Leviticus: Of Love and Horror (review)

In the tradition of Obsession, Adrian Chiarella coats a love story with a twisted horror device and reveals two talented actors. A promising first gesture of cinema, although a little wise.

Already a nightmare in itself, conversion therapy constitutes among Adrian Chiarella the ideal terrain for deploying motifs specific to horror. With Leviticus, his first feature film, the Australian director seizes this practice – which aims to forcibly change the sexual orientation of an LGBTQIA+ person – and gives it the rightful place it deserves: that of an inhuman exorcism. For Naim and Ryan, two lovebirds unmasked by the evangelical community of their village, “therapy” results in the manifestation of a violent entity that only they can perceive. Another significant component: that of Naim takes the appearance of Ryan, when that of Ryan takes the form of Naim.