Review: Leviticus

 

Official Synopsis: Two teenage boys, Naim (Joe Brid) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen) must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other.

Joe Bird is certainly making a name for himself as an up-and-coming Aussie talent to watch. After his excellent turn in another horror flick, Talk To Me, he's back again as the lead here.

Leviticus will no doubt draw a lot of comparisons to It Follows. It's about an entity that "follows" its victims after all, but this time instead of being framed like an STD, it's explicitly passed along in a nonconsensual religious ceremony? Possession? I'm not even sure what to call it. It's specifically used to target LGBTQIA youth. This is what sets this film apart. It also effectively builds tension because at times you're never sure if Naim and Ryan are interacting with each other, or the entity. 

I might be projecting my own feelings into this a bit, but as much as I enjoyed Leviticus for its originality, I think it missed a huge opportunity to dive deeper into Naim's relationship with his mother (played by Mia Wasikowska) and the church in a more straight forward and passionate matter. When you have two actors who are very capable of giving emotional performances, I don't know why you'd waste a confrontation between the two of them. What I expected to be a climax was more of a passing moment.

And maybe that's just because I wanted Naim and Ryan to "win" I didn't want them to have to run. I want them to confront the bigots who did this to them, and that's clearly not the type of movie that director/writer Adrian Chiarella wanted to make. He could've easily given this a different ending. Maybe he has more story he wants to tell. Maybe he was fine leaving it here. I personally just wanted something different.

That doesn't mean the film isn't worth watching. I think it's very much worth your time and money. The actors are all excellent, and it's a very different role for Mia if you've been a long time fan of hers like I have. I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts if you've seen it. 

Grade: B-