MOVIE: Renfield
STARRING: Nicolas Cage, Nicolas Hoult, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Brandon Scott Jones, Jenna Kanell, Bess Rous, Shohreh Aghdashloo
RELEASE DATE: April 14th, 2023
WHERE TO WATCH: VOD (Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Roku, Vudu)
By Justin Pomerville (2 Broke Geeks)
Dracula (Nicolas Cage) in Renfield.
Growing up, I was exposed to the old Universal Monster films. Personally, Creature from the Black Lagoon is my favorite, but Dracula has always been a close second. When it was announced that Nicolas Cage was playing Dracula in a modern-day version of the classic film, I was extremely excited. At the time of writing this, it was still in some theaters, but I had to wait till it became available on VOD in order to enjoy it, due to the lack of theaters near me actually playing it. At that time, I have heard many things about this film that had me confused about what kind of experience I was in for.
After centuries of servitude to Dracula (Cage), Renfield (played by Nicolas Hoult) has had enough of his boss and is desperate to have a life out of his shadow. While going to meetings to learn about his codependency issues, he finally gets the power to find his voice, if only for a short time. When Renfield has a run-in with a crime family and befriends a cop named Rebecca (played by Awkwafina), Dracula soon learns how weak Renfield has become and decides to take matters into his own hands.
Dracula (Nicolas Cage) and Ella (Shohreh Aghdashloo) in Renfield.
Overall, this movie was everything I expected it to be. More of a comedy than a horror film, with lots of violence, and somewhat good humor. Cage and Hoult are obviously the most interesting characters of the film, Cage specifically because of how over the top he played Dracula. However, everyone else in this film kind of fell flat for me. Awkwafina and Ben Schwartz (who plays one of the crime bosses) have the majority of the more “comedic” moments. I use quotation marks because although they are mainly known for being comedy actors, I didn’t really find their jokes and timing great.
Tedward Lobo (Ben Schwartz) and Dracula (Nicolas Cage) in Renfield.
The other problems I had were, for a film that is 1½ hour runtime, the story feels nonexistent. They rush through a lot of plot with hardly any story to tell. Just characters giving their backstories so it can be used as plot fodder later. I wish they spent more time on the character’s relationships with each other. Even the Dracula/Renfield relationship felt like it suffered from pacing. The runtime felt like it was more dedicated to violence and fighting. Which, although fun to watch with creative kills, the cartoonish effects of the blood spraying off bodies was too distracting.
Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) and Dracula (Nicolas Cage) in Renfield.
Yes, this film was fun, but not as strong as I hoped it would be. Cage carries this film and as I said earlier, the violence and fighting are fun. But the story and effects bring it down a significant level. This film is going to the lower end of “Good” on the Nic Gauge.
