Renfield review.
Renfield doesn’t do much to expand beyond its simple premise…but it’s one note is played for maximum fun. A bloody, violent and funny modern take on Dracula and his no longer completely devoted servant.
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Renfield
Directed by Chris McKay
Screenplay by Ryan Ridley
Starring Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Adrian Martinez and Nicolas Cage
Renfield Review
Renfield’s advertising makes three promises to the viewer. The movie is going to be funny. The movie is going to be bloody. Nicolas Cage is going to play Dracula. It keeps all these promises…even if it never strives to do anything more than advertised. If a bloody action comedy with Nicolas Cage chewing scenery (and people) is what your after…Renfield has exactly what you’re looking for.
Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) wants to have a normal life. Unfortunately, his commitment to Dracula (Nicolas Cage) makes this a complicated task. When he finds himself caught up in a war between police officer Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina) and a crime family…he is presented with the opportunity to become the man he always wanted to be. Dracula doesn’t look kindly on self-improvement when all he wants is his dinner.
Let’s break this one down by hitting those promises one by one. Renfield is a funny movie. That’s the most important aspect of its success. The tone of the entire production is to go hard after smiles and laughs. Ben Schwartz’s mob underboss goes for the jugular on a one-liner with the same ferocity that Dracula goes for blood. Cage’s Dracula is funny in an entirely different way. Awkwafina manages to wring a few laughs of her own out of a character that is mostly written to be the straight man. Plenty of the supporting cast provide a chuckle here and there as well.
Renfield is also an extremely bloody movie. Even that blood and gore is played for laughs. Arms are ripped off and thrown at people like weapons. A face is ripped off…a head is knocked off…throats are ripped out. Every kind of frenetic violence you can think of occurs over the course of the film’s many fight scenes. It’s a horror/comedy John Wick in more than a couple places. If you enjoy the splatter…there’s plenty. But that over-the-top comedic splatter that crowds find themselves surprised to be enjoying.
Finally, Nicolas Cage does, in fact, play Dracula. After stealing the trailers (and discourse) in the lead up to Renfield’s release…Cage also steals the movie. Well…at least every scene he is in. He’s in a fair amount of it and his presence looms over everything when he isn’t. Make no mistake, this is a movie about Renfield…not Dracula. But Dracula is used perfectly to move the story forward and entertain completely when called upon.
The reason we focused on those three promises is simple. Renfield doesn’t really attempt to offer more than those three things. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t need to. It’s just surprising how tight the direction is to present these three aspects. There is some backstory for Awkwafina’s character that provides a small dramatic arc…but even that only really exists to push towards the next bloodbath. This isn’t a complaint. Renfield nails the things that it’s going for, it just doesn’t go for more than that.
Hoult does a fine job as the brow beaten Renfield. His arc is simple and, honestly, mostly action oriented. Although the story on the paper is more about him finding inner strength…it’s his outer strength that takes center stage more often than not. He obliterates swarms of people. It’s all in the name of personal growth, of course, but they completely outshine any smaller moments his character is a part of. Which is fine. This is trying to make you happy…not think.
Renfield is a success. An action-comedy set against a horror background that hits each of those points repeatedly. From watching Nicolas Cage reenact Bela Lugosi scenes to whacking people with their own severed limbs…Renfield knows what it is. It made no mistake in advertising that to everyone. It made promises…and it kept them all. If that appeals to you…you’re really going to like this. Just don’t go looking for anything more.
Scare Value
It was probably a wise choice to keep the story of Renfield simple and let its great cast do the heavy lifting. Nicolas Cage is a great Dracula. He dominates every scene he’s in and is likely to be the thing most people talk about after leaving the theater. He isn’t alone in turning in great work…but he has the showiest part. Renfield‘s story may nothing more than an excuse to get from blood-soaked action scene to blood-soaked action scene…but those scenes deliver over and over.
3.5/5
Renfield Link
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Renfield Trailer
If you enjoyed this review of Renfield, check out Shifted and The Pope’s Exorcist
