Renfield: A Mildly Fun, Gory Vampiric Romp
Renfield, Dracula's henchman and inmate at the lunatic asylum for decades, longs for a life away from the Count, his various demands, and all of the bloodshed that comes with them.
35 years after Nicolas Cage went gloriously cuckoo in Vampire’s Kiss, he trades out his cheap plastic fangs for a more official set of chompers to play the Daddy of Darkness, Dracula, in Chris McKay’s latest, Renfield. This is the major appeal of the film, to see Cage impress his Western kabuki tendencies on the iconic bloodsucker, and while he most certainly delivers, he isn’t the major focal point here. Dracula most certainly looms large over his long-suffering familiar, Renfield, but he’s only a supporting player. Like the title makes known, this is Renfield’s movie, and it’s the other Nicholas (the one with the “h”) who Hoults things down, setting the performative tone for the film, which Cage orbits around, flapping his nutty wings and chewing the neon-soaked scenery.
Working from a story from Walking Dead comic book writer Robert Kirkman, the film’s peripheral approach gives it a fresh angle of entry, and its central theme of codependency further brightens its novel slant. Unfortunately, Renfield’s life blood doesn’t stay fresh for long and begins to coagulate into mediocrity after a stellar prologue sequence. The screenplay from Ryan Ridley slowly and surely begins to tarnish any of its fascinating qualities. Specifically, it tries to do too much, and it overloads what should be a simple narrative with needless subplots. Its weakly drawn voiceover framing device also doesn’t do it any favors.
At its core, Renfield is a story about toxic relationships and codependency, and it’s an interesting aspect to explore within the Dracula mythology. But instead of staying small and making a more intimate, character-driven comedy, Ridley and Kirkman opt for a big and broad approach, which makes the film more leaden and unwieldy most of the time. Frankly, the generational cop, drug dealer, and romance subplots very nearly stake the film in the heart, but not to the point of completely killing it dead. Building a horror comedy about codependency exclusively around the support group and Renfield’s conflict with Dracula would have been enough, but all the extra layers and plotting make it much more flimsy and its overall output much more dim.
For all its issues, it still manages to be a decent time — much more than we had initially suspected — and it finds McKay growing as a filmmaker, learning from some of The Tomorrow War’s mistakes. It’s also a LOT more violent and gory than we’d expected, which is a major plus, and it primes you for the bloodbath in its throat-ripping, pope-exploding open. There are some hilarious gags peppered throughout, and the incorporation of practical effects (as opposed to reliance on CGI) is always appreciated. Despite all its perceived narrative missteps, it still strikes the funny bone and has a lot of fun along the way. Cage and Hoult are both excellent, and it’s nice to see them on screen together again (the last time was Gore Verbinski’s The Weather Man), but Awkwafina didn’t really feel right for the part. We loved her in The Farewell, but here she feels sorely out of place. Pretty much every time the film pivoted to her storyline, it deflated some of the fun and has us waiting for Cage or Ben Schwartz (the only redeeming thing about the drug dealer storyline) to pop up again.
Aside from its gory nature, Renfield’s big highlight is the its prologue sequence that Forrest Gump’s Hoult and Cage into Tod Browning’s 1931 film. It’s really rad to see them seamlessly blended into the old Dracula and bask in Cage’s delight as he indulges his eccentric batty side. Although, for someone who calls themselves “the California Klaus Kinski,” he avoids any Kinski Nosferatu-isms in his performance, and instead blends Christopher Lee, Bela Lugosi, and himself (Vampire’s Kiss) into a pretty filling depiction of the beloved character, but as fun as he is, his effort is neither a career-defining Cage or a top-tier Dracula performance. What you get is some silly and slippery momentary fun that pretty frequently trips over its own feet. It could have been something really memorable, but it’s a film content with being a familiar, and for the most part, that’s all right.
Recommendation: If you’re looking for a kooky horror comedy with lots of gore, gags, and Nicolas Cage, give Renfield a watch. It won’t crack a year-end top 10, but it’ll help you suck the blood outta 90 minutes.
Thirsty for more?! Check out the links below:
Nicolas Cage movies
Top 10 Nicolas Cage performances
Nicholas Hoult movies
The Farewell review
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!