“Leviticus” Is The Gay Horror Everyone Should Be Watching Right Now
Leviticus, the Australian supernatural horror about two teenage boys in love, has become one of the most acclaimed films of 2026, and it is in cinemas now.
The hook is simple and brutal. After their secret romance is discovered, the boys are hunted by a shape-shifting entity that takes the form of the person each of them desires most. Each other.
A love story hiding inside a horror film
Writer and director Adrian Chiarella sets the story in a conservative, deeply religious Australian town, where a “cleansing” ritual meant to “pray the gay away” lets the monster loose. Named after the book in the Bible used to condemn homosexuality, the film turns homophobia, the internalised kind and the institutional kind, into something physical.
Chiarella, making his feature debut, says the idea came from watching hard-won rights slip backwards. “Horror is the genre of fear,” he told Variety.
“It’s where we ask the audience, ‘What are you really scared of?’ And that felt like the right space to explore homophobia in all its different shades.”
The reviews are some of the year’s best
Critics have been emphatic. Leviticus holds a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 83 on Metacritic, which the site files under universal acclaim. Variety called Chiarella’s debut “outstanding” and tipped the film to “earn a place in the pantheon of notable queer horror.”
The Guardian‘s Benjamin Lee gave it four stars and praised the “genuine chemistry between leads Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen.” For our money, it is the must-see queer film of the year.
From a Sundance premiere to the big screen
The buzz started early. Leviticus premiered in the Midnight session at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where Neon bought worldwide rights, excluding Australia and New Zealand, in a seven-figure deal. It comes from Causeway Films, the team behind The Babadook and Talk to Me.
The film opened in Australian cinemas on 18 June 2026 through Maslow Entertainment, and in the United States on 19 June through Neon. A home release will follow later, but this is one to see on the big screen while you can.
