My Review of Leviticus (2026)

 

Written And Directed by Adrian Chiarella

Ryan (to Naim, re entity): "If I'm going to live with this, I don't want it to look like some other dickhead. I want it to look like you."

I feel like I've been waiting an eternity to see this one when it's only been a little over a month. I finally got to watch it yesterday and I'll admit that while I wasn't totally blown away, there's a lot to admire about this film.

The obvious being our two lead actors. Joe Bird (who I remember from Talk To Me) and Stacy Clausen turned out to be suitably cast in their respective roles of Naim Reid and Ryan Whelan. Both of these lads will likely go onto bigger things from this film.

Set in a more conservative part of Australia, the film saw Naim and his mother, Arlene (Mia Wasikowska) move to an Evangelical town in Victoria to start a new life, following the death of Naim's father. There's something of a fractured relationship with Naim and Arlene throughout the film.

Being in the town he's now in, Naim wasn't having an easy time making friends but he did form a connection with Ryan and got extremely jealous when Ryan was kissing the pastor's (Ewen Leslie) son, Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt). Naim even went as far as to out the pair, causing both Ryan and Hunter to be subjected to conversion therapy of sorts.

Outing both Ryan and Hunter also backfired on Naim because he ended up in the same camp as they did. He also got violently attacked by a possessed Ryan while Hunter became a casualty nearly halfway through the movie. Throw in some homophobic peers and Hunter's vengeful sister, Izzie (Davida McKenzie) and a Deliverance Healer (Nicholas Hope) and there's a lot for both Naim and Ryan to work through.

The strength of this film was definitely the chemistry between Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen. Both lads did a brilliant job in making their characters fully believable and their romance something to root for. Did the entity terrorising them win or was it their love that conquered all? Perhaps, it's a little from both.

- There's a fairly gruesome opening scene with unfortunate lifeguard Marnie (Tyallah Bullock) being one of the entity's first victims.

- Yes, the title of this movie does reference a certain Bible passage about homosexuality. That was the point of course.

- Standout music: 18YOMAN and tiffi's Show Me The Way.

- Chronology: Present day in an Evangelical town in Victoria, Australia.

Leviticus (2026) faltered a bit towards the end and I'm not sure I was satisfied with how it concluded the entity tbh. Saying that, how fantastic are Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen throughout the entire movie? Excellent performances and very believable chemistry. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Horror Updates Again

I swear this isn't going to be an ongoing thing (or maybe it will). Saying that, let's get into, shall we?

Robert Eggers proved back in 2024 that audiences don't mind a bit of Christmas horror, considering that his version of Nosferatu turned out to be such a massive hit. Hoping to repeat that succees again, he's got the upcoming Werwulf, which will be released on Christmas Day for the US and January 1st 2027 for everywhere else. The film was co-written with Sjón (who also co-wrote 2022's The Northman). The film will reunite Eggers with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe and Ralph Ineson. A first look trailer is imminent.

Remember a while back there was discussion of Michael Myers going to the land of television? As it's been apparent for a good while, nothing has materialised with that. As a result, there's rumours spreading that a TV show has been scrapped in a favour of a new movie. Assuming this is true, the new movie would undoubtedly be aimed for 2028, marking the 50th anniversary of Michael Myers terrorising the residents of Haddonfield in Halloween (1978). Again, there's no official source for this and personally, it seems more like an educated guess on the matter. I imagine we'll get an actual update before the year's out.

Now let's talk about the two biggest movies of the summer that aren't blockbusters? Yup, at this point unless you've been purposely avoiding them, there's no way you don't have thoughts on both Obsession and Backrooms. As of now the former has clocked in $337.1 million and the latter $301.8 million respectively. This is good news for directors Curry Barker and Kane Parsons as well as some of the cast members. There has been some recent talk of award nominations for the former, including Inde Navarrette but we'll see how it goes as the year goes on.

Now as it's still Pride Month for the next few days, I should shout out Australian gay horror Leviticus, which is currently in cinemas. I do plan to see it soon. It also got me thinking about other upcoming LGBT themed horror films. You can expect Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma. The film stars Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder and directed by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw The TV Glow). It'll be in theatres from August 7th. There's a horror short called Four Itchy Boys starring Nico Greetham and Booboo Stewart, directed by Andrew Herbert. There's also the upcoming LGBT Giallo inspired Until You're Alone, which recently revealed it's first trailer on YouTube.

You know what? This might be a monthly thing. I'll think about it.