Renfield – a possessed lunatic who takes orders from Count Dracula – often appears in film adaptations of Bram Stoker’s book. But he rarely dedicated a story to him. This is an institutionalized eccentric who crushes and eats small animals to gain strength, and lures innocent prey to his master to suck the blood from their lying corpses. It’s not easy to love him.
But that’s exactly what this funny, satirical spin-off is all about. With an instantly witty sense of humor and plenty of gore, the story follows Renfield as a modern-day New Orleans gopher for his supernatural bloodsucking boss.
Renfield is played by the nefarious but cowardly Nicholas Hoult, a young man haunted by his evil deeds, seeking and cheating prey for his evil master; Nicolas Cage is perfect as the comedic Dracula: sharp-toothed and wandering with a frustrated look, he is defiantly but deftly used as the embodiment of evil, using every drop of cutesy smugness at his disposal.
The running joke here is about what it’s like to have a toxic, narcissistic boss, and it’s about money – although few of us have ever had to harvest corpses for our non-living employer to feed on. Renfield has Stockholm Syndrome, but when he meets an outspoken traffic cop (played by a comedian and crazy rich asians Severe Aquafina, tries relatively little here), he falls badly and decides to measure his strength with his own tormentor and the scumbags of the underworld with whom she deals. A good concept, but here the plot is unnecessarily stretched, suddenly bogged down and thus confusing. The crime drama elements are much less interesting than the central supernatural show.
OTT, the figuratively disgusting action sequences are ridiculous – this is a film made for a theater full of Cage fans – and with a story of his own making. The living Dead Co-writer Robert Kirkman, one would expect some truly grotesque entertainment. Renfield delivers at least.
But if it’s not fun with blood Renfeld less than the sum of its parts. In its story, cast, and overall horror, the film seems to be trying to get back to the crappy, boring little tongue-in-cheek movies of the VHS era and all the humiliation and mute shock that comes with it. And while he does his best with that superficial tickle, he’s too self-aware, too loaded with superhero-style special effects, to have B-movie visual quality, a DIY spirit, and a nostalgia that really bites.
Source: I News
I am Mario Pickle and I work in the news website industry as an author. I have been with 24 News Reporters for over 3 years, where I specialize in entertainment-related topics such as books, films, and other media. My background is in film studies and journalism, giving me the knowledge to write engaging pieces that appeal to a wide variety of readers.