Renfield – Film Review

Renfield, the tortured aide to his narcissistic boss, Dracula, is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding. However, after centuries of servitude, he’s ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of the Prince of Darkness.

On paper, Chris McKay‘s Renfield seems like it would be an extremely campy, bloody good time at the movies and by all accounts, it seemed like that’s exactly what it was going to turn out to be. The trailers and overall marketing campaign promised a fun escape but instead, while watching Renfield, I couldn’t help but constantly think about how much better the cast deserved.

One of the opening few scenes in the movie showcases an extremely entertaining, black-and-white throwback to the beloved 1931 Dracula, and as soon as I saw this, I was excited because I thought that I was going to be in for one heck of a cinematic treat. Sadly, I was wrong.

The first act of Renfield is easily the worst, but the issues that it has sadly carry throughout the rest of the movie, even if things slowly but surely get better as the film progresses. This film’s biggest problem is its script from Ryan Ridley. This is quite surprising seeing as how Ridley has penned Rick and Morty as well as the beloved superhero show Invincible.

Above all, this movie was marketed as a lighthearted comedy that just so happened to have some Dracula characters in it. Sadly, Renfield never truly commits to being a comedy or a horror. It’s just kind of… a movie. And at times, it even has a eye-roll inducing romance that feels so ridiculously forced.

The number one thing a comedy should do is make you laugh and sadly Renfield never managed to evoke more than some chuckles from me. This isn’t to say that the entire movie is devoid of any substance or entertainment value, however. The biggest praise I can give Renfield is that it stars Nicolas Cage as Dracula and that’s something I never knew that I needed until now.

Cage is one of the most talked-about actors in the world for a good reason. Yes, he can be hilariously over-the-top in so many of his projects but that’s kind of the whole charm with him. Even in a horrible movie, you know that he’s going to give his all even if it means it may result in a crazy, off-the-rails performance.

As Dracula, Cage is once again back in full-force true to his unhinged self after taming it down a bit for movies such as The Old Way and Pig. Although he was certainly great in those, I have to admit that I really missed seeing Cage go all out and be absolutely crazy.

Nicholas Hoult also works tremendously well as the titular character. Hoult manages to bring forth a wholesome sense of charisma which this movie desperately needed because this is, at its core, a story about Renfield’s life and how he’s trying to be a person of his own accord instead of just being Dracula’s servant.

There are definitely some things to enjoy in Renfield but I couldn’t help but leave the theatre with my head hung low, daydreaming about how much better things could’ve been. Oh, well. At least we got Nicolas Cage as Dracula, so I can’t complain too much.

Although it has a few entertaining moments, Renfield is a disappointingly unfunny and hollow adventure that not even Nicolas Cage in the role of Dracula can save.