Rent Renfield (2023)

Humorous And Gory Comedy/Horror - Renfield review by GI

A comedy/horror that is resplendent with Pythonesque blood and gore and has Nicolas Cage having a ball as Count Dracula, no doubt a role he has wanted to play for his entire life! There's some neat homages in here not least to the Bela Lugosi Dracula in a small recreation of a classic scene from the 1931 film and at one point Cage looks remarkably like Lon Chaney from the 1927 film London After Midnight. Fans will no doubt spot a host of others. Here we have a modern day reworking of the characters from the Dracula novel chiefly Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), the humble law clerk who is a servant to Dracula and has been given some limited powers in order to provide his master with food. Nicholas Hoult shows he can manage comedy quite well and he plays the tortured young man who has looked after his master for decades now finding themselves in New Orleans where Dracula is recovering from his last fight with priests. This cues a daft story of organised criminals, a dedicated cop (Awkwafina) and a self help group all coming up against Dracula intent on world domination and Renfield who has to decide whose side he's on. There's some funny lines and scenes dotted throughout and everyone is clearly having fun but it's all fairly lacklustre and forgettable.

Unlike this Dracula this film somehow lacks confidence... - Renfield review by Strovey

Nicolas Cage as Dracula is exactly how you imagine it. Over-the-top more evil-Nicolas-Cage than the Lord of Evil but somehow very entertaining rather than grating. It is certainly not just any actor who can do this.

Pair this Dracula with a foil played by the ever-reliable and consistent Nicholas Hoult jumping right back in where Warm Bodies left off back in 2013 and if nothing else you will have a watchable film. Make the run time a tad over 90 minutes and you have a good formula.

Awkwafina plays a major role in an extremely similar level to everything I have so far seen her in, not necessarily a bad thing in the circumstances, but as her career progresses it would be interesting to see her branch out. Interestingly enough not a hint of a romantic subplot in the story whereas most films of this type tend to dump one. Her human foil is Ben Schwartz playing Teddy Lobo the master criminal’s slightly less ‘masterly’ son and he gives a good reliable Ben Schwartz display. So the main characters are solid, planted, and do not take anything away from the film.

The film is silly, this being no revelation, and so gory that there is no shock value as the violence is definitely Tom and Jerry level. Normally I am not a big fan of non-stop violent action that always seems to outstay its welcome but here the kinetic action whilst silly and defying any, even perfunctory, logic just about held together for me.

Whilst the acting and silliness are okay in this type of film it is difficult to figure out what the makers are trying to say. Clearly, the very small underlying message is toxic relationships but that, like everything here, is played entirely for laughs. The horror side of it is truly violently gory and death-filled but the makers lose their nerve and everything seems to get tied up too conveniently, and more important happily, which is disappointing.

Plot holes? There are plenty but perhaps pointing them out is churlish. It did seem strange that the writers, Robert Kirman amongst them, used the footage from 1931s Dracula and seemed willing to follow the rules set down by Browning’s kick-starter of this filmatic lore, but near the end, the rules are thrown out to suit the ‘happy’ ending. A more nihilistic finish might have been better but maybe less audience pleasing.

Nit-picking points aside Renfield is a scenery-chewing, blood-fuelled, romp through an imagined relationship of Dracula and Renfield in the modern world that is not derailed by being too long and out-staying its welcome to become tedious. I have a feeling the comedic non-logical take on it this subject might be the only way to approach this topic nowadays.