IR Film Review: RENFIELD [Universal]

The modern connotation of "Dracula" is bathed in mythos but ultimately the reference is correlated to Vlad The Impaler. With "Renfield", the texture is more integrated into the self help wokeness that would never even have entered the lexicon years ago. That is both its strength and its weakness. Nicolas Hoult always comes off as the good guy, even if he is the bad guy. The movie is fun in many ways but also uneven and disconnected. The only aspect that really lifts it from its baseline B movie texture (save for some bloody interludes in Mulates and an apartment complex) is Nicolas Cage's scene chewing Dracula. But it is inherently motivated, both comedic and rage filled. While it does float into parody at a few points...for the most point it is constant, brutal and intense, especially when he is under prosthetics. The only one that really could match him but is not given enough to do is the great Shohreh Aghdashloo with that wonderful voice and poise of her.

The R rated nature of "Renfield" of course makes it more dynamic and allows Awkwafina to throw F-Bombs all over the place but, like Shiang Chi, she is in a slightly different movie but brings her own soin. It works but doesn't quite fit because she is never truly the character...she is still the comedienne. Denis Leary as a performer also always ran sometimes into this problem despite his talent Director Chris McKay makes interesting reference films that can go off the rails. But the ending credits show that it likely went even farther: a would be musical sequence which might have made it over the top in a good way (and likely will be in the home release as a deleted scene -- unless this reviewer is off base).

"Renfield" is already bonkers and bloody but it almost needed to be more so. Cage's comedy is so brutal that it makes you laugh in a good way because it goes there. The ode to old cinema is likely what really sold him since the Nosferatu references as well as the New Orleans setting really pop. The secondary characters like Ben Scwartz's Teddy Lobo just seem too cartoonish (granted he does play Sonic) but this is more a tonal aspect. Hoult does his best and the pitch is great but again there feels like something is missing. However it is definitely not Cage's fault at all. He really takes advantage of his first bigger studio movie in years while still keeping his always full throttle approach while still adding something old to the new. B-

By Tim Wassberg