Leviticus (2026) – Review and Summary

What you lust over could be the death of you in Leviticus.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted on

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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“Leviticus” Film Details

Movie Summary

In southern Australia, near Murrayville, there is a priest known as the “Deliverance Healer.” He’s usually called upon by local communities when it is discovered that a teenager might be homosexual and their parents, the community, wish to do something akin to an exorcism. However, rather than free them from their feelings, what the “Healer” does is curse them.

Curse them how? Well, by conjuring a demon that takes the form of whoever that person loves the most, and that demon tries to kill them. Naim is the reason this man of the cloth came to his former mill town, and because of Naim, three queer teens know nothing but hell for weeks.

Cast and Characters

Naim (Joe Bird)

  • Character Summary: Naim is the new kid in the area, being raised by a single mom who isn’t fond of conflict, who has these untapped feelings that Ryan opens him up to.

Ryan (Stacy Clausen)

  • Character Summary: In Naim’s eyes, Ryan is a popular kid who acts like he doesn’t know Naim at school or church. However, Ryan’s life isn’t as easy as Naim thinks. He just blends in better until Naim makes him stick out.

Deliverance Healer (Nicholas Hope)

  • Character Summary: A traveling pastor known for his work with homosexual children and doing conversion therapy through one exorcism-like session.

Review and Commentary

Highlight(s)

The Uncertainty Of Intimate Moments [88/100]

Leviticus pursues fear in one of the most stressful ways possible because the horror isn’t primarily rooted in the aversion to the LGBT+ community, but rather in domestic violence. The curse put on these teens is exhibited as you go from having a cute moment with your partner, making out, teasing, being intimate, to them snapping. Be it choking you, dragging you, mangling your body, or worse.

As a viewer, it is jarring because you’ll go from Naim and his crush Ryan lying head to foot, resting on one another towards their knees, play-fighting at times, and then Ryan is bashing Naim’s head in. And to note, the film isn’t trying to make any comments on domestic abuse, but it does create this shoe drop type of fear. For alongside the horror elements advertised, this is also a very cute, sometimes notably dramatic, teen romance movie.

Naim is the new kid, not firm in his sexuality, but he knows Ryan makes him feel desired, and he likes that. So at the beginning of the movie, they are just exploring not only what it is like to kiss another man, but also have the type of intimacy most Western societies frown upon between men. It is very much a love story where their conservative town forces them to explore in secret. Add in someone else likes Ryan and you get a drama which reminds you that scarcity of not only options, but attractive options, is something a lot of queer kids deal with.

Hence why, when Naim gets his man, and they are talking, kissing, or hanging out, you get why part of the advertisements for this film use the word “heartbreaking.” For while the industry doesn’t have tunnel vision anymore, regarding only showing queer people suffering on screen, there still isn’t an abundance of Heartstopper-type romances out there. So to see Naim go from being in bliss, or Ryan thinking he is just taking photobooth pictures with Naim, to them being bloodied, it is such a gut punch.

The type that makes you completely unable to enjoy the romance, for you know this demon waits for not only Naim, but you to get comfortable, before it strikes.

How Horror Is Blended In Rather Than Frosting On Top [85/100]

Horror is both the easiest and hardest genre. Easy for a lot of people focus on the scare and gore factor, through real and made-up serial killers. But it is hard because there is a side of horror which also acts as a means of putting a mirror in front of the viewer, showing not only society but their place in it.

The struggle I think a lot of films have is they want the spectacle, which is good for the trailer, and gets butts in seats, but then don’t know how to handle the part of horror, which has more depth and leans towards being a drama. Leviticus doesn’t feel like the type of film that is using its horror elements mainly for marketing.

It does present aversion to homosexuals, and what that does to a person, but it doesn’t feel like it tacts on horror elements. Through having the person you love as the one who hurts you the most, it exhibits that guilt. How your private thoughts and feelings have the potential to kill you, making it all feel like Naim or Ryan being hurt by one another, is basically a depiction of not domestic violence but suicide. You are dying to be with someone who loves you, but because of the lengths society will go to keep you from being happy, you think you are better off dead. For you can’t feel this strongly and cannot pursue it. That’s the same kind of torture we see many characters go through.

And in an effort not to give away every scenario, I will say that Leviticus truly understands that the horror genre shouldn’t just be the top layer but mixed in and treated as an ingredient—one which reminds you of life’s daily horrors rather than something strictly found or experienced through entertainment.

On The Fence

It Can Feel Longer Than 88 Minutes [77/100]

Pacing in Leviticus, because part of its focus is being a romantic drama set in a rural-ish area, is slow. Not period drama, set in the 1800s, slow, but slow enough to make you want to check your watch before things pick up with the “Deliverance Healer” doing their demonic ritual for the first time.

Overall

Our Rating (83/100): Positive (Worth Seeing)

I think we’re in a time where horror is returning to its roots of depicting how horrific humanity is, through embellishment, rather than showing humans going through horrific things, with a fantasy spin on it. Neither one is better than the other, but I do feel like Leviticus is a reminder that there is an art to doing a horror film that isn’t mainly focused on blood, guts, gore, and thrills.

For with a romance you so badly want to live in, disrupted as it is, there is a multi-prong approach to what fear Leviticus wants you to experience. Be it domestic violence, what leads to queer people committing suicide, and more, it wants you to live vicariously and have more than a movie to talk about, but one that is an experience. The type that isn’t just part of your regular churn of entertainment but has mental and emotional staying power.

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Amari is the founder and head writer of Wherever-I-Look.com and has been reviewing media since 2010. He approaches each production with hope, rooting for every story to succeed, and believes criticism should come from unmet potential, while praise is reserved for work that meets or exceeds expectations.