Title – Renfield (2023)
Director – Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War)
Cast – Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz
Plot – Long suffering as an off-sider to Dracula (Cage), Renfield (Hoult) attempts to finally break ties with his fanged boss but his quest for freedom is complicated by his friendship with cop Rebecca (Awkwafina) and local crime figure Tedward (Schwartz).
“It’s never too late to be a hero”
Review by Eddie on 29/05/2023
An unfortunately toothless event that at first announcement sounded like it was going to be a bloody good time with long-term Dracula super fan Nicolas Cage secured to finally don teeth and bring the famed count to life in a tale centred around The Drac’s depressed off-sider Renfield, Chris McKay’s film is a huge missed opportunity that fails to use its wide-eyed supporting star to good effect as it attempts to mask its forgettable offering with gore and so-so humour that can’t cover the cracks of a tiresome offering.
Watching trailers for Renfield or reading pre-release hype it appeared as though B-movie fans were in for a treat with Cage going toe to toe with Nicholas Hoult’s Renfield, whose trying his best to rid himself of his masters commands once and for all by attending self help sessions and committing good deeds to make up for the years of killing and devious deeds his had to commit as a bug eating immortal, Renfield is instead a mis-guided redemption comedy that focuses far to much attention to Renfield’s friendship with Awkwafina’s cop Rebecca and an even worse sub-plot involving Ben Schwartz’s rent a baddie Tedward that halts any of the films wins that come from the fish out of water tale of an immortal trying to be an everyday human or Dracula’s tyranny over his life.
You can’t accuse main star Hoult of not trying his best here, he makes for a intriguing Renfield and he has a lot of fun exploring such a varied character and McKay if nothing else can be credited with delivering some fairly over the top action/gore filled moments that are somewhat unexpected from such an affair but there’s a real identity crisis going on in this feature that seemingly can’t come to terms with what exactly it wants to be or who it wants to centre around with it most glaringly failing its main draw card by rarely giving him the spotlight or time to enliven proceedings with a deliciously over the top turn you can sense exists in another version of this film.
Producing some of the most memorable turns in his wild career so far over recent times in the likes of Pig and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, hearing that Nicolas Cage had been cast as the worlds favourite and most notorious blood sucker seemed like the type of news all cinephiles could get around but watching him be wasted here in what amounts to a what feels like mere minutes on screen is a real shame as Renfield’s tiresome and mostly charmless happenings could have benefited in a big way from someone enlivening otherwise DOA material.
Final Say –
Renfield should’ve been a genuine big budget B-movie delight but amounts to nothing more than a missed opportunity to have a whole lot more fun with a concept that is here delivered in a disappointingly dry and forgettable way.
2 deadly plates out of 5
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys) 
Obviously Cage was the draw here. Someone thought the rest of the movie should be in the spotlight, and it makes a fun flick. But for a real winner it should’ve starred Cage, been told from his POV, and been called Renfield’s Boss. We would’ve got more Cage, fewer minor characters, and a happier audience.
I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said mate. I remember when I first heard about the film I suspected it was going to be a really fun way to give Cage the spotlight but felt like it was rarely if ever on him here.
E
I haven’t seen this one yet and looked forward to seeing Cage, a lot of Cage, in what looks like an awesome role for him. Hate to see his time is, or at least seems, so limited. By the premise he seemed like he was going to be in the supporting cast, but I thought he’d be in a huge majority of the scenes. Sounds disappointing.
I think they missed out on really getting something special out of Cage here. The film had tiny glimpses of being a lot of fun but it was nothing more than that really, just small glimpses that amounted to a feeling of what could’ve been.
E