Review by James Lindorf
With the possible exception of Sherlock Holmes, there has never been a literary character that has captured our imaginations like Dracula. It has been 126 years since Bram Stoker first created the Bloodsucker, but our fascination shows no signs of slowing down. He has taken the stage for plays, musicals, an opera, and even a ballet. There are nearly two dozen live-action iterations, not counting the pornography. In the animated world, he has fought Batman, chased Scooby-Doo, and opened an elite hotel for monsters. On April 14th, Universal Pictures will release the latest live-action version of The Count and his loyal assistant “Renfield.”
Comedy is subjective, and horror isn’t for everyone, but for the right crowd, “Renfield” is a gore and laugh-filled spectacle. Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) stars as the titular servant looking very much like an older version of R from 2013’s wonderful Zom-Rom-Com “Warm Bodies.” After serving the Prince of Darkness for over a century, Renfield has grown tired of the constant narcissistic demands of his boss. When he isn’t procuring his master’s prey, Renfield looks to see if there’s a life for him outside Dracula’s (Nicolas Cage) shadow. He joins a support group for people with codependent personalities, develops a friendship with New Orleans Police Officer Rebecca (Awkwafina), and runs afoul of the ruthless Lobo crime family led by Ella (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and her son Teddy (Ben Schwartz). After some initial setup, the film becomes less about character development. It focuses on action and horror set pieces with comedy as the connective tissue.
Nicholas Hoult continues his run of terrific performances. He can blend the sullen temperament of someone who has seen everything but hasn’t made an important decision for themselves in decades and the wide-eyed innocence of a child. Nicolas Cage is wonderful, particularly in his physical embodiment of Dracula. You can see the influence of previous actors Max Schreck and Bela Lugosi in Cage’s performance and the shot selection of director Chris McKay and cinematographer Mitchell Amundsen. Unfortunately, Cage’s delivery isn’t as good as his physical work. He is unable to disappear into the character, and there are moments the zany Nic Cage breaks through. Thankfully they quickly reigned in. Otherwise, we would have to relive the accent debacle of 1992’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.”
Shohreh Aghdashloo and Ben Schwartz play a couple of stereotypical criminals, but while Aghdashloo is given little to do, Schwartz is the most comedic character. His ineptitude is only outweighed by his ego, which leads him to make several questionable decisions. The last of the main characters is Rebecca, a frustrated and by-the-numbers cop whose only goal is to bring down the Lobos. Awkwafina is at her best in both the comedic and dramatic moments, which should be no shock to anyone who has seen “The Farewell” and “Crazy Rich Asians.” However, she falls a little short in the action scenes. Her gun work is good, but the awkward body language is distracting. She often moves like an older person with scoliosis and not a person at their peak of physicality. Perhaps they meant it as another comedic element, in which case it was a poor choice, which might be better than it being poor direction by not correcting it.
While “Renfield” can adrenalize with its action and cause fits of laughter with its humor, the one goal it fails to meet is scaring its audience. Unless, of course, you are terrified of the color green. Because the film is frequently saturated in a murky green haze, part of the blame for the lack of scares goes to Cage, who too often makes his presence known. The rest of the responsibility goes to McKay and screenwriter Ryan Ridley (Blue Mountain State, Rick, and Morty) for being unable to navigate the tone from comedy, past drama, and on to horror. There is depth and emotion when it is Hoult monologuing or Awkwafina dealing with her fellow officers. Still, they are quickly overshadowed by a wild action scene or a display of Dracula’s many powers. Dracula has a great power set, and McKay puts them to great use. Whether he is turning into bats or mist, levitating, tearing things apart, or taking severe physical abuse, it all looks great and leaves you wondering what he will be capable of next.
“Renfield” is much like the recent “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” with its frantic pacing from event to event, but this one is strictly adult. There are entirely too many beheadings to be a family film. ”Renfield” deserves a sequel to develop its iconic characters further, but it is capable of standing on its own. If they can capture what they have here and add in a genuine scare, it will be a perfect 5 out of 5 film; but with no sequel announced and the mentioned shortcomings, it can’t be above a 4 out of 5.
Rating: R (Some Drug Use|Language Throughout|Bloody Violence|Some Gore)
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Fantasy
Director: Chris McKay
Producer: Robert Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst, Sean Furst, Chris McKay
Writer: Ryan Ridley
Release Date: June 6th
Distributor: Universal Pictures
