‘Leviticus’ ending explainer: What does it all mean?

Sure to make our year-end list of the best horror of 2026, Leviticus is an Australian thriller that takes a terrifying look at the evils of conversion therapy — with a supernatural twist.

Since writer/director Adrian Chiarella’s feature directorial debut premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, critics have been singing Leviticus‘ praises. Now that audiences can go to theaters and see what all the buzz is about, a new wave of fans is sure to discover how uniquely scary Leviticus is, thanks to its mysterious monster.

Set in a conservative town in Australia, Leviticus centers on the new kid in town, Naim (Talk to Me‘s Joe Bird), who’s swiftly developing a crush on his classmate Ryan (Stacy Clausen). But not long after the two begin hooking up, a “deliverance healer” performs a ritual on the boys that’s meant to stop them from being gay. How? Well, that’s spoiler territory.

Let’s get into it.

What does the title Leviticus mean?

Leviticus is a book in the Bible. And while it has a lot to say, the most relevant bit in terms of this movie is Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”

The movie won’t quote it, but the actions of the adults in this Christian community suggest they hold this verse more dear than any of the ones where Jesus called for loving thy neighbor.

What is the monster in Leviticus?

Once the boys have endured the ritual from the deliverance healer, they are followed by something supernatural that tempts them sexually, by appearing as the person they most desire. This creature is not defined within the film as a spirit, devil, or demon — though the religious context provided in the small town suggests one of the latter. The boys stalked by the creature refer to it only as “it.”

But let’s not get it twisted. The real monster of Leviticus? The parents in this Christian community.

Think of it this way: The shark in Jaws is just being a shark. The mayor who keeps the beaches open because he values money over human lives is the real monster.

Similarly, here, the creature is doing what it does by nature — as suggested by the snake eating the frog in the first scene with Naim and Ryan. The monster/villain of Leviticus is the group of so-called good Christians who unleashed a supernatural tormentor on their own children because they’d rather see their kids dead than queer.

What are the rules around Leviticus‘ creature?

Thrillingly, Chiarella rejects a straightforward approach to explaining the whats and whys of his creature. With the film set firmly from Naim’s perspective, the audience only knows as much as he does through what he sees and hears. But much of what he hears is told secondhand, creating an incomplete taxonomy on this troubling creature. Here’s what we do know.

The creature is invisible to all but the person it is stalking.

Naim’s first encounter with the creature comes before he’s endured the ritual, but after Ryan has. So, while spying on Ryan, he sees the blonde teen lead an invisible someone to a secluded photo booth for a hot makeout session. The photo strip from the booth shows only Ryan inside. But when Ryan begins to cry out in pain, Naim pulls back the curtain to see his crush is being strangled. No assailant can be seen, but the indentations of a palm around Ryan’s neck can.

Later, when Naim is being stalked by the creature, he asks strangers at a gas station if they can see it. No one can. To all but those afflicted, the boys sound insane.

The creature aims to kill.

These life-and-death stakes are made clear in the cold open, where a lifeguard named Marnie (Tyallah Bullock) unknowingly encounters the creature. In the shower of a public pool, it seduces her and then violently kills her. The same fate will befall the pastor’s son Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt) not long after the “deliverance healer” performs the ritual on him.

The creature appears as the person you desire most.

For Ryan, that means it resembles Naim, and for Naim, it looks like Ryan. However, when they meet Jessica, another afflicted queer kid, she warns them its appearance can shift. “It always looks like the person you’re the most — you know — into,” she explains, “It doesn’t matter who it is: best friend, movie star, gym teacher you once had a crush on. It knows.”

“It comes for you when you’re alone.” 

This information doesn’t come from Jessica, but Izzy. Hunter’s sister relays this info to Ryan and Naim during her brother’s funeral, while helping them connect with Jessica, who she once knew from camp. Izzy relays the story of the creature like one might a ghost story around a campfire, with hushed tones and vague but terrifying details. Izzy is also the one who reveals the girl in the beginning died because of the creature, but the parents and the press tell the “dumb story” that Marnie had fatally “slipped.”

There’s a double meaning there. At face value, you might think she slipped in the shower on slick tile and incurred a deadly concussion. But in the context of the homophobia in this Christian community, it might be seen that Marnie’s “slip” back to same-sex lust led to her death. In that sense, the newspaper articles reflect the worldview of the monstrous parents. This, plus the scene where Naim begs the local police for help, reveals the wicked reality of this “shit-hole town.” No authority can be trusted to protect these queer kids. Their only allies are each other. And that leads to a curious conundrum at the core of the story.

How can Naim and Ryan trust each other when the creature can look like them?

Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen play Naim and Joe in “Leviticus.”
Credit: Neon

Chiarella expertly brews tension with this setup, because each time Naim sees Ryan, there’s a flush of yearning and terror. Ryan is what Naim wants, but his mother’s religious influence — compounded by the lusty creature she unleashed on him — makes him fear his homosexual identity. The creature itself speaks to this. Looking like Ryan, it tells Naim, “This is what they wanted, us to be scared of each other.”

