User reviews

The cast are good. That's not the problem. It's what the film does with them that is the problem.

The parents discovery in the Forrest was chilling and touching. But the lead up to it was cliche and predictable. This level of lazy story telling would be the theme.

The film had glimpses of being different. Yet the execution was incredibly dull and non sensical. So many scenes require a huge disconnect from reality. The plot holes being big and plenty.

As for the story. Well there wasn't really anything I would call clever, interesting or new. It just zombie walked from one dull slow boring scene to another.

The climax was painfully obvious and poorly done. No tension. No logic. No effort. All very silly and pointless.

These actors deserved more. So did the viewer.

Not recommended.

The Radleys are a highly thought of, upstanding family in The community, but they hide a dark secret, they're vampires. Their solidarity and normal life ends when the younger members learn who and what they are.

I was seriously looking forward to this film, the list of names, Euros Lyn, Kelly Macdonald and the wonderful Damian Lewis.....sadly the realisation was lacking.

It wasn't funny enough to be a comedy, wasn't dark enough to be a horror, not was it clever enough to be a thriller, it just made for amiable enough background noise.

Lewis clearly had a bit of fun playing two parts, but ultimately it was a waste of his talents.

Are we really now in the age of The Vegan Vampire, it was always going to happen, as a child I used to love Count Duckula, the only Vegetarian vampire duck, even he'd struggle with this one.

Disappointing.

5/10.

In even-paced contemporary British vampire flick "The Radleys" Kelly Macdonald & Damien Lewis, with teen kids Bo Bragason & Harry Baxendale, seem a regular middle-class Yorkshire-coast family... til the kids learn (the hard way) that they're actually all vampires (albeit abstaining ones). Lewis' active-vampire bro (also played by Lewis) comes to help them through this tricky period, but makes matters worse (drawing in suspicious neighbour Shaun Parkes, fearing for the safetly of son Jay Lycurgo). Director Euros Lyn & writer Talitha Stevenson may want it to be the first of a new "Twilight"-esque franchise, but it lacks the requisite bite, flair and style for that. Mediocre.

The Radleys is a painfully dull, pointless attempt at a vampire comedy that fails on every level. Damian Lewis, who deserves much better, is completely wasted in this lifeless suburban vampire story, which has no bite and zero humor. The film's weak attempts at social commentary are as bland as its characters, turning it into a tedious mess of worn-out vampire clichés and shallow family drama. The pacing drags, the jokes fall flat, and there's no real horror to speak of. Director seems confused about whether to focus on comedy or drama, leaving the audience stuck in a boring limbo. The Radleys is a bloodless disaster that should've stayed buried, only serving to remind us how far the vampire genre has fallen. Lewis ought to fire his agent for dragging him into this cinematic nightmare, which is about as thrilling as watching paint dry at a funeral.

It follows a seemingly ordinary family with a dark secret: they are vampires. They choose not to drink blood despite their natural cravings, but their truth is revealed one day.

Kelly Macdonald is strong as Helen Radley. Bo Bragason is strong also as Clara Radley. Damian Lewis and the rest of the cast are pretty vague and don't really have any presence. Casting is a huge error.

The story is about a family of vampires who don't drink people's blood anymore. The problem is, there is no story. It's more like a few days in the life of a boring family of vampires. We lurch from scene to scene with nothing really happening. There are constant scenes where people just look at each other, or stare at the wall. Nothing is happening and no feeling is being communicated to us. People are just standing or sitting, doing nothing for seconds at a time. None of the characters except Helen and Clara really have any personality at all. Possibly one of the worst characters I've seen for a very long time is the pseudo-hippie-vampire-chief Will, also played by Damian Lewis. The character is not very well put together and Lewis's second rate acting abilities can't make anything of the character.

So we've got mostly poor actors, badly cast, with a poor script, and amateur videography and directing. Then we're told it's not just a horror, but also a comedy. I've just finished watching it and I honestly can't recall anything remotely funny happening during the entire show. It's almost amusing how bad the film is, maybe that's what they mean? Ultimately, there is no point to the film. There's no meaning for it. It's nothing more than a fly on the wall documentary of some boring middle class vampires going through their daily routines in a boring way. It really aws tedious to watch and when the end finally came and a long, meaningless speech had come to a close, I said "Finally, thank god that's finished." I give it a 2 and I think that's being generous.

This one will probably leave the shock and horror addicted as cold as the corpses of the victims.

This is a new take on the vampire theme exposing the internal challenges on the other side of the fence.. It starts with a seemingly ordinary family with a dark secret: they are vampires. They choose not to drink blood Kelly Macdonald and Damian Lewis manage to pull off the difficult task of showing the nuances behind giving into cravings and fighting those cravings in search for something better and the dangers of not dealing from truth. I very much doubt this movie would have been successful without stars of this caliber.

The rest caste have supported and exposed the sensitivities and choices that lead down the path of darkness or the bumpier road to something more meaningful and each was given their time to shine.

A bit of a Hollywood ending wraps it all up.

I liked it.

Welll......I gave it my best try......I made it a total of eighteen minutes.... It's been a long while since I've watched a British horror movie ..... I quit watching them a couple years back because the movies kept getting worse and worse and worse.... But I figured I would try another one and see if I could stomach it......welll, like I said earlier, I lasted 18 minutes... it was the best I could do....

