Directed By Chris McKay

Starring – Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina

The Plot – R.M. Renfield (Hoult) decides to leave his centuries-long line of work as a henchman and familiar to Count Dracula (Cage) and finds a new lease on life in modern day New Orleans when he falls in love with a feisty but perennially aggressive traffic cop named Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina)

Rated R for bloody violence, some gore, adult language throughout and some drug use

Renfield | Official Trailer – YouTube

POSITIVES

Considering the character of Dracula has spanned over a hundred years on the silver screen, it’s not always an easy thing to inject him with something freshly innovative for a new undertaking, but the duo of The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman and screenwriter Ryan Ridley approach this story from the vantage point of a toxic relationship between Dracula and Renfield, which equally fleshes out the narcissism of the former with the tragic element of the latter. For my money, this is when the film reaches its highest prominence, as the humans in the group with their own toxicities tenderly dance around the severity of Renfield’s plight, while the dark and devastating secret underlines many of the mixed messages of the film’s dialogue during this scene, to create the kind of inside jokes that only Renfield and the audience feel privy towards. This element of dark humor also echoes permanence in the tonal consistency of Chris McKay’s absorbing direction throughout, attaining many laughs in the material that not only refuses to ever take itself too seriously while in the confines of thickness for the conflict, but also with the balance of many sequences of exaggerated brutality during intensely riveting action set pieces, gives the film a constant blood rush that pulsates through 88 minutes of an experience that feels as easy as anything else released this year. Much praise is also deserved to the picture perfect casting from an ensemble who bring their best stuff towards such iconic characters of horror folklore, particularly in the double dose of Nicholas’ that radiate an integral authenticity to their vital characters. For Hoult, it’s attaining the everyman quality of his characters that made Jimmy Stewart a household name, this time with the balance of capably playing off Renfield’s weaknesses and his supernatural strengths to sharpen the expected dramatic depth of Hoult with a newfound element of physicality that extends his already versatile bag of tricks, and for Cage, it’s conjuring the most ferocious depiction of Dracula to date, that doesn’t wither with the dash of campiness that he supplants so charmingly to the role. My favorite scene of the movie for Cage’s Dracula isn’t in the gruesome debauchery that he causes to many helpless victims, but rather a downtime conversation with Renfield in an apartment, where the mindgames and power struggle between the characters convey the torturous history between them that affords time for Hoult and Cage to simultaneously shine. Lastly, the subtle homage to the 1929 Bella Lugosi version of Dracula was a nice touch to the film’s introductory exposition sequences, with the faces of Hoult and Cage imposed onto scenes of that classic film. It springs an element of continuity to the character that I honestly wasn’t expecting, with proof in the pudding that the filmmakers have their hearts in the right place with respect to the cherished history of the Dracula legacy.

NEGATIVES

Much evidence to the film’s arduous writing complications boils over to the execution of this version, as the film’s structure still feels like two distinctly different films battling for focus, with surprising results in the victor. That would be the subplot involving Awkwafina’s police detective at war with a mob family, which not only dominates Renfield’s arc for screen time, especially the longer the film persists, but also fails to conjure anything in its depths that is even half as compelling as the aforementioned toxic relationship of the story’s two main characters at the helm. Thankfully, the film doesn’t exploit Awkwafina and Hoult’s relationship as romantic, as the lack of chemistry between them is apparent, but even with it remaining strictly professional, the film’s imbalance between sides leaves each feeling like unfinished scripts of their respective offerings, with one receiving more time than it rightfully should’ve. Besides this, the film is overloaded with the kind of plot devices that you immediately interpret in their inception will benefit a filtered convenience during sequences of urgency and tension. Two such examples pertain to Dracula’s blood bringing people back from the dead, which is silly when you consider that he has the blood of a vampire, and Renfield growing stronger by eating bugs. The latter is obviously meant to even out the playing field with the much stronger Dracula, leaving the Count’s powers deduced by aspects that have never been a part of the character’s lore. Finally, while the C.G blood does effectively render emphasis in the grizzly cartoonish violence that adorns the action sequences, some more work is required in fleshing out their impact to characters interacting in it. Considering there are moments where Renfield is splashed with blood, it’s all the more distracting when he walks away from it dry and clean, leading to tremendous continuity errors that makes it all the more difficult to believe in the dimensions of artificial gore.

OVERALL
“Renfield” takes a bite out of the big screen with a bloody good time that seamlessly blurs the line between horrific and hilarious accordingly. Though consequentially weighed down by the imbalance of an arc with half of the relevance or impact of its promised plot, the spellbinding turns from Hoult and Cage within the confines of a toxic relationship offer just enough pulse to keep the pallet pounding, with value for the absurdity that often drives many of its most defining sequences.

My Grade: 7/10 or B-