‘Leviticus’ Lead Joe Bird On Making An Unconventional Queer Horror Film [VIDEO]

Relative newcomer Joe Bird delivers a sucker punch of an impressive performance as the closeted gay teen Niam, in Adrian Chiarella’s tantalizing and fabulously clever queer horror movie Leviticus.

The actor had a significant role in Danny & Michael Phillippou’s horror hit Talk to Me in 2022, which he filmed when he was 14. He’s had a few TV and film credits including the period feature, Wolfram, but this is his first leading role.

In Leviticus, Bird plays Naim, a shy high schooler who recently moved to an uber-religious, scarily-stifling, Australian small town with his mother (Mia Wasikowska). Suffice to say he is not content there, but at least he has a buddy, Ryan (Stacy Clausen), who ignores him at school but likes to roughhouse with him when they’re alone. This horseplay quickly turns into something much more intimate. Things take a harrowing turn when both boys become victims of the highly conservative community’s negative attitude towards same-sex attraction.

Naim sees Ryan frolicking with the preacher’s hot son Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt) and, out of jealousy or because of his own internalized homophobia, squeals to Hunter’s dad who brings in a deliverance healer to scare away the gay. Alas, what his ritual actually does is unleash a violent force that takes the form of what you’re most attracted to in order to terrify you out of your desire–with deadly consequences. Both Ryan and Naim are forced to undergo this horrific treatment and must then try and outrun the entity produced by this unrelenting and destructive curse.

The film is a harrowing, potent commentary on homophobia, conversion therapy, religious extremism and small town forced conformity. It’s also atypical to its genre because it manages to blend tender intimacy with frightening horror.

Bird impressively anchors the pic delivering a raw and authentic portrait of a young man trying to figure out who he is, while others are doing their best to destroy him.

Neon releases Leviticus in theaters on June 19, 2026.

The Contending enjoyed a VIDEO chat with the affable young actor.