Unrequited love is one thing; this is next level – or (in other words) – your love is requited all right … to your death. Indulge and you’ll be pushing up daisies, child. Welcome to the newest LGBTQ+ hang-up, Leviticus, a film in which the sin of homosexuality is punished with eternal horror. Oh, not horror of the mind; you can get used to that; this is ever-lasting demonic horror. Good luck!
Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen) are busy being teenage boys. They check out an abandoned warehouse. They throw things. They smash things. They attempt to be destructive. And then they wrestle.
And then they kiss.
Hey. Wait.
Yeah, they kiss. You know, just like all mischievous teenage boys. Ok, maybe not all. But they do kiss. And they decide they like that part. There will be more of it, especially if they can get over being boys and try being men.
Naim is the frailer and needier of the two, and he goes a little ape upon discovering Ryan also plays gay games with Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt, which is either a very unfortunate or very appropriate name for a gay actor). Jealousy rocking Naim’s world, he turns the matter over to the pastor. Apparently, Christian Australians don’t “pray the gay away,” they reverse-exorcise it. The “Deliverance Healer” says a few magic words and *poof* nothing happens.
Or does it?
For while the “offending” boys don’t find any change, yet soon each is visited by an LGBTQ+ vengeance ghost. A boy in question will see the person that he desires. Mind you, no one else can see this person, btw. The boy will start “enjoying” the company so-to-speak and then the object of his desire will start to strangle him. This seems a cruel and malicious fate, huh? Constantly tempted by your desire of choice only to have it try to kill you. That’s -dare I say- even worse than finding an unattainable love. Your greatest fantasy is now your greatest nemesis.
Gotta say, the Aussies are making some pretty inventive horror films these days, huh? Because of the partially omniscient observer setting, Leviticus will constantly keep the viewer guessing as to whether the person in question is a genuine lover or a demon in disguise. I don’t know how it works that the demon knows all that its doppelganger knows … but it does.
My biggest problems with Leviticus are twofold: I don’t know what the 
demonic rules are (Is there an individual demon for each offender? Can the demons be killed? Why do the demons try to kill some of their targets, but are content to leave others badly injured?) and I don’t quite know where the film stands on gay relationships. I mean, the film seems awfully sympathetic to them and yet leaves the subjects -to a person- in abject misery, fully afraid to indulge their homosexual instincts. That seems a very cruel fate.
I liked the horror parts of this film more than the mixed message, of course. I think the film is saying, “Don’t have an LGBTQ+ relationship; it will end badly” and yet at the same time, I’d swear the film is trying to say exactly the opposite and would be horrified itself to learn that was the message we’re getting from the picture is one of reignited despair. But hey, good luck homosexual teens! Just stay in the closet as long as possible.
There once was teenager called Naim
His sexual calling found him wanting the same
But the man with the cross
Showed who was boss
Now, it’s straightness or die playing the game
Rated R, 88 Minutes
Director: Adrian Chiarella
Writer: Adrian Chiarella
Genre: Forbidden fruit
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: I dunno, punishment demons, maybe?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: You know that part in any Mission Impossible movie where a guy takes off his face and turns out to be an different guy? If you don’t like those scenes, you are going to loathe Leviticus