As Jessica warned, the creature will only get better and better about mimicking the desired. Sometimes, Naim can recognize it by context, like when it appears at the bus depot while the real Ryan is already on the bus. In some instances, this fake Ryan appears in the clothes he wore the first day they hung out: a blue tank top with orange ribbing and jeans. Other times, it appears in their school uniform: khakis and a white dress shirt. Other times, it appears in an unfamiliar outfit, suggesting its powers are growing.

What powers does the creature have?

On top of invisibility and shape-shifting, it appears to have the ability to probe the thoughts and feelings of its prey. Jessica warns that it knows what they want, and the way it speaks as Ryan in the climactic attack proves this. Beyond that, the creature also has superhuman strength. When attacking Ryan and Hunter, it lifts them off the ground by the throat. At the convenience store, it shows it can interact with other matter, too, chucking a rock at the teen — mimicking the feisty foreplay Hunter and Ryan displayed before the ritual.

Later, the creature will lift a heavy joiner pipe with one hand, the same pipe that the real Ryan and Naim were unable to budge with both hands. As it gets stronger, it can also turn doorknobs and plunge through a wire-mesh door — though not without injury. However, as Naim learns when cornered in his bathroom, piercing damage — be it a nail file or scissors — has no impact on the creature. Only flame can hold it off. But not for long.

Can the creature be killed?

There’s nothing to suggest it can. Jessica warned early on that there’s no stopping it. And even after Naim set fire to the abandoned warehouse where the creature was trapped inside, he sees it again as he leaves town on the bus.

What does the ending of Leviticus mean?

Joe Bird stars in “Leviticus.”
Credit: Neon

Having survived the night, Naim learns that Ryan has gone missing. He also learns that his mother will be no ally against the creature. “I can’t help you,” she says, “This thing can’t be undone. That’s what they told me.”

Naim is shocked to realize his widowed mother, who speaks of Jesus’ love and God’s grace, knowingly damned him. She claims she did it for his own safety, saying, “I won’t be around forever. We need fear, Naim. It’s how we survive.”

He pleads for more information, but she ignores him. This interaction echoes other moments of parental neglect. When his mum realized he’s gay, she immediately took him to the deliverance healer. When he was being tormented by the creature and could not be alone, she demanded he get out of her bedroom and told him she’d not be home that night, assuring his isolation. Their conversation outside the burned-out warehouse is the final chance Naim gives his mom to turn her back on him.

He flees to the bus stop with plans to go to a city, where he might start again. At the bus stop, he finds Ryan. They are at first uneasy, not sure if they can trust their eyes. But soon, they are on the bus, sharing a set of headphones and finding comfort in each other’s presence. That’s when Naim sees it.

Outside, it stands near a ditch by the road. Once more it looks like Ryan from that first hangout. Despite the stabbing, scratches, and fire, it is whole and beautiful once more. And it is still in pursuit.

Can Ryan and Naim outrun Leviticus‘ creature?

Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen play Naim and Joe in “Leviticus.”
Credit: Neon

There’s nothing to suggest they can in the film. However, there are some clues that could suggest hope. While the creature did follow Naim to the hospital an hour away, where they met Jessica, it took it some time. Did it walk there? We only ever see it walking. And while some cuts suggest it can travel alarmingly quickly, they feed more into Michael Myers’ tendencies of dedicated stalking than a suggestion that the creature can appear in the blink of an eye. So, while it could follow the bus to the big city, it might take time.

Are Ryan and Naim doomed? I don’t think so. For one thing, both are blissful in that final shot, riding off together. They are not at the back of the bus, like at the end of The Graduate. The sense that this escape is just a new trap isn’t there.

Instead, I suspect that the farther they get away from this toxic community of hypocrisy and homophobia, the weaker the creature will be. This might be wishful thinking on my part. But having rewatched the film, I was struck by how much of the information they’re getting is vague or coming from a possibly tainted source. Izzy tells them some bits of information and leads them to Jessica, but she also sets them up to be ambushed for a hate crime. As a pastor’s daughter, her viewpoint is one ingrained in retribution. With her brother dead, she has little incentive to be a true ally to the boys.

As for Jessica, she is spending all her time at a hospital so she won’t be alone, forced to face the creature. She’s grieving her lost girlfriend, self-harming by snapping a rubber band on her wrist until she bleeds, and exhausted by the efforts of it all. She is a cautionary tale: stuck, stagnant, and miserable. And once Naim’s mother makes it clear the parents are monsters not mentors, what else is there to do but run?

Metaphorically, the creature is not the shame of being queer, but the religious trauma that the boys have experienced. The church doctrine that queer lust and joy will lead to doom is played out by the creature, but that fear existed in Naim before he even knew about it. When he and Ryan first made out, he got spooked when he caught his own reflection in the mirror, enraptured in sexual pleasure.

To follow the metaphor, queer people can and do overcome the trauma suffered from religious condemnation, ostracization, conversion therapy, and physical abuse. But the first step is learning to love yourself. In this final scene, we get a glimpse of that journey.

When Naim first kissed Ryan at the warehouse, it was in secret, and even then he was afraid. Later, they kissed on the bus on the way home from the hospital, but were toward the back, away from prying eyes. In this final scene, they’re closer to the front and in broad daylight. They are no longer afraid of being seen as gay. Maybe that won’t keep the creature away. But if it would, it’s not like Naim’s mum would tell us.

Leviticus is now in theaters.