Renfield
One of my favourite movies of all time is the original “Dracula” from 1931. Not at all coincidentally, one of my favourite books is also Bram Stoker's “Dracula”. So when it comes to new Dracula media, I'm always hoping it'll be good. I'm always rooting for it even if my expectations aren't great. And that makes me so happy to tell you that “Renfield” is so much fun. If you're a fan of “Deadpool”, this will be right up your alley. It's hyper-violent, hilarious, and Nicolas Cage is unironically a great Dracula.
The film is a great original take on the Dracula mythos, focusing on Renfield himself being a suffering stooge to Dracula. They frame it like an abusive relationship, which hilariously comes to a head between Dracula and Renfield multiple times throughout the film. The subject of abusive relationships is inherently not funny, so it's to the films credit that it's able to take such a serious subject in spin it in a totally funny and dare I say innocent way.
Star Nicholas Hoult is so good, and he looks so comfortable leaning into the action scenes, which makes me sad his “Beast” solo movie never got off the ground before the Fox-Disney merger. Yes, if you didn't know, Hoult played the young version of the character Beast in the X-Men franchises. There were plans for a “Beast” solo film that would have been akin to a werewolf movie. In hindsight, what a shame that's one we won't get. At least he get's to go full Goblin Mode in this film with some insane, over the top action sequences that I won't spoil.
Cage as Dracula is a match made in heaven. When you hear about that probably the first thing you think of is the Nicolas Cage that goes so over the top that it's silly good (like “Vampire's Kiss”). But no, Cage plays this one legit, and honestly he's so good in the role. Both funny and intimidating, this might actually be one of my favourite Nicolas Cage roles. And that says a lot given his roller-coaster film history and my longtime Dracula fandom. He does great justice to the role and I couldn't be happier with the casting.
It's not a perfect movie, but it's a whole lot of fun. I'd be hard pressed to imagine someone going and having a bad time. The jokes land so well that there were multiple times I laughed out loud. The action is choreographed well (and there's a surprising amount of it). And most importantly, the entire cast delivers. They went all in on the silly premise, and that makes it work. It really reminds me of “Anchorman”, how the source material only works because the cast commits to its ridiculousness fully. “Renfield” is the exact same. They all went deep.
I'm so happy this movie turned out the way it did, we need more fun horror mashups like this, and I'm excited to see more from director Chris McKay (Who also made the banger “LEGO Batman Movie”).
8/10
