Renfield (2023)

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, and Adrian Martinez
Grade: C

I wanted to like Renfield so badly. I cannot stress this enough.

Summary

At a DRAAG (Dependent Relationship Anonymous Addiction Group) meeting, Robert Montague Renfield (Hoult) sits and silently listens to fellow members talk about their relationship problems. Renfield is there for a similar reason, but his is slightly different because it involves the famed vampire Dracula (Cage). Years ago, when Renfield was just a lowly real estate lawyer, he came to Dracula’s castle hoping to make a deal. Seeing that Renfield would make a great assistant, Dracula wined and dined him just like the others in the meeting, leading to him officially becoming Dracula’s familiar, a servant gifted with a tiny portion of Dracula’s powers. This forced him to attend to Dracula’s every need. This includes getting him people to feed on and stopping hunters from killing him. During this sequence, we see Renfield in action with the powers he has. Unfortunately, his powers come from eating bugs rather than feeding on people like Dracula. In one major moment, we see a priest and another man on the verge of killing Dracula with the vampire being stuck in a protection ring. Renfield has the chance to let it happen, but Dracula manipulates him and convinces him of their friendship, prompting Renfield to help him get out of the ring. Dracula kills both men but is set ablaze from the light coming in from the window when the curtain falls. Renfield puts it out.

This is a regular occurrence and what Renfield calls their “transitional period”. It ends with Renfield saving the day, cleaning his master up and nursing him back to health, and taking them to a new place to start things up again.

In New Orleans, in the present day, Renfield is hanging in a bar called Mulates looking up new places to live.

Cutting back to the group meeting scene, Caitlyn (Bess Rous) talks about how her boyfriend loved ska and the group gets involved in the discussion because no one is a fan. Renfield chokes on a bug he was eating, and it gets the attention of the mediator Mark (Brandon Scott Jones), who wants to hear Renfield’s story. He doesn’t want to but says being there is helping. Secretly, Renfield’s more important motives for being there is to hear about the bad people affecting these victims’ lives, finding them, and using them for Dracula to feed on. That night, he goes out to chloroform Caitlyn’s ska-loving ex-boyfriend and his friends. They stole a bunch of cocaine though, so when Renfield shows up, they assume he’s an assassin for the people they stole the drugs from. Regardless, Renfield knocks them all out. Right after, the actual assassin, Apache Joe, shows up. He kills Caitlyn’s boyfriend and attacks Renfield, even stabbing him in the stomach. Outside waiting for Joe is mob enforcer Teddy Lobo (Schwartz). Renfield punches Joe’s head off after eating another bug mid-fight, and it shoots straight out of the warehouse they were in, hitting the window of Teddy’s car. Teddy freaks out and drives away. At a traffic stop, cops Rebecca (Awkwafina) and her friend and partner Chris (Martinez) discuss Rebecca being unhappy with her position in the department because she wants more action. Just then, she sees Teddy and knows he’s up to something because she has a history of dealing with the Lobo family. Her and Chris start to come towards his car. Seeing her and knowing he has drugs in the backseat, Lobo speeds out and tries to escape, but Rebecca shoots out one of the tires. The chase continues on foot, but Rebecca is able to catch and arrest him.

At an abandoned hospital, Renfield takes his victims to Dracula, but he’s frustrated in the quality of his “food”. He starts making his demands and how he needs people that are purer and how it would bring him back to full power if he was given this. Renfield argues they should be a little more careful, and it could lead to them having a life again, prompting Dracula to flip out. He immediately stabs him in the stomach, not wanting to hear any suggestions from Renfield. All he wants is his needs being met. Renfield agrees, so Dracula heals him by pouring some of his own blood onto Renfield’s wound. The next day at the police department, a scared Teddy Lobo promises to give up any information, so he doesn’t go to jail. Rebecca is happy to see it. Sadly, Teddy’s lawyer gets him out of it and tells Rebecca he was only willing to say stuff because of the distress he was put under. Rebecca flips out as to how it’s remotely possible for Teddy to get out scot-free after committing ten felonies, but her superior interrupts to remind her she was on traffic duty. He knows her father was the most incorruptible cop he knew and promised to watch over her once her father passed, but he tells her she has to know when to “play ball”. In the hallway, Rebecca’s sister and FBI agent Kate (Camille Chen) consoles her because they know the Lobo family were responsible in their father’s death. However, she tries to tell Rebecca she has to chill out because going at things with anger isn’t going to solve anything.

