The 55th edition of New Directors/New Films opened this week with *Leviticus*, the feature debut from Australian filmmaker Adrian Chiarella. A standout from Sundance’s Midnight program, the film centers on Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen), two teenagers in a remote Australian town whose burgeoning romance is met with the blunt force of conversion therapy. Chiarella transforms this sociological trauma into a supernatural ordeal: a curse ensures that whenever one boy is alone, a murderous entity appearing as the other manifests to haunt them.
Critics have noted Chiarella’s debt to the tactile horror of John Carpenter’s *The Thing* and the relentless, atmospheric dread of David Robert Mitchell’s *It Follows*. Yet *Leviticus* distinguishes itself by using the "shape-shifter" trope to explore the fractured self-image imposed by repressive systems. The entity is not merely a monster, but a demonic reflection of the protagonists' deepest desires, weaponized against them by the very rituals intended to "cure" them.
Despite its grisly sequences, the film maintains a delicate balance between the "chilly horror of isolation" and a sweeping, star-crossed romance. Chiarella avoids the trap of dwelling solely on grim trauma, instead leaning into the emotional stakes of the boys' relationship. It is a work that suggests love may indeed tear its subjects apart, but positions the risk as a necessary act of defiance against a hostile environment.
With reporting from Criterion Daily.
Source · Criterion Daily
