Leviticus

A terrifying curse is unleashed in Adrian Chiarella's queer coming-of-age horror, which was a hit at Sundance and festival favourite at SXSW.

Teenager Naim (Joe Bird, Talk to Me) and his mother (Mia Wasikowska) have just moved to a rural and very devout community in Australia. When Naim falls for Ryan, he is devastated to then stumble upon him embracing another classmate and angrily betrays them to their parents. The conversion-therapy ritual that follows unleashes a truly monstrous shapeshifting curse.

In the same way that the demons in David Robert Mitchell's 2014 breakout hit It Follows preyed on sexually active teenagers, so too does Leviticus take on the twisted morals of a homophobic, god-fearing community in punishing queer teenagers for acting on their desires. Writer-director Adrian Chiarella's feature directorial debut is a creepy, compelling coming-of-age horror that places queer trauma at its heart.