“Renfield” (2023) is an American horror crime comedy starring Nicholas Hoult as the titular character, Robert Montague Renfield, a former real estate attorney, World War I vet and former husband and father who has been in a toxic work relationship with Count Dracula (Nicholas Cage) since around 1931—the film is an unofficial sequel to “Dracula” (1931), an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s famous vampire novel. As Dracula’s familiar, i.e. servant, in exchange for super powers through consuming creepy crawlies, he gets victims to keep his master alive, but he tries to cope with the job by becoming a vigilante and ensnaring other toxic people whom he finds by attending a self-help group, which inadvertently makes him realize that he needs to break the abusive cycle. When he tries to free himself from Dracula’s thrall and live a full life, Dracula goes on a rampage to destroy everyone that Renfield cares about.
I am angry at everyone who saw “The Pope’s Exorcist” (2023) and not “Renfield,” which is a far superior movie yet the prior obliterated it. Disclaimer: I love all vampire movies, but “Renfield,” the brainchild of The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman, is a delight and super cute. The casting director is brilliant to cast Hoult, who proved in “Warm Bodies” (2013) that an undead guy with the right kind of mournful, sweet eyes can make audiences sign up for a romantic horror anti-hero. Hoult makes Renfield credible as a man who feels helpless to stop great evil as he effortlessly rips opponents to shreds and has a higher body and decapitation onscreen count than his more fearsome boss. Hoult gets to use his British accent so the joke lies in the proper, polite manner in a gruesome, disgusting situation. The incongruous blend of The Matrix’s Neo meets early pre-arrest genteel Hugh Grant is a joy. He carries the fast-paced dialogue, and his body language is adorable when he waves through the carnage.
If you fail to find Hoult charming, “Renfield” also mines humor from placing a gothic horror story in a crime-ridden, corrupt, sordid yet sensitive New Orleans. The situation applies language of armchair psychology such as narcissism and co-dependent to a classic story, which brings the mystical story down to earth but also gently ridicules quotidian monsters who terrorize meek people coming together to heal. When the world of 12-step groups armed with affirmations faces down a vampire with an unquenchable thirst for good people, the horror still works even though no one is rooting for them to die. The joy is in the confrontation. Dracula is incredulous that anyone would dare to face him using a hardcover book that is not the Bible, and the other people realize that while they had to deal with some bad people, maybe they need to scale back their use of the word “monster.” I would watch a sidequel starring Brandon Scott Jones as the support group moderator, Mark, and I loved this image of new image of church, well-meaning, ineffective yet supportive and standing in the face of insurmountable obstacles. Side note: the book, “How to Defend Yourself from a Narcissist,” is not real.
There is also a crime subplot, which did not work for a lot of people, but was brilliant again because of casting. Imagine if Jean-Ralphio from “Parks and Recreation,” i.e. Teddy (Ben Schwartz) had to take over a sadistic crime syndicate, the Lobos, but was not about that life and easily shook; thus disappointing his intimidating mom crime boss (Shohreh Aghdashloo) who wears fabulous white pants suits while overseeing torture and has everyone in her pocket. Schwartz nails Teddy, the runt in a fearsome gang, which includes an inexplicable giant. Teddy’s priceless reaction to Dracula, who is all pointy teeth with a décor of drained blood bag throne and discarded stacks of corpses, is a relatable reaction as if he was a jerk viewer transported into a criminal underworld and horror film. “Are you happy or are you going to fuck me up?”
Awkwafina plays a courageous, underdog, honest police officer, Rebecca Quincy. She still delivers laughs but is stiff as a straight woman and potential love interest, making the chemistry one-sided with Hoult doing the heavy-lifting and wordlessly conveying his admiration because of her character under pressure. His faith in Officer Quincy is supposed to bolster her mission, but she just is not into him. She is a tough cookie not to fall for those eyes. I do not like romance in stories, but it was a missed opportunity. How many times does a male protagonist fall for a woman because of her career. She is never sexualized, which is consistent with this take on the Count, “Don’t make it a sexual thing.”
The gore is so over the top and silly that it is like watching a live action Warner Brothers cartoon-John Wick meets Bugs Bunny. People explode into blood and feces. Dracula appears in various states of decay. Degloving is effortless and accidental. I went to “Renfield” with a friend whom I was convinced would have to walk out because of the graphic effect of violence so I may be desensitized, but I thought it was funny, not gruesome, because it was so ridiculous.
Love or hate Nicholas Cage, he is perfect for the role by draining him of any humanity and infusing humor with horror. I saw his take on the Count as a brilliant mix of Bela Lugosi meets various incarnations of Nosferatu with the way that he folds his hands and grimaces his pointed, shark teeth—the better to chew the scenery with, but somehow still Cage. He plays the character dead seriously and in on the joke. The production design, wardrobe and editing punctuate the contrast between slave and master, which increases empathy for Renfield. When Dracula shows his plans to Renfield and tries to hoover him in, the quick cut to the plan with a used post it held up with scotch tape with Renfield’s name written on and taped to the corner of the plans. Splicing Team Nicholas into old film footage as if it was a Natalie Cole music video with her daddy was seamless. I hated the red velvet suit though.
There is some missing connection tissue in the plot with Renfield and Rebecca just materializing in his place after cops and gangsters are looking for him, Rebecca’s FBI sister and Lobo mom in the denouement, but nothing critical. So why did “Renfield” not perform as well as expected in the box office? Cage’s reputation of being in crap movies, the gore, too challenging, a particular style of humor? Dunno, but it is already on life support during its third week in the theaters.
It does not help that it is the unofficial, not really, third movie in Universal’s Dark Universe franchise, the classic monster universe, with none of the prior movies, “The Mummy” (2017) and “The Invisible Man” (2019), connected to each other in marketing or story. There is no point to have an unofficial universe if it is not one cohesive universe. Behind the scenes maneuvers could be affecting the marketing so even though the plans were shelved, it may have unintended ramifications. On the other hand, Universal is on a roll: “Violent Night,” “Megan,” “Cocaine Bear” and now “Renfield.”
I loved it and laughed the entire time. Stay for the closing credits. I want to see the whole dancing sequence.
