When Renfield came out earlier this year, I remember seeing people raving about how great it is and many others how bad it is. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Plus, from only watching a few sneak peeks but never a “proper trailer”, I had little to nothing spoiled for me. Also, by pure coincidence, I watched the original Dracula (1931) a few weeks ago and loved it. And it could be because I watched the original movie pretty recently that I enjoyed Renfield.

Let’s actually start there with how Renfield pays homage to the original film by linking them together, inserting Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage into the original movie. Usually, I am against retconning, but in this case, they actually did it well, so I didn’t mind because the filmmakers didn’t do it to say: “Well, in our version, the original film happened like this, so that’s what you will watch now.” No, they actually recreate a few scenes from the original film, and then they build on that with Renfield, imagining how those two would have worked some 90+ years later. And this is the only retconning I can get behind, not the other: “Well, actually, this is what you didn’t see last time… only so our latest movie made some sense.”

In a twist, the movie is a gory comedy about Renfield and Dracula having this unhealthy co-dependant relationship, and it gets so bad that Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) visits a self-help group where we see him slowly building up his courage to leave this “unusual” relationship. What I liked about this idea is… well, pretty much everything. I thought it was a clever twist to portray Dracula with his henchman, but instead of the grateful servant, he just wants to be left alone after the years of service where he saw suffering and blood and received nothing but abuse from his Master.

This is where we must talk about the casting of the two “Nics” with different spellings. Since I have already mentioned Hoult briefly, let’s start with him. He continues to be one of the best, underused young actors we have working today. I hoped his supporting yet memorable role in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) would finally get his name out there and get him more leading roles where he can fully showcase his talent. And he’s been working steadily for a while, no doubt about that. But I still think he is one of those “movie people who know him, but the general audience is not so much” actors. I wish he’d reach that mainstream, where his name alone would sell films, because he is always great, if not excellent, in each role. In Renfield, his character serves as a narrator and comedy relief, but he also needs to deliver on the emotional beat of the story later on. It seems almost too much to put on one character, but not for Nicholas Hoult; he nails everything flawlessly.

Regarding “the other Nic”, aka Cage… Yeah, what else is there to say? This dude has had a career revival and plays another role that, weirdly, he seems to be the only one who could do it justice because you need an actor that can go “full Cage”. And you never go “full Cage” unless you are Nicolas Cage. His Dracula is exactly what you might expect from Cage portraying this iconic character. A tiny bit funny, a whole lot of crazy, oddly menacing and weirdly, such a fit. You believe that he would be that psycho “boss” Renfield would try to run away from. Honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if, within five years, Cage would win another Oscar, completing his comeback.

I also liked Awkwafina, despite the movie giving her the bare minimum regarding her character development. We get the story about her dad, we get the sense that she might be the only cop in her unit/district who isn’t corrupt and… Then Renfield and her form this bond/relationship? I don’t think that was necessarily bad, but every time we went to her character or Ben Schwartz‘s gangster family, the movie lost a bit of steam for me. I understand without these characters, the movie would have been probably a 40-minute short, but I still think there was a potential to have Awkwafina in this film, lose the entire gangster family sub-plot, focus more on these three characters, and then we could have had a movie that feels “whole”. As much as I enjoyed Renfield, it felt disjointed a bit at times.

Also, if you are not a fan of gore, blood and different kinds of details of people getting brutally murdered, Renfield may not be for you. I was surprised at how gory and “up there” it was, how the camera didn’t pan out and showed us all the details. I loved it because I don’t mind gore, especially when it’s mixed with comedy (see, Evil Dead franchise), but I understand that’s not everyone’s cup of hot cocoa, and it either clicks with you or not. It worked for me just fine.

Overall, Renfield was a fun experience that finally let Nic Cage play the master of darkness, Dracula himself. And in a bit of comedic twist, this movie is more about his henchman and the idea of a toxic relationship between “boss and his employee” rather than between partners. Renfield did what I wanted it to do; it kept me entertained for the majority of the movie, it surprised me at times, I laughed a few times and liked both “Nics”. I can recommend Renfield to anyone looking for a gory, darker comedy.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke