Renfield

4 outta 5

Renfield is an interesting take on the iconic Dracula vampire mythos, with the main character being the mostly forgotten Count Dracula sidekick. The movie is breezy, funny and has so much excessive splatter it becomes absurdly comedic. It takes an interestingly modern perspective of how the relationship between Dracula and his servant Renfield is toxic, and the self-actualization of Renfield bounces between comedic and genuinely emotional catharsis. It also has fun references to previous Dracula films, extreme carnage, quips, and outsized performances.

For almost a century, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) has been the Familiar of the nefarious Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage). A Familiar is basically a servant to the vampire, having to track down meals and nurse his master back to health. But Renfield is constantly put down by his boss, as the vampire proclaims how he is so fantastic and Renfield just has to bring meals. Dracula has been regenerating after a vicious defeat and needs more sacrifices to bring him to his full power. All this work has made Renfield anxious, so he ends up in a self-help group dedicated to survivors of toxic relationships. Meanwhile, Renfield stumbles across a cop, Rebecca (Awkafina) and a crook, Tedward (Ben Schwartz), who are locked into a long-standing grudge match. Renfield becomes infatuated with Rebecca, but she isn’t having any of it. Tedward is searching for Renfield after the Familiar breaks up Tedward’s heist which leads the crook to Dracula. Even worse, Dracula has learned about his Familiar’s support group and he is not happy.

Dracula has been kind of watered down over the years, the predominant Dracula currently is probably the funny Dad of the Hotel Transylvania movies. So it is awesome to see a classic version of Dracula here, complete with the iconic outfit from the 1931 movie. Renfield’s director even says he views this film as a sequel to the 1931 version as even the flashbacks put Cage and Hoult into 1931’s Dracula. The representation of Dracula here as the classic version contrasts rather amusingly with how graphic the violence is. The scene of Dracula’s initial defeat years ago is very bombastic, with Dracula taking on his classic opponents like Priests and Vampire Hunters. It ends with Dracula being charred and when Renfield asks his master if he’s alright the crispy Dracula groans, “No.” Cage’s performance as Dracula is outstanding. He plays it loud but it’s freakin’ Dracula, of course it can be loud. And where the fangs come out and he can seem scary. Cage bobbles between camp, genuinely nasty narcissist, and unholy monster, and it’s all engaging. There are some good makeup effects as Dracula is slowly healing. The version of him as a shrivelled monster is really gross, and eventually as he heals he looks like the classic version.

There are a few bits that feel cribbed from What We Do in the Shadows. Aside from the generally comedic take on Dracula mythos, a big similarity is the meek Familiar getting no respect from his vampiric master and his journey of self-actualization which is broadly similar to Guillermo from the Shadows TV show. But Renfield is a distinct Familiar, as realizing he’s in a codependent relationship starts off as a quirky joke but then becomes deeper. When he confronts Dracula about their relationship, he tries to read from his self help book but Dracula belittles Renfield as being weak. Later in a climatic scene Renfield beats Dracula and proclaims his self worth, all done in a dynamic shot with Hoult staring down the camera.

Hoult gets to show a Renfield who has been worn down by decades of service and by reaching out to Rebecca he tries to become his own person. Unfortunately, Renfield also comes off as a huge weirdo which immediately turns Rebecca off. Renfield also has supernatural powers given to him by his master that are triggered by eating bugs. It’s a silly plot detail as Renfield must eat insects for his powers to kick in, but it leads to wacky moments like him eating an entire ant farm. Awkafina as Rebecca is basically there for snarky asides, although she does have a dramatic moment where she faces down Tedward. Schwartz as the whiny crook Tedward is very sleazy as a guy playing at being a big time drug dealer but he’s kind of a weenie, and he gets in an unexpected character development later. He’s subservient to his mother played by Shohreh Aghdashloo who is a mob boss cliché.

There is a lot of incredibly messy action. A scene when Renfield and Rebecca fight off a crew at an apartment complex is insanely gory as people explode like wet balloons. There’s even a moment when Renfield kicks Tedward that goes X-ray vision and the result is incredibly gross. The extreme nature of the gore is played mostly for laughs but there can be something freaky, like when Dracula takes out Renfield’s entire support group all in the time it takes for Renfield to be kicked across the room.

Renfield is a weird and wild comedic movie that has some surprising dramatic bits and small moments of emotional truth about codependent toxic relationships. But mostly it’s a weird reinvention of the iconic Dracula mythos with lots of carnage along the way.