Renfield

 

Score:  B+

Directed by Chris McKay

Starring Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina

Running time: 93 minutes

Rated R

Long Story Short:  The monster genre receives a needed dose of humor with Renfield, focusing on the famed Dracula's servant familiar.  Hoult and cult-status star Cage (both Nicholases!) do great work, and even better is the interesting contrast of a classic "toxic" relationship with the modern world's determination to end those predicaments.  Ultimately it's an action-comedy, but you'll be surprised by its level of quality.  Highly recommended (if you can take the blood and guts).

Renfield (Hoult) is tired of his life of evil.  For over a hundred years, he has been Count Dracula's (Cage) familiar - or servant - given a supernaturally-extended life in exchange for providing his master with fresh human meals.  From their current hideout in New Orleans, Renfield seeks help in a community mutual aid group where victims of bad relationships and situations console and support each other.  In branching out, Renfield discovers the modern world's more conventional evil through the mob, and meets one of the few police officers willing to take it head on.  There is a lot going against Renfield and his new friend, but together they are determined to make the world a better place.

Renfield is a surprisingly good action-comedy movie, thanks especially to some really fun performances and a clever, well-executed premise.  Despite being a Dracula movie, this is not a horror movie (and I would know, not being a fan of the genre).  Instead, it's more like tongue-in-cheek modern actioners like Cage's own Kick-Ass (which I'd also highly recommend).  Renfield also has that movie's body count and blood and gore, so be warned!  Beyond the stylishness, though, Renfield is more notable for its clever combination of the classic - i.e., old-fashioned - monster genre with modern social-psychological themes like co-dependency and support groups.  This odd mashup actually works well, and provides the basis for the movie's plentiful humor by contrasting the ridiculousness of Renfield's supernatural "relationship" to Dracula with his dully modern methods of dealing with it.  I should note that while other movies have interesting premises, too, Renfield truly makes good on it, scene by scene, thanks to a strong script.  There are also more generic old world-new world funny comparisons, of course, (from language to wardrobe) but the movie wisely doesn't focus on them.  There are a few moments when the theme feels a little overdone, but Renfield's well-edited, compact 90-minute running time makes these fleeting.  There is also a side yet parallel theme of our modern world's own monsters (e.g., the mob) and their enablers (corrupt cops) - but this is still an action-comedy, so it doesn't try to dig too deep.

For more visceral entertainment, Renfield also has plenty of fun acting and exciting action scenes.  Nicholas Hoult is the titular lead and he continues to show that he is among his generation's finest actors (be sure to stream last year's The Menu for a much different performance).  Despite technically being the lackey, Hoult makes Renfield a strong, compelling lead as a man turned monster, trying to become a man once again.  And Nicolas Cage is perfectly cast as Dracula - though just as appropriately, his screen time is somewhat limited to let the effect really "sink in".  Crazy he may be, but Cage channels a creepy and intense, yet often quite funny, vibe - he sucks in the camera and your attention and won't let go.  A pair of quality comedians co-star, in Awkwafina's good cop Rebecca and Ben Schwartz's entitled Mob heir.  Awkwafina's "cut the crap" attitude is well-suited here and Schwartz basically reprises his Parks & Rec character (also a perfect fit).  There are other side players, too, my favorite of which are the members of Renfield's support group.  Those scenes, plus the odd couple of Renfield and Rebecca, are highlights, but the action is fun, too.  Best of all - to me - is that it strikes the right balance of keeping the movie lively but not being so frequent or extended as to become numbing or dull.  Slightly over-the-top audible crunches and rips accompany the mayhem, making you cringe as limbs are torn apart.  The first one, involving some low-level drug dealers who you quickly come to pity, is particularly well done. Finally, the production work is really well done, too, with great makeup and costuming.  CGI is kept to a relative minimum (though nicely done to insert Cage as Dracula into classic scenes).

***

After a slow start to the year, the spring has provided some really good theater experiences.  Renfield is the kind of movie I usually skip, but I was drawn to it by my admiration for Hoult and curiosity in Cage - its being presented as a comedy helped, too. That all panned out even better than I expected, to go with the well-conceived psychological themes.  In many ways, this is exactly the kind of movie I want to see more of from Hollywood.  It's not completely original, of course, but it puts the familiar (Dracula, etc.) into a fun new context, and this is the focus.  It's also very well made, from performances to production to script, while also not trying to be more than it really is.  Hopefully there is more to come along those lines, especially as we get ready to enter the summer movie season!  In the meantime, if you do want something literally more like Renfield - in other words, funny vampire stuff - check out the Leslie Nielsen-Mel Brooks collaboration Dracula: Dead and Loving It and the TV show What We Do in the Shadows.

* By Universal Pictures - https://www.universalpictures.com/movies/renfield, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72674354