– Love, Addiction and Choices –
by Damianista | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | October 8, 2024
“The comedic premise of the film is that this family is living this dull, suburban life, and they’ve got a big secret, and no one knows what it is until this event happens in the film. And then the shit hits the fan, all hell breaks loose.” – Damian Lewis.
I finally met The Radleys last Friday at Cinema Village in NYC. And I met them in style, too… with my fangs on!
Probably because they saw us arriving for the 3:45 pm matinee quite early and taking pictures with the movie poster with our fangs on, the guys working at the cinema cafe were curious about whether we were involved with the movie 🙂 “Well, sort of,” I said. “I’m Damian Lewis’ number 1 fan in the world.” And this number 1 fan in the world is ready to give the wonderful fandom her take on this witty coming-of-age dark comedy with a bloody twist – pun intended! Thanks to Lewisto and Gingersnap for reading my review and giving feedback! And, if you don’t want any spoilers, read this after you see the movie!
The opening scene, which I am not giving away, sets the tone. There are creatures in this world whose natural cravings are well tolerated by humans. And then there are ones not well tolerated at all. The Radleys focuses on the latter.
The Radleys are seemingly an ordinary suburban family. They live in the small village of Bishopthorpe, Yorkshire. Peter Radley is an overworked general practitioner. His wife Helen is an amateur artist who paints houses and trees in watercolor. Their marriage has gotten colder over the years. Peter and Helen have two teenage children who attend the local high school. Clara has recently become a vegan, hoping to have animals treat her better. Rowan, who describes himself as an “observer of life,” obsessively takes photos of his friends’ necks. He is also desperately in love with Evan, the new boy at school, who is good friends with Clara. But Rowan is too insecure to approach him.
Despite their best efforts to live like the next family, the Radleys are perceived to be “a little odd” by their fellow villagers. They are very pale, and the amount of 50+ sunscreen they use is off the charts. The Radley kids are called freaks and bullied at school on top of their growing pains.
Only when Clara kills Stuart Harper, a classmate and a total asshole, who forces himself on her after leaving a party, we learn about the huge secret this “little odd” family has: they are vampires! Only Peter and Helen know about it. The couple became abstainers, vampires who choose not to drink blood despite their natural cravings when they decided to start a family, and they agreed it was best to keep the truth from their children.
But now that the shit hits the fan, Peter and Helen do their best to hide the dead boy’s body and then talk to their kids about their “family disease.” They introduce Clara and Rowan to the Abstainer’s Handbook, sort of a manual for vampires who want to live as abstainers.
Knowing that Clara may be a suspect in the missing boy case, Peter calls the only person he knows who could help them make the dead body disappear: Peter’s twin brother Will, whom Clara and Rowan never knew existed! A practicing vampire, Will is proud of his hedonistic lifestyle. And he has absolutely zero interest in fitting in when he arrives at Radleys’ home in his old camper van.
Damian Lewis is playing twin brothers Peter and Will Radley in The Radleys. Kelly MacDonald is playing Peter’s wife, Helen, the character I think holds the movie together. She is married to Peter, but you feel the sexual tension between her and Will as soon as Will enters their home. Helen does not want Will there, but she knows he is the only person that can help them. Hearing the first-ever conversation Will has with his nephew Rowan; we also know that Will is experienced in making dead bodies disappear!
And this is not the only help Will provides for the family. Clara is a suspect in Stuart Harper’s case because she is the last person the missing boy was seen with. When the young girl does not give the answers she is supposed to give to the policewomen who interrogate her, Helen finds herself knocking on Will’s van door to ask him to do something she called “transgressive, manipulative, unethical” in the past. This is a mom who is desperate to protect her child. Kelly Macdonald, whom I loved in the BBC drama Line of Duty, shines as Helen Radley.
Read the rest of the original article at Fan Fun with Damian Lewis