Leviticus Movie Review: Plot, Cast, Ending & Verdict

Leviticus is a 2026 Australian supernatural horror movie written and directed by Adrian Chiarella. The film stars Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Mia Wasikowska, Jeremy Blewitt, Ewen Leslie, Davida McKenzie, Tyallah Bullock, Nicholas Hope, and others.

The movie had its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival before receiving a theatrical release. It opened in Australia on June 18, 2026, followed by its U.S. theatrical release on June 19.

With a runtime of just 88 minutes, Leviticus doesn’t waste too much time getting to the point.

And that’s something I appreciated.

The story is focused, the atmosphere arrives quickly, and the movie understands that horror doesn’t always need to be two hours long to leave an impression.

The story follows Naim and Ryan, two teenage boys who develop feelings for each other.

Their relationship becomes complicated because they live within a conservative religious environment where their sexuality isn’t accepted.

What begins as a personal relationship slowly becomes a source of conflict.

Then things become much darker.

A violent supernatural entity begins hunting the boys, but there’s a disturbing twist.

That means the boys can’t simply run from the monster.

They have to question what—and who—they can actually trust.

The idea creates some genuinely uncomfortable situations because the thing standing in front of a character might look exactly like someone they love.

And that’s where Leviticus finds its strongest horror concept.

There are plenty of supernatural horror movies about mysterious creatures.

But Leviticus gives its monster a much more personal connection to the characters.

The creature isn’t frightening simply because it is violent.

It is frightening because it can manipulate desire.

That’s a simple idea, but it gives the movie plenty of opportunities to create suspense.

It also connects nicely with the film’s larger themes.

The characters are already dealing with fear, shame, rejection, and pressure from the people around them.

The supernatural horror essentially turns those emotions into a physical threat.

Joe Bird is one of the biggest reasons the movie works.

As Naim, Bird gives the character a vulnerable and believable quality.

Naim isn’t the typical horror protagonist who immediately knows what to do when something supernatural appears.

He’s confused.

He’s frightened.

And he’s trying to understand what is happening while also dealing with his complicated feelings for Ryan.

Bird manages to make those emotions feel natural.

That matters because the emotional relationship is at the center of the movie.

If Naim didn’t feel believable, the horror wouldn’t have nearly as much impact.

Bird also brings some familiarity to the film for horror fans, having previously appeared in Talk to Me.

Stacy Clausen is equally important.

Ryan is more confident than Naim, but there is still a sense of vulnerability beneath that confidence.

Clausen and Bird have convincing chemistry, which makes their relationship feel like more than something added to the script simply to create a horror setup.

Their connection gives the audience something to care about.

And once the monster starts using that connection against them, the tension becomes much stronger.

Mia Wasikowska plays Arlene, Naim’s mother.

Wasikowska is one of the most recognizable names in the cast, and she brings a quiet intensity to the role.

Her character isn’t always given as much material as I would have liked, but her presence adds weight to the story.

The supporting cast also includes Ewen Leslie as Rod, Jeremy Blewitt as Hunter, Davida McKenzie as Izzie, Tyallah Bullock as Marnie, and Nicholas Hope as the Deliverance Healer.

Together, the cast helps create the isolated community that makes the story feel increasingly uncomfortable.

One of the most impressive things about Leviticus is that Adrian Chiarella doesn’t try to make the movie unnecessarily complicated.

He keeps the story focused.

The direction relies heavily on atmosphere, character relationships, and the anticipation of what might happen next.

The movie also benefits from its Australian setting.

The locations have an isolated feeling that fits the story perfectly.

There is a sense that the characters can’t simply escape the environment surrounding them.

That feeling of isolation makes the supernatural threat even more effective.

For a feature debut, Chiarella shows a lot of confidence.

He knows when to show something and when to let the audience imagine it.

Yes, but Leviticus isn’t the kind of horror movie that depends entirely on jump scares.

The movie is more interested in psychological tension.

The idea of seeing someone you love and not knowing whether they’re actually themselves is inherently unsettling.

There are also violent and disturbing moments, but the strongest scenes often come from the uncertainty surrounding the characters.

You keep wondering who can be trusted.

And that uncertainty gives the movie much of its tension.

One thing worth mentioning is the movie’s relatively modest production scale.

Leviticus was made as an Australian horror production, with Causeway Films and Salmira Productions behind the movie.

Publicly available sources don’t provide a consistently verified production budget, so I would not recommend publishing the previously quoted $3.5 million as a confirmed figure unless you have a reliable primary source for it.

For an SEO article, it’s better to say that Leviticus was produced on a relatively modest scale than to publish an uncertain budget number.

That also makes the film’s theatrical performance more interesting.

Here are the main cast members:

IMDb lists more than 30 credited cast members, with Bird, Clausen, Bullock, Wasikowska, Leslie, and Blewitt among the principal cast.

The movie was produced by Samantha Jennings, Kristina Ceyton, and Hannah Ngo.

The executive producers include Dale Roberts, Daniel Negret, Liz Kearney, Mia Wasikowska, Salman Al-Rashid, Sam Frohman, Simmons Frazier, and Robert Connolly, among others.

Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings are particularly notable because of their work with Causeway Films, the production company behind the movie.

The ending of Leviticus works because it brings the supernatural horror back to the movie’s central emotional conflict.

The entity has spent much of the movie turning desire into fear.

Naim and Ryan aren’t simply fighting a monster.

They’re fighting something that has learned how to manipulate their strongest emotional connection.

The final part of the story therefore isn’t only about physically surviving the entity.

It is also about refusing to allow fear and outside pressure to determine who they are.

That’s what gives the conclusion its emotional weight.

Rather than treating the relationship between Naim and Ryan as something that needs to be eliminated, the movie ultimately frames their connection as something worth protecting.

I wouldn’t call the ending a huge twist.

Instead, it’s a thematic conclusion.

And I think that works better for this particular story.

The movie isn’t perfect.

The mythology surrounding the supernatural entity could have been explored in greater detail.

Some supporting characters also feel underdeveloped.

And once the main concept has been established, some of the later chase sequences don’t feel quite as fresh as the earlier ones.

I also think the movie occasionally explains its themes more directly than necessary.

Still, these problems didn’t ruin the experience for me.

I would say yes.

If you enjoy supernatural horror with psychological elements, Leviticus is definitely worth adding to your watchlist.

It’s especially interesting if you like horror movies that combine scares with a deeper emotional story.

The movie isn’t perfect, and its IMDb score of 6.4/10 shows that it hasn’t connected equally strongly with every viewer.

But the much stronger Rotten Tomatoes scores suggest that critics and a large portion of the verified audience have responded positively.

For me, the biggest success is that I cared about the characters.

And when a horror movie can make you care about what happens to its characters, the scares usually become much more effective.

I went into Leviticus expecting a straightforward supernatural horror movie.

What I got was something more emotional.

The monster is certainly important, but the relationship between Naim and Ryan is what gives the movie its heart. Without that relationship, the horror wouldn’t have nearly the same impact.

That’s ultimately why Leviticus worked for me.

It isn’t perfect, and I understand why some viewers may find the story uneven in places. But it has a strong concept, committed performances, confident direction, and enough atmosphere to make it memorable.

If you’re searching for something different from the usual horror formula, I’d definitely give Leviticus a chance.

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