Leviticus
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Adrian Chiarella
Written by	Adrian Chiarella
Produced by	Samantha Jennings Kristina Ceyton Hannah Ngo
Starring	Joe Bird Stacy Clausen Jeremy Blewitt Mia Wasikowska
Cinematography	Tyson Perkins
Edited by	Nick Fenton
Music by	Jed Kurzel
Production company	Causeway Films
Distributed by	Maslow Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand) Neon (Worldwide)
Release dates	23 January 2026 (2026-01-23) (Sundance) 18 June 2026 (2026-06-18) (Australia)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Box office	$3 million[1][2]

Leviticus is a 2026 Australian coming-of-age romantic supernatural horror film written and directed by Adrian Chiarella, and stars Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Jeremy Blewitt, and Mia Wasikowska (also an executive producer on the film). It follows two teenagers who become tormented by a violent supernatural entity, summoned by their religious community, that takes the form of the person they desire most – each other.

Leviticus premiered on 23 January 2026, in the Midnight section of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. It was released theatrically in Australia on 18 June 2026 and in the US on 19 June 2026.

Following his father's death, Naim and his mother Arlene relocate to an isolated town in regional Victoria, Australia. While she finds comfort in the town’s deeply religious community, Naim struggles to accept its extreme beliefs and practices. His only refuge is Ryan, a local teenager with whom he begins a secret romance in an abandoned warehouse. Their relationship fractures when Naim witnesses Ryan kissing the pastor’s son, Hunter. Spurred by hurt, jealousy and fear of his own feelings, Naim impulsively outs Ryan and Hunter to Hunter's parents.

A self proclaimed “deliverance healer” is called on to perform a ritual intended to purge the boys of their homosexual desire and "sin." Wracked with guilt, Naim is unable to watch as Ryan and Hunter scream, vomit, and convulse in agony throughout the ritual. Afterwards, Ryan becomes withdrawn and the target of increasing bullying. Desperate to make amends, Naim attempts to check on him but Ryan pushes him away. Concerned for Ryan, Naim follows him and witnesses him talking to empty air ultimately leading ending up outside the local roller skating rink's photo booth. The photo booth prints out pictures of Ryan seeming making out with thin air before banging sounds come from inside the booth. Naim opens the curtain to see Ryan pinned against one of the corners and strangled by an unseen force. An injured Ryan runs from the booth, and when Naim asks him what happened, Ryan yells that it was him, and warns him to stay away.

Hurt and confused, Naim seeks out Hunter for answers and witnesses him being attacked by a similar invisible entity. Hunter's decapitated head is later discovered in a nearby field. Terrified that Ryan will suffer the same fate, Naim confesses to the police that he and Ryan were romantically involved and pleads with them to stop the entity. The police dismiss his claims and instead inform Arlene about his relationship with Ryan.

Claiming she wants to protect her son from hatred and persecution, Arlene arranges for the deliverance healer to forcibly perform the ritual on him. After the ritual, Naim confronts Ryan outside Hunter's funeral. The two kiss before Ryan begins attacking Naim. Naim runs back inside the funeral and sees Ryan there, realizing whoever he was with outside was not the real Ryan. Hunter’s sister, Izzie, reveals to them that a girl in a nearby town was recently killed under similar circumstances after the deliverance healer performed the same ritual on her and her girlfriend.

Determined to understand what is happening, Naim and Ryan track down the surviving girlfriend to Murrayville Hospital. She explains that the entity takes the form of the person its victim desires most. It only appears when someone is alone, and grows stronger over time. Worse still, there is no way to stop it. On the trip back home, the two make out in the back of the bus. To protect themselves from each other, Naim tells Ryan he plans to leave for the city and begs him not to follow. Ryan begrudgingly agrees before confessing that the entity will always follow them and if he has to live with it forever, he doesn't want it to be anyone else but Naim.

At school, Ryan is attacked by the entity which mutilates his ear in the bathroom. Meanwhile, Izzie consumed by grief blames the boys for Hunter’s death. Under the pretense of helping Ryan and Naim, she lures them to an abandoned car park, where she reveals that Naim was the one who outed Hunter and Ryan. A violent confrontation follows. Ryan fights off the attackers and helps Naim escape before telling him he never wants to see him again.

