Horror movies coming out of Australia are fast becoming some of the very best in the genre. Just in the last couple of years audiences have been treated to the sick and twisted minds of some of the country’s most exciting directors, and in Adrian Chiarella a new one may just be emerging. With its striking resemblance to the impeccable It Follows, Chiarella’s Leviticus delivers a chilling psychological queer horror film that has more than its fair share of haunting moments.

Leviticus follows Naim (Joe Bird), a shy young teen who has recently relocated to a new town in rural Australia and begins a secret relationship with Ryan (Stacy Clausen), one of the more popular kids at school. In this devoutly religious town, the pair both attend the same church where backwards sermons preaching severe homophobic views are rife.

As the pair discover and navigate their sexuality, experimentation is inevitable. When Naim sees Ryan kissing the pastor’s son, in a fit of jealousy he tells the pastor exactly what he saw. With the congregation convinced that being gay is demonic, they bring in a spiritual healer to perform a ritual intended to rid Ryan and the pastor’s son of their “gayness”. Before long Naim’s mother (Mia Wasikowska) insists he undergo the same ritual. Only there is more than meets the eye, with the ceremony unleashing a haunting shapeshifting monster that takes the form of the person you most desire and begins hunting you down.

It is always encouraging when a debut director takes big swings with the messaging of a film, and Chiarella ensures there are no half measures here. At the core of the story is the struggle the LGBTQ+ community has long endured in the face of bigotry, but the film goes further by exploring the ways religion has also persecuted that community. It feels like a deeply personal and resonant story that Chiarella is telling.

Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen are both fantastic. As relative newcomers to the big screen, taking on such heavy roles and excelling as they do is genuinely impressive. A particular highlight from both comes when the monster appears to be invisible to everyone else, forcing them to rely entirely on facial expression. The fear in their eyes pours through the screen and sends chills down the spine.

While Leviticus takes a little time to find its footing, once it does it hits the ground running and rarely lets up. The tension feels relentless, with the sense that the monster could be lurking around every corner. What makes it even more unsettling is the paranoia Chiarella conjures as Naim and Ryan begin second guessing what is real and what is not, creating an anxiety-fuelled nightmare.

Of course the elephant in the room is the similarities to It Follows, and with that the way the “rules” of the monster in Leviticus feel much less defined than they were in that film. What if the person was bisexual or sexually fluid and the person they were most attracted to at the time was a woman? Would that simply make the monster stop hunting?

That is only a minor flaw in what is otherwise an extremely well made indie horror film that delivers some genuinely petrifying moments through its psychological manipulation. It should come as no surprise that a distributor like Neon jumped at the chance to pick Leviticus up, because it is bound to be a slam dunk.