In those first minutes, everything was the opposite of reality and how real life really is..... if you watch this monstrosity you'll see what I'm talking about... i'm not sure who is writing these atrocious movies, but whoever they are they should find another line of work.

2/10 - another British horror dud.

A bit harsh the ratings this lighthearted vampire flick gets on here. Well that's only my opinion, and my wife's I guess as she enjoyed it as well. Okay it's not a movie that will blow you away, but which one really does in this genre? It's certainly good enough to watch once, and although some actors could have done better overall it wasn't all that bad. I've seen Damian Lewis and Kelly MacDonald doing better in other movies but they were still enjoyable to watch. I'm glad I watched it. Would I watch it again in the future? Probably not, unless I forget everything about it and then I wouldn't mind rewatching it.

Matt Haig was recommended to me this year and I've read little else since. His non fiction books such as reasons to live are a must and really resonate, The Midnight library was brilliant too (fiction). Being a lifelong horror (and especially vampire genre) fan to boot m, I therefore refused to follow our house rule of not watching anything less than a 6/10 IMDb rated film, I subsequently had to go solo and ultimately paid the price for deviating. This is a poor adaption of the what is one of Matt's less engaging books and with too much background missing and story changes to appease some misguided social duty it really misses the mark. I gave it a 5 as I could appreciate what it should have been having read the book, however if you went straight in to the film I think it would be less. I really hope future film adaptions of his books are more worthy as he is a fantastic story teller and human being!

The Radleys is boringly dull attempt at a vampire comedy.

Damian Lewis is completely wasted in this lifeless story, which has no horror and no humor.

The story drags, the jokes aren't there, and no scares.

The SO fell asleep multiple times throughout, they are usually deeply invested in vampire stories.

The whole production felt as if a group of "Film Production" students put this together on a shoestring budget, with the biggest cost seemingly an old RV. It felt as if a group of students, friends and family made up the whole production.

Whilst the actors did the best they could, they were unable to breathe any life into this utterly lifeless script that doesn't know what genre it's trying to fit into.

I came into The Radleys with low expectations so wasn't too disappointed with this completely unnecessary addition to the vampire genre.

It played like an overlong episode of a daytime soap opera with the budget to match. I'm curious as to how a film so poor was green lit in the first place, perhaps a bet or a dare.

I recon it could have been 30 minutes shorter but ideally about 1 hour 55 minutes shorter. I made the error of not watching it all in one go so it actually felt like it lasted for days.

I won't include any spoilers as my brain has done me the service of forgetting most of it presumably to clear space for something (anything) far better.

One of the dullest vampire films I have seen. SO boring, so lame. G&y$ and mud sh£rking in the first 5 minutes..... marxists just cant help themselves can they. They have to insert their propaganda into everything.

The acting came across so fake and cheesy. I feel so sad that i wasted time watching this. It's a shame as there are a couple of good actors in it. Must have been the director/script writers. I will avoid this director in the future. Cinemaphotography was like a low budget sitcom. No real exploration of the universe that the film was set in apart from the main characters. The basic premise for the film was ok but just such poor delivery, writing, acting and cinemaphotgraphy. Also film makes need to learn we are sick of vampires that are guilty all the time.

I didn't really know what to expect when I went into this movie, but the nearly two-hour runtime combined with a 5.0 rating seemed intimidating. However, the movie's R-rating was at least a small light at the end of the tunnel.

It starts off rather simply, with a family that has a secret. Slowly but surely, it becomes harder and harder for them to keep this secret, and when the father's twin brother shows up, things get even more out of hand.

I liked the characters, especially the father's twin brother. He has unique relationships with almost every member of the family, and Damian Lewis did a great job portraying both characters with a nice contrast. The film drags on a bit, and not much happens. However, it's not entirely boring. That said, there are definitely logical flaws, and the comedy aspects rarely work well. The result is a pretty average movie that doesn't have much to offer, but it's still watchable despite the long runtime. [5.5/10]

The Good: Interesting themes as metaphors for Vampirism (sexuality, addiction, ancestry, teen angst), decent performances from Kelly McDonald and Damian Lewis, original British town-setting of Whitby, gorgeous cinematography.

The Bad: Falsely adveritised as a comedy-horror/thriller. "The Radleys" is none of those things, not scary or dark enough to be a horror, not funny enough to be a comedy, or thrilling enough to be a thriller. If you want a comedy-horror/thriller, check out any of the greats from the 80's ("Fright NIght", "An American Werewolf in London", "The Lost Boys" etc.) No suspense or stakes (pun intended). No particularly engaging characters, they're all just a bit meh (even Uncle Will). Shaun Parkes is criminally underused as a practical mute throughout the whole film, despite maybe 5 lines of dialogue. Very poorly paced.

The Verdict: At best, "The Radleys" can only be described as a familial-drama with specks of horror (it doesn't romanticise the horror enough or show you the seductive sleazy appeal of the other side to be classified as suburban-gothic like, say, "American Beauty"). Despite the interesting above-mentioned themes and parallels raised in a grounded setting, none are properly developed nor explored ("Bones & All" does it waaaaaaaaaay better) and for all the talk of bloodlust being the most pleasurable thing in the world, you never see anyone having any fun with it. The best part is probably the third and final act (last 15 minutes), but it's a snooze-fest to get there and makes you wish it was something more... satiating than a TV movie. Even more so as a brit-flick that dares not belong to the gamut of historical epics, rom-coms, or biopics.