THE RADLEYS - Mark Reviews Movies

The Radleys, Lionsgate

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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 3, 2024

They're a strange family, the Radleys, but seemingly no stranger than any other family, with their hobby-busy mother, work-obsessed father, awkward teenage kids, and a sense of distance emotional between each and every member. The Radleys quickly begins to observe the clan as fall into crisis after crisis, and what's somewhat surprising is that the source of that crisis isn't exactly the main gimmick of the story. That's the fact that the Radleys are a family of vampires, by the way.

This could have been a comedy, and to be sure, director Euros Lyn and screenwriter Talitha Stevenson (adapting Matt Haig's novel) do find humor in some broadly satirical and gimmick-specific elements of this story. Most of that comes from the intrinsically absurd nature of this tale, which sees these vampires trying to live normal lives among mostly unsuspecting neighbors, but for the most part, the filmmakers take the conceit and these characters seriously.

They may be vampires, but that doesn't mean they don't have dreams and uncertainties and a crushing sense that their lives won't amount to anything more than what they are at the present moment. Life can be tough, regardless of how good things may look from the outside. Life as an undead blood-sucker would have to be just as difficult, at least, and this film treats that idea as a plain fact.

The Radleys are different, though—not only as a small-town family with plenty of secrets, but also as vampires. They don't drink blood. Well, Peter (Damian Lewis), a local doctor, and Helen (Kelly Macdonald), his wife who occupies her time and feelings that something is missing with a long list of activities, try not to drink blood.

They are what are known in the vampire community as "abstainers"—those who consciously and with conscience refuse to drink human blood. There are still urges and temptations, of course, and maybe that's why Peter seems to spend his days at the office resting his head on his desk, while Helen is devoted to making smoothies, attending a weekly book club, participating in the PTA, and all those other things that she does.

This is, admittedly, getting a little ahead of the plot, which only reveals the Radleys' collective vampiric nature after teenage daughter Clara (Bo Bragason) fights back against an attempted sexual assault by a classmate in a remote part of the forest. She pushes him away with previously unknown strength, and the sight of her downed and injured attacker unleashes a pair of long fangs. Clara pounces, bites his neck, and feasts on his blood until the guy is dead.

Plot-wise, the story revolves around the family trying to cover up this killing. It's surprisingly easy, especially after Peter calls his twin brother Will (also Lewis), a proud and active vampire, for help. Will disposes of the body and hypnotizes a couple of local cops into thinking the mere idea that Clara might have killed someone is hilarious.

The only hitch, then, is the Radleys neighbor Jared (Shaun Parkes), a retired cop whose wife disappeared. He has since become convinced that she was killed by a vampire, that vampires do exist (obviously), and that the Radleys are vampires. The major complication for him is that his teenage son Evan (Jay Lycurgo) is best friends with Clara and has captured the infatuation of the Radleys' son Rowan (Harry Baxendale), who's very curious what drinking blood must be like after his parents explain the family's true nature to their children.

The plot itself, though, is inconsequential for the most part. It unfolds in the background, as Jared starts investigating his neighbors' behavior and their potential participation in the disappearance of the teen in earnest.

Instead, the film focuses on these characters' internal struggles and the difficulties of their relationships. Vampirism here is treated just along the edge of metaphor, resembling substance addiction in many ways, as the family members sneak drinks of blood without anyone noticing and Will describes it as a "family disease." On another level, though, it's just an insatiable obsession that takes up the whole of these characters' attention, leaves them feeling empty without it, and seems to offer little but trouble once any of them fulfills the desire.

It's less a metaphor of any direct parallels and more simply a way of looking at, as well as sympathizing with, these characters (Jared's obsession with his missing wife and searching for the truth about the Radleys fits in nicely with this, too). The story finds unique levels of sorrow for each of them, too.

There's Peter, who's convinced his marriage has become—or always was, for a specific reason dealing with vampire lore—a fraud and notices that a neighbor/patient named Lorna (Sophia Di Martino) clearly wants him to be more than a friend and her doctor. Will's arrival at the house forces Helen to confront confused feelings for her husband's brother—feelings that take on a tragic level when the nature of their relationship is revealed.

As for the kids, Clara finds a new confidence after defending herself and, yes, drinking blood, and Rowan wrestles with his identity, both as a vampire and in accepting his sexuality. The performances here, like the whole of the film itself, operate as if the vampirism is either secondary to or as natural as these grounded, human concerns.

That approach makes all the difference, as The Radleys cuts through its pseudo-metaphor for an air of regret, melancholy, and doubt. It observes these characters as living and very human figures, even if, technically, they're not quite either of those things.

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