Fantastic Fest 2025 Review: THE RESTORATION AT GRAYSON MANOR Successfully Balances Family Drama and Murderous Hands

The Restoration at Grayson Manor is the Queer, caustic, sexy, family melodrama set in a gorgeous mansion in the Irish countryside flick that you never knew you needed. Glenn McQuaid’s film is a complex balance of moods that come together to create something truly unique and entertaining.

Boyd (Chris Colfer) is a spoiled, lavish, party-going libertine who resides with his mother Jacqueline (Alice Krige) in an old manor house. Jacqueline and Boyd have a bit of a toxic relationship, to put it mildly. He loathes her for refusing to embrace his queerness and see him as a whole person, and she despises the fact that his party lifestyle and sexual preferences have prevented her from getting the grandchild that she so desperately wants. Not so that she can be a doting grandmother (there isn't a soft bone in this woman's body), but so that the family bloodline can continue on.

Yeah, it's a messed-up dynamic, to be sure. Boyd has tried to move out and leave his mother and her smothering life behind a number of times, but has always returned. But now he finds he has to depend on her in an entirely new way. When the film opens, an accident caused by a falling mirror that is part of the manor house's renovation completely removes both of his hands. His mother calls in a special doctor and a private medical team to see to Boyd's injuries from the safety and privacy of their home, instead of taking him to a hospital. Doctor Tannock 

(Daniel Adegboyega) is a bit of a mad scientist, pioneering a new form of nanotechnology that will pair a set of synthetic hands with Boyd's brain, creating the most advanced form of prosthetics ever seen. Boyd's time in recovery is… strange, to say the least. As the hands begin to pair with the subconscious parts of his mind, they begin moving on their own and attacking anyone in the house who has pissed Boyd off (mostly Jacqueline). In the meantime, Boyd is developing what may be the first truly tender relationship of his life with Lee (Declan Reynolds), one of his nursing staff, and another member is running around the mansion high on just about every hallucinogen she can find. 

This film has a very complex vibe to it. At one moment, it's gonzo, with a pair of disembodied hands running around the house like Thing, choking people, and at the next, it's tender and beautiful. Then it will turn on a dime and become something out of a soap opera, as Boyd and Jacqueline battle it out in yet another loud and sardonic exchange of barbs. 

And at the end of the day, it's a beautiful story about wanting the acceptance and freedom to live your life fully as the person that you truly are. Boyd is unapologetically out, but that doesn't mean that he is living his life in a completely free space. He is very much still ensnared by the trappings of heteronormative life through his mother's constant pressure to produce a blood heir to take the mantle of their family into the future. Jacqueline is obsessed with lineage. Masses of portraits of their ancestors line the walls of Grayson Manor, never once letting Boyd forget who he is and where he comes from. As much as they despise one another, Jacqueline fully expects his portrait to one day grace the walls of the home as well, for future generations to gaze as they ponder their polished legacy and their place in this world. The push and pull of their relationship makes up the most interesting parts of the film. Yes, they are toxic, but they are also codependent and as hilarious as they are horrible to one another.

I highly recommend this film if you are in any way a fan of horror comedies, absurdism, sticking it to your intolerable, elitist family members, Queer cinema, and hilariously toxic relationships. The Restoration at Grayson Manor has it all.

Movie Score: 5/5