Petrified of being alone, Naim sleeps in his mother's room and the next morning, despite his desperate pleas, she leaves him home alone. That night, the entity attacks once more. Standing at Naim's screen door, despite knowing the entity is not really Ryan, Naim apologizes for outing Ryan before the entity breaks through the screen door and attacks Naim. Fighting back against the entity, Naim holds up a lighter and manages to escape to a nearby store, begging someone to stay with him after closing time. Eventually abandoned, he is chased by the entity to the derelict mill. Having learned that the entity is sensitive to fire, Naim sets the mill ablaze with the entity trapped inside.

Afterwards, Ryan's disappearance haunts Naim with the possibility he killed the real Ryan. However, authorities later confirm no trace of Ryan was found in the ruins. Arlene reveals to him that she knew the consequences of the ritual but believes fear is necessary to keep him safe. Betrayed, Naim abandons her at a gas station and flees to the bus stop to get out of town. He finds Ryan there, who appears exhausted, battered, and clearly with the same plan. Surrounded by other passengers, they are relieved to know that it is really them. Together, they board the bus and leave the town behind. As the bus drives away, Naim notices the entity lurking outside, but chooses to ignore it.

• Joe Bird as Naim
• Stacy Clausen as Ryan
• Mia Wasikowska as Arlene, Naim's mother
• Jeremy Blewitt as Hunter
• Ewen Leslie as Rod, Hunter's father
• Davida McKenzie as Izzie, Hunter's sister
• Nicholas Hope as the "Deliverance Healer"
• Zamira Newman as Rita
• Edwina Wren as Jacky
• Tyallah Bullock as Marnie
• Shannon Berry as Jessica

Leviticus was developed through VicScreen's Originate initiative under the mentorship of script developer Angeli Macfarlane, with writer and director Adrian Chiarella drawing on his background in film editing and his personal experiences to craft a "queer social horror" inspired by Asian cinema and modern genre classics like It Follows (2014) and The Witch (2015).^[3] The project received funding in July 2024 as part of Screen Australia's 2024-25 production slate. It was produced by Australian's Causeway Films, who co-financed the film with Samira Productions. Post production was provided by VicScreen and Kojo Studio.^[4][5]

The title is a reference to the Book of Leviticus, a book of the Bible often cited by religious conservatives as evidence of divine prohibition of homosexuality.^[6][7][8]

In the post-production phase, Frank Ocean's track "Self Control" was added as the end credits song with his approval shared through a personal letter. This is the first use of his music licensed in a film in a half decade, as the last use was Waves in 2019. ^[9]

The film had its world premiere on 23 January 2026 at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in the Midnight section.^[10] Shortly after, Neon acquired worldwide distribution rights excluding Australia and New Zealand to the film in a deal worth around US$5 million.^[11][12] The film later had its Australian premiere on 6 June 2026 at the 73rd Sydney Film Festival, where it also played in the Official Competition.^[13]

Maslow Entertainment released the film in Australia on 18 June 2026,^[14] with Neon releasing the film in the United States the following day.^[15]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 95 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Merging an emotionally-involving queer relationship with its clever monster concept, Leviticus executes its intriguing hook with eerie aplomb."^[16]

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[17]

Benjamin Lee of The Guardian wrote that Leviticus is "a haunting and innovative horror film", praising its unsettling blend of genre thrills and tender romance, noting the "genuine chemistry between leads Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen" that helps balance its emotional stakes and supernatural dread.^[18] Marshall Shaffer of Slant Magazine similarly described the film as "at times intensely creepy" yet also "a potent and poignant teen romance", emphasizing how the performances of Bird and Clausen fuel both the film's emotional depth and its escalating horror.^[19]

Richard Lawson of the Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film "takes a solemn, eerie look at homophobia and repression", grounding its allegorical terror in the relationship between its two central characters.^[20] Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting highlighted the cast's contributions, writing that "Leviticus owes much of its success to the tremendous performances by its two leads. Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen deftly navigate all the emotional complexities of coming-of-age in a repressed setting that hits too close to home for any reprieve. While the tenderness beneath Ryan’s machismo endears, it's Naim's bone-deep fear and melancholy that's as heartbreaking as it is compelling.^[21]

Alan French of FandomWire singled out Joe Bird's work more directly, noting that, "Bird and Clausen are both excellent in the movie," further adding, "Bird, who first popped in Talk to Me, is particularly impressive. Bird’s performance alone is worth watching, and there are some genuinely incredible moments exploring life in a fundamentalist religious movement.^[22] Preston Barta wrote, “If Chiarella supplies the film’s aching brain, Joe Bird supplies its heart. The young actor, already a breakout from the horror hit “Talk to Me,” anchors “Leviticus” as the boy through whom we experience everything. He understood the assignment instinctively.”^[23]

• Official website
• Leviticus at IMDb