is about to start feels impossible to ignore, so tell us in the comments whether ‘Leviticus’ is already on your must-watch list or if this is the first you’re hearing of it.
