Relationships are hard. Some of them are toxic.
No, not the movie. Renfield is great. I'll go ahead and say it - I really enjoyed the film, as it was the perfect blend of abject horror, cheesy comedy, and an uplifting message to make me interested and keep me interested for the entire runtime.
...oh, right... the movie choice. Well, you see, after actually ran out of Nightmare on Elm Street films to review, until we get to the point of the Friday the 13th series catching up (don't worry, we'll only have one more film after this month - so Freddy vs. Jason in Horror Month 2026, go ahead and mark your calendars), and so I have to fill it in with appropriate fare. Hence, the first film reviewed for Horror Month 2023... will be this! Let's dig into Renfield!
Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) has been the long-suffering servant of the infamous vampire lord Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage). Given a bit of Dracula's blood, Renfield gains special abilities whenever he eats bugs much as Dracula gains power whenever he drinks of human blood. Thus, their relationship has gone on for just over a century now. Renfield brings humans to Dracula to consume, witnesses his master going on terrible bloody conquests, inevitably get attacked by the good guys trying to save the day, and sweeps up the pieces afterward and nurses his master back to health, starting the whole cycle over again.
In the latest city, as the two hide out following a particularly nasty bender of Dracula's that resulted in the Count being very severely desiccated, Renfield hunts down fresh victims for his master to consume - nuns, cheerleaders, the works! He stumbles upon a 12-step support group for people in toxic, co-dependent relationships and hits upon the idea of capturing the abusers of these people in order to bring to Dracula in order to sate his hunger.
This gets him in the sights of the Lobo crime family after he kills one of their assassins. It also gets a cop by the name of Rebecca (Awkwafina) on his trail as well, a no-nonsense but very driven officer who wants to do more than what her job doing DUI checkpoints allows for.
So, right off the bat - Nicolas Cage as Dracula is fucking awesome. I do like Nicholas Cage as an actor usually (even when what he's in is just terrible, he's at least entertaining to watch), and this shows some range as he plays a legitimately imposing and terrifying Dracula. Despite Renfield being a horror comedy film, the film makes it very clear that nothing about Dracula himself is a laughing matter. He is ill-tempered, maniacal, and diabolical from the top to the tails and it is magnificent to watch him work. To say that this was good casting is a massive understatement, it's sublime.
Accolades too to Nicholas Hoult playing Renfield. He's quite the polite and well-mannered individual, not quite having the manic devotion to taking the life from bugs to emulate his master as seen in other renditions (although he does do that). He is also, despite his situation, has a good heart and Dracula preys upon that much as your archetypal narcissist is wont to do. Renfield is treated as a victim, first and foremost, and the entire film centers around him taking back the power that he gave to Dracula.
There are many who can espouse and pontificate on that particular part with far more eloquence and poignancy than I, so I'll just leave it with this: the film has an overall good message that can definitely be inspiring to people who are trapped in a toxic relationship with a narcissist or have been trapped in a relationship with one.
Now, is it a guide for getting out of a toxic, co-dependent relationship? No. Or, at the very least, I hope you won't be following the film's plan of killing off the narcissistic abuser. Granted, said abuser was also trying to take over the world with a criminal ga-you know what? We're getting off-topic here.
Awkwafina does well playing Rebecca, although we're not getting too much time to focus on her own subplot. She's a cop whose father was a cop that was taken out by the mob and she's all the justice seeking type. One of your basic cop stereotypes, sprinkled with a decent amount of humor as is fitting of the medium (and as her role in other films I've seen her in). She is a good bit more serious of a character than she was in Shang-Chi, but the humor is definitely there and it is just enough to not completely remove the tension.
The gore effects are, surprisingly, a bit more restrained than you'd see in a modern horror movie. The gore is certainly still there, including one particular scene right before the final fight and one right after said final fight, but is mostly split-second and can easily be skipped past.
Also, William Ragsdale of Fright Night fame has a blink and you'll miss it cameo as a priest. Just to show the pedigree they were working with here.
So, no, Renfield must definitely doesn't suck. It's a great movie and a very enjoyable tale well told. Sadly, it may be the last we see of this given that Renfield was a flop at the box office upon release - grossing only almost $27 million against a budget of $65 million. If we never see any more of Renfield, though, I'd say this was a good ending. That said, if Universal ever gets it in their heads to make a new Dracula, they would do well to ring up Nic Cage for the role.
...oh, why wasn't this part of Horror Month 2023? Good question.
Renfield is brought to us from Skybound, Giant Wildcat, and Universal Pictures.
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