Overview
- Leviticus: Ritual de sangre is the first feature written and directed by Adrian Chiarella and is set in a remote town in Victoria, Australia, with Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen and Mia Wasikowska in the principal cast.
- The film follows a secret adolescent romance within a closed religious community and depicts an autoproclaimed 'sanador de liberación' performing a conversion-style ritual that provokes a supernatural force without revealing key plot outcomes.
- Leviticus premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was acquired for U.S. distribution by NEON, and has moved into theatrical release in the United States and multiple Latin American markets.
- Critics have given the film largely positive notices, with outlets comparing its mechanics to It Follows and LA NACION awarding it four stars for its emotional focus and spare, unsettling horror.
- Coverage highlights Chiarella’s reported inspiration from experiences of institutional homophobia, the film’s placement in a strand of Australian rural horror that examines repressed social truths, and a minor discrepancy in reported runtimes (86 versus 88 minutes).