[Film Review] Renfield (2023)

Nicolas Cage as Dracula. What more could you want? Renfield knows what you are here for, and it delivers deliciously. Director Chris Mckay’s other works The Lego Movie and Robot Chicken can be seen permeating through the movie, bringing a light-heartedness and colour to what could have ended up being one of the countless grey and overly serious remakes Hollywood seems to be saturated with now.

Similarly with the writers Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty and Community) and Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead and Invincible), the entire tone of the movie is already there for you to see; gore, action, but still aiming to pull you in with charming dark humour. Mckay relishes in his inspirations for Renfield, especially obvious is the influence of Sam Raimi. We see Renfield javelin a mobster with a disembodied arm in a fight scene which is as ridiculous as it is entertaining and as the blood spurts get bigger and more outlandish you can’t help but see that Raimi’s work is being honoured here.LISTEN TO OUR HORROR PODCAST!

We follow an unlikely protagonist in the perpetually downtrodden Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), who is in the service of the one and only Dracula. Whereas we would usually follow Dracula at his peak power, here we see the aftermath of the latest assassination attempt against him and how Renfield helps him regain his power. It’s very modern-day Lestat from Interview with the Vampire. Another interesting twist on the old tale is Renfield’s bug eating; in the original 1930s Dracula (which Renfield acts as a direct sequel to) we see Renfield eating bugs being a sign of madness and how far from ‘human’ he has fallen, however in Renfield it becomes the source of his superhuman Familiar powers. This twisting of Dracula’s lore brings an afterlife to what could become stale. You can sense a love for vampire movies here, Renfield feels as though it was made for vampire movie buffs but still manages to be enjoyable for those who have never heard of Lugosi or Frye. 

An example of this love and care can be seen in the opening of the movie in which Cage and Hoult have been digitally inserted into a scene from 1930s Dracula in which Renfield and Dracula meet. It’s very well done, both in a post-production sense and in the lead’s acting. Cage especially, really embodies Lugosi and it is truly a delight to see his take on the role. A voiceover by Hoult is set over this scene, which was awkward and unenjoyable although it didn't detract from the enjoyment of the recreation however, and it was thankfully not continued through to the rest of the movie. 

Despite Hoult being his usual charismatic self here, Cage really is a standout. His Dracula is gothic, witty and camp, but just restrained enough to not be outlandish.. This is Cage at his best, his physical acting is perfect; stances and gestures are pushed to the limit without being too over the top. While I could have done with a whole movie based around Cage’s Dracula, I think the restraint used in scenes including him is well done. Each time you see Dracula it becomes a special occasion, and the film did well to not overuse the camp. This manages to keep Dracula in an impressive limbo of feeling cartoonish but still managing to stay an actual treat in the movie, which is then important in keeping the audience epithetic to Renfield. Someone who was criminally underused was Shohreh Aghdashloo who played the leader of the Lobo crime family, Bellafrancesca. I wish that her and Cage shared more than the 30 seconds of screen time shown, they had amazing chemistry and were a highlight.

The ‘gangster film’ aspect of Renfield is enjoyable- which could be a contentious opinion- but this was well used as a catalyst for Renfield’s ‘emancipation’. The weaving together of the different plot points was nicely done, with the climax having the characters colliding in a satisfying way. My only complaint is that Rebecca (played by Awkwafina) could have been a much smaller role, her entire life backstory was not needed, and it drew away from more interesting plot points. Awkwafina herself acted as a good grounding device for some of the more outlandish scenes. However, she ultimately suffers from being next to two very strong acting performances from Hoult and Cage, making her performance seem lacklustre in comparison. 

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