Renfield – Movie Review

Renfield delivers the perfect Dracula thanks to Nicolas Cage.

Chris McKay, the director of The Lego Movie, The Tomorrow War, and The Lego Batman Movie, takes the helm in Renfield. The horror comedy is a spiritual sequel to Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, which writer Robert Kirkman pitched. The film stars Nicholas Hoult as the title character, Nicolas Cage as Dracula, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, and Shohreh Aghdashloo.

Synopsis

In this modern monster tale of Dracula’s loyal servant, Renfield struggles to be the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula. Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness. If only he could figure out how to end his codependency.

Renfield delivers a lot of goods but runs out of steam quickly. Despite Hoult playing a great Renfield, the story does not hold well on its own. It is muddled with an inconsistent tone, a theme shoved down your throat, and subplots surrounding Awkwafina and Ben Schwartz that go nowhere. However, Cage’s Dracula is the reason to watch this film. The scenes between Hoult and Cage are great, and I wish we got more of them together and simply more of Cage, the film’s MVP.

There are many hyper-stylized and violent action scenes but not enough to keep you from yawning at times. Unfortunately, when the movie strays away from the stomach-turning gore and horror, it begins to drag despite just a runtime of 93 minutes. Finally, the Rated R comedy could have faired better with less flat humor and more scenes of Cage.

Verdict

I give Renfield 3.5 out of 5 stars. This modern monster tale of Dracula’s loyal servant is a bloody good time until it strays away from the action and Cage who delivers a performance worth watching. Read more Reviews on Nerdtropolis and Subscribe to our YouTube.