The Radleys (2024) Review: Damian Lewis’ Scene-Stealing Dual Role Offers Some Bites in This Decent, Darkly Funny Vampire Comedy-Horror
Meet The Radleys, a seemingly ordinary middle-class family that includes doctor Peter (Damian Lewis) and housewife Helen (Kelly Macdonald) and their children, Rowan (Harry Baxendale) and Clara (Bo Bragason). Then, one day, an unfortunate incident unleashes Clara’s true nature after one of her classmates tries to assault her, resulting in a bloody end. The thing is, Clara doesn’t know she’s a vampire, leaving Peter and Helen with no choice but to tell their children about their real identities, especially after they witness what she did. They may have been vampires but Peter and Helen vowed to live a normal life. They even call themselves “abstainers”, meaning they will not succumb to drinking blood — a longtime dedication they have successfully adhered to their principles until today.
But now, they have to deal with the body of Clara’s dead classmate and this is where Peter decides to call in his twin brother, Will (also Damien Lewis) for help. They want to get rid of the evidence to protect their daughter at all costs. Unlike Peter, Will who sports long hair, a punk-rock appearance and a whole lot of bad-boy attitude, doesn’t abstain himself as he fully embraces his true nature as a vampire. Arriving at The Radleys’ residence in a motor home, Will’s presence, however, isn’t exactly a good idea since he’s a bad influence. Not only does he try to seduce his brother’s frequently uptight wife but also teaches closeted photographer Rowan to let loose and have fun. But having Will around does benefit them in a few ways like how he manages to use his mind control against the local police officers questioning Clara about the missing body.
Based on Matt Haig’s 2010 young adult novel of the same name, The Radleys focuses primarily on Rowan’s side of the story. He has been harbouring a crush on his sister’s friend, Evan (Jay Lycurgo) and doesn’t have the courage to confess his true feelings. Evan’s paranoid ex-policeman father (Shaun Parkes), in the meantime, has been keeping an eye on The Radleys, suspecting they may be vampires in disguise.
Working from Talitha Stevenson’s adapted screenplay, Euros Lyn — primarily a television director such as Torchwood, Doctor Who and Heartstopper — does a decent job exploring vampirism from different angles with metaphorical contexts from embracing authenticity and living one’s true self (Rowan’s hidden queer nature) to sexual repression (Helen’s pent-up sexuality) and addiction/substance abuse (Peter’s subsequent craving for blood).
Further credits also go to Lyn for bringing out the best in his actors, starting with the scene-stealing Damian Lewis playing dual roles of the well-mannered Peter and the devil-may-care Will. His contrasting personalities are no doubt one of the highlights of the movie. Lewis is equally backed by strong supporting turns including Kelly Macdonald, Harry Baxendale and Bo Bragason as well as the rest of the actors.
Being a vampire movie, there is plenty of blood and gore on display while Lyn doesn’t offer much in terms of its visual panache, opting for a clean and mundane look throughout the movie. Perhaps a significant boost of visual and narrative energy might help to elevate The Radleys from maintaining a mostly neutral position. Sure, there are conflicts along the way as the story progresses but the potential high-stakes scenario — it’s a vampire movie, anyway — is surprisingly restrained for most of the movie, even when it reaches the climactic third act. The nature of the horror elements in this movie isn’t what I would label it as “scary”.
And yet, the overall above-average cast does help to sustain my interest in watching this nearly two-hour movie, which frankly could have used some tighter edits. The added elements of pitch-black humour surrounding the morbid absurdity of the Radleys being blood-abstained vampires manage to generate a few worthwhile laughs and witty moments.
