There have been so many films over the years about Dracula the Prince of Darkness, but the new movie Renfield brings us a story from the point of view of Dracula’s familiar who is played in this movie by Nicholas Hoult.
Renfield (Hoult) is Dracula’s (Nicolas Cage) long-suffering familiar whose only reason for being kept alive for many years is to serve Dracula and bring him blood to live forever, what we learn in this twist on the vampire story is that this is a somewhat toxic relationship with his “master”.
The movie gives us a voiceover from Hoult as he explains what he does for the count along with trying to get some sort of “normal” life for himself in modern-day New Orleans. Still, as fate would have it Renfield falls in love with a rather aggressive traffic cop named Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina).
One of the things that appealed to me when I first heard about this movie coming out was when I first saw the stills of Nicolas Cage as Dracula, I think it was more of a wonder how Cage would take on the role, yes I knew it would be a comedy, but still, it had me wondering.
Nicolas Cage certainly puts on some Vampiric Cage Rage with this role. He brings across not only some rather crazy scenes but also gives a character that you certainly get the feeling that he is controlling Renfield and I don’t just mean by his mind-control. He really is using the character in a twisted relationship for his own needs and never gives a second thought to how it is affecting his familiar.
When it comes to the titular character, Nicholas Hoult is a joy to watch as Renfield and as the movie moves along it’s great to see how the character changes and tries to take back the life that Dracula has so cruelly taken from him over the many years that he has been serving his master’s needs.
Renfiled’s love interest Rebecca (Awkwafina), is a character that I didn’t seem to find to enjoy, the character is very brash and loud-mouthed, but Awkwafina brings the character to life on the screen well and there are some comical scenes when she is together with Hoult.
There are some moments that surprised me early on in the movie, such as a lovely homage to Bella Lugosi’s Dracula, with scenes from the classic movies with Cage and Hoult in black & white and dropped into a 4:3 ratio that works wonderfully to give us a back story for Renfield and how he met Dracula, which most of us know anyway.
The comedy is rather black in the movie and I think I have a rather dark sense of humour as I did find myself laughing out loud on many occasions, then realising that no one else was laughing in the cinema, whoops!
Adding into the mix of the story is when a mobster boss gets involved, as the Lobo gang want to control the city and Rebecca (Awkwafina) seems to be the only cop in the city that has any interest in bringing down Bellafrancesca Lobo (Shohreh Aghdashloo). This brings a nice touch to the story that does make it more than just a movie about a strange, supernatural, relationship.
When it comes to the horror side of the story, there are plenty of gory moments with what seems to be CGI blood effects over physical style effects, but that works even though you can tell. There is a brilliant fight scene with Renfield at a motel that has some great wire work along with some gory moments that maybe I shouldn’t have been laughing at, but damn it was funny.
Renfield does move away from the Dracula side of the legend and brings it to a modern setting and takes look at a relationship that is about control, Renfield has several scenes where he is in a group with others that are in toxic relationships and these have some slight comic moments as he talks about what’s happening to him and the others in the group don’t realise what’s going on for him.
The movie world well, it’s certainly not going to be for everyone with its type of dark comic horror, but if you are a fan of Nicolas Cage you may want to check this one out and of course to see Hoult’s take on the character.
Renfiled is in UK Cinemas now.
Nic Cage and Nicholas Hoult star in Comedy-Horror
Movie title: Renfield (2023)
Movie description: Renfield, Dracula's henchman and inmate at the lunatic asylum for decades, longs for a life away from the Count, his various demands, and all of the bloodshed that comes with them.
Date published: April 18, 2023
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 33m
Director(s): Chris McKay
Actor(s): Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina,
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Summary
This is a vampire movie with a difference and brings us a modern take on Dracula from Renfiled’s side of the story.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
