Cheap Movie Tuesday: Leviticus (2026)

It’s Cheap Movie Tuesday! And today I want to talk about a possible emerging trend in modestly budgeted films. Romances influenced by horror movies.

Has anyone seen the trailer for a movie called “One Night Only’. It’s a romantic comedy starring Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro. The trailer initially makes ONO look like a simple film about two people on a date. But then it’s revealed the movie is set in a world where single people can legally have sex on only one night of the year.

One Night Only is a romcom inspired by The Purge.

Last weekend I saw a film called Leviticus which is about two guys who fall in love in a town full of religious fanatics. The pair are abducted and forced to endure an exorcism. This particular exorcism does not remove demons, it adds them.

Leviticus is a romance inspired by It Follows. It’s one of my favorite films of the year so far.

The Plot: Arlene (Mia Wasikowska) is a recent widow who is losing a battle with mental illness. She’s decided to retreat to a small town to seek love and support from people who share her religious beliefs

She’s brought along her teenage son, Naim (Joe Bird), who loves her very much but doesn’t share her faith. At church he visibly oscillates between boredom and shock as he notices just how extreme and esoteric the congregation is. This is the sort of church where everyone talks about their dreams as though they were messages from God and where ‘faith healing’ occurs every week.

Naim also notices a guy at church, named Ryan (Stacy Clausen). Naim is very intelligent, but also really introverted and immature so he has no idea why he finds Ryan so interesting.

Ryan has an idea why he might. He asks Naim to hang out, one thing leads to another and it turns out that Ryan had the right idea. Suddenly Naim wants to spend all of his time with Ryan.

It doesn’t bother Naim that Ryan insists on keeping their relationship a secret. Naim assumes this is because they’re in a town full of homophobes. He doesn’t suspect it might be because he’s not the only guy in Ryan’s life.

Then Naim catches Ryan with another guy and not just any other guy, but Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt), the pastor’s acne-scarred son who bullies Naim at school.

Naim loses his mind and does the meanest thing he can think of. He outs Ryan and Hunter to the church. The mortified pastor decides to bring in outside help and soon, Ryan and Hunter are abducted and exorcised by a “Deliverance Healer” (Nicholas Hope).

Now Naim is in a world of regret. Everyone at church resents him for forcing them to live up to their extreme beliefs. And while many of the clergy are insane they’re not stupid. They know why Naim turned Ryan in. Naim has eerie premonitions that his own Deliverance appointment is being arranged.

He desperately wants to be with the one person who makes him feel safe, Ryan. But Ryan isn’t the same guy anymore. Now, Ryan recoils in horror whenever he sees Naim. He thinks Naim is trying to kill him.

Someone is trying to kill Ryan.

Twice in one week he’s assaulted and beaten unconscious. The second time one of his ears is nearly bitten off. On revival, Ryan insists Naim did it.

And then Naim is abducted and exorcised.

The experience is traumatizing, but it doesn’t stop Naim from being attracted to guys. Oddly, it seems to make Ryan like him again.

Whenever Naim is alone, Ryan finds him. Sometimes he wants sex. Sometimes he just wants to talk. Sometimes he wants to tell Naim how much he misses him, that he loves him. All of this sounds pretty great to Naim but whenever Ryan gets close enough to touch, he attacks. Naim barely survives the first encounter. At the second, he realizes this isn’t Ryan, it’s something that looks like him. Something that wants to kill him. Something that manifests every time Naim is alone.

Naim is alone a lot. Particularly whenever he tries to sleep.

In desperation, he tracks the real Ryan down and discovers Ryan is being hunted by the same demon, but to Ryan it looks and sounds like Naim. This apparition always looks like the person its victims love most.

So Ryan and Naim must find a way to stay together. Because if they’re ever alone, they’ll kill each other.

Leviticus is the third book in the Old Testament. It’s a difficult read. If you ever tried reading the Bible and gave up early it was probably because of Leviticus.

The first two books, Genesis and Exodus, are comparatively way more entertaining with that flood and that river of blood and the burning bush and the part where God asks Abraham to kill his son and then goes “kidding! But then comes Leviticus, which is kind of like that ‘The Rules’ book from the 90s, only instead of listing rules for how to attract a husband, Leviticus lists rules for how not to make God angry.

These include the following two verses.

Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”

And, two chapters later, (in case you weren’t paying attention)

Leviticus 20:13: “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.”

If you grew up Christian and gay, this is what goes through your mind when you hear the word “Leviticus”.

It’s a fantastic title for a horror movie. Great title for a romance too.

This movie looks and sounds extraordinary. Cinematographer Tyson Perkins makes the eerie small town look like an industrial nightmarescape. Jed Kurzel provides the haunting score, it might be his best.

Stacy Clausen and Joe Bird are both really fantastic here. They both embody the immaturity, paranoia, ecstasy and misery of two guys realizing they’re in love under the worst possible circumstances. They are equally good, terrifying actually, at playing a demon that will do and say whatever it takes to get within killing range.

Writer/director Adrian Chiarella has created some incredible suspense in Leviticus. Particularly in scenes where it’s impossible to keep track of who’s real and who’s the demon.

If you liked Backrooms, Hokum and Obsession you need to see Leviticus too.

If you’re a queer horror movie fan, you need to see Leviticus pretty much now.

The Tea: Yeah, fuck the tea, go watch Leviticus.

The Snack: Popcorn, or whatever is most comfortable to eat while you’re watching something really scary.