Neon Scoops Sundance Midnight Horror ‘Leviticus’ in Early Seven-Figure Deal

Neon makes an early Sundance move with the Midnight breakout horror Leviticus.

Neon has moved quickly at Sundance, locking in one of the festival’s first major genre deals with the acquisition of Leviticus, a harrowing conversion-therapy horror film that immediately set Midnight screenings buzzing in Park City.

The deal has not yet been finalized, but sources indicate the sale is landing firmly in seven-figure territory — a notable swing in what has otherwise been a cautious, slow-moving Sundance market this year. For Neon, the pickup continues a clear pattern: bold, socially charged genre films that weaponize horror to confront real-world violence, repression, and trauma.

Written and directed by Adrian Chiarella in his feature debut, Leviticus centers on two teenage boys caught in a brutal and deeply personal nightmare. As the official synopsis describes it, the film follows “two star-crossed teenage boys [who] must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most — each other.” It’s a concept that fuses body horror, curse mythology, and queer terror into something intimate and devastating rather than purely sensational.

Premiering in Sundance’s Midnight section, the film quickly distinguished itself from an increasingly crowded field of trauma-driven horror. The Guardian praised the film’s confidence and clarity, noting that in “trauma horror, curse horror, gay horror, Sundance horror — Leviticus stands tall.” IndieWire went a step further, likening its emotional and thematic impact to an unlikely hybrid of It Follows and Heated Rivalry, a comparison that underscores how effectively the film merges desire and dread.

The cast includes Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Jeremy Blewitt, and Ewen Leslie, grounding the film’s supernatural elements in raw, vulnerable performances. Rather than leaning into shock for shock’s sake, Leviticus uses horror as a mirror — reflecting the psychological violence of conversion therapy and the systems that enable it.

Neon’s aggressive move also signals renewed momentum at Sundance after a sluggish start to the market. While several high-profile titles — including Olivia Wilde’s The Invite — have sparked bidding wars involving A24 and Focus Features, studios remain wary. Recent years have shown that festival darlings don’t always translate to box office success, particularly in the indie space.

Still, Leviticus appears to be the kind of risk Neon is willing to take: confrontational, politically resonant, and unapologetically bleak. With WME Independent handling sales and Neon poised to shepherd the release, the film now moves from Sundance breakout to one of the most closely watched horror titles to emerge from the festival.

If early reactions are any indication, Leviticus won’t just be remembered as a Sundance deal — it’ll be remembered as a film that understands how horror can still cut deep when it’s aimed at something real.