At the Lobo’s hideout, Teddy shows up and is told to go downstairs to talk to his mother Bellafrancesca (Shohreh Aghdashloo), the matriarch mob boss of the Lobo family. There, she explains how the Lobo crime family is the most feared in the city, though not the biggest or richest. She wants Teddy to secure this reputation because recent events have suggested some cracks. That night, Rebecca and Chris go out to find clues to gather evidence against Teddy to make it stick. She finds the bloody pen from Mulates that Renfield used on Apache Joe. At Mulates, Renfield sits and looks around for potential victims. Just then, Rebecca and Chris enter. Across the street, a masked Teddy and another one of his cohorts watch her go in. They plan on teaching Rebecca a lesson to show her who runs the town. Renfield pulls out his chloroform but stops himself once he sees Rebecca and Chris in the room. He tries to escape, but he sees Teddy’s group coming to the door with guns and masks on. Running back in, he accidentally drops his container of bugs that give him his power. Teddy’s group takes the whole place hostage, and Teddy himself takes his mask off just to talk shit to Rebecca. He tells her that they beat the hell out of her father, he begged for his life, and he died like a coward. Now, he wants Rebecca to admit they own her. She refuses and dares him to kill her in front of everyone because she knows he’s never shot anyone. He’s just the one that sends out the orders. Renfield watches all of this and becomes attracted to Rebecca’s fearlessness in the face of danger. Seeing a fly buzz by him, he eats it, and uses his power to tackle Teddy, prompting a huge fight.

During this, Renfield manages to stab Teddy in the neck with a fork. The two take out all the bad guys, but Teddy escapes. Even so, they introduce themselves to each other and there seems to be a mutual attraction between them. Renfield is floored with her ability to stand up for herself, and Rebecca was impressed by Renfield being able to cut off a guy’s arms with a serving platter, which Renfield blames on adrenaline. She thanks him for saving everyone’s lives, including hers, and calls him a hero. He’s stunned but also appreciative of the fact that he was noticed for the first time in a while. Unfortunately, he’s brought back down to earth by Dracula, who has a new plan. He was inspired by Renfield’s comments about how the world is now, and now he wants to start a world-domination like plan. A freaked out Renfield goes straight to the DRAAG group meeting and asks for help to get out of his toxic relationship, interrupting Carol’s (Jenna Kanell) story. He tells the group that a while ago, he was following fellow member of the group Bob, saying he would make a good “friend”, not wanting to admit he was going to be a potential victim of Dracula. However, he followed him to this DRAAG meeting, and it made him not feel so alone anymore. Mark encourages Renfield to not focus on his “boss’s” needs anymore and to focus on himself. This inspires Renfield a bit because he realizes that if he doesn’t focus on Dracula’s needs, he won’t grow to full power. As a result, Renfield will grow to full power.

This opens up the world for him.

He gets a new apartment, his group members offer suggestions on how to improve himself and his look, and his attitude and outlook on life starts to improve. At the police department, Rebecca chastises the rest of the department because somehow Teddy Lobo is AGAIN getting away with everything despite the incident at the bar, but Renfield shows up to give his witness statement at just the right time. He shows up with flowers for Rebecca as well. He gives his statement to her, and she’s very appreciative of him helping out. He compliments her on her courage and sparks start to fly between them. Things are looking up for Renfield for the first time in his life. However, not only does he have to worry about Dracula potentially taking over the world, but he also has to worry about the Lobo crime family. They have searched the security camera footage and see firsthand that he was the man responsible for helping Rebecca in killing a quarter of their army.

My Thoughts:

Similar to most of my reviews of films featuring Nicolas Cage, he was not the problem. Renfield is substandard because of almost everything else in the movie.

First of all, Renfield is facing a major problem that is more on the audience than it is the filmmakers. Of course, when I speak of this, I’m referring to viewer fatigue regarding vampire movies. Right away, this was going to be an uphill battle. Just like the zombie subgenre, these types of films run their course and need to be left alone for a while to be appreciated again. This is why the box office has faltered on movies like Renfield and The Last Voyage of the Demeter. In rare cases, you can scrape by if you have a gem of a take on the genre to shakes things up, setting itself apart from all the others with a wild vision and a burst of imagination. However, it has to be good. Renfield was one of these prospects, at least I thought it was. With the promise of action and gore, burgeoning star Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina (who should give her agent a raise for managing to get her so many high-profile roles these last few years), and a Nicolas Cage who seemed primed to tear the house down, we had enough elements involved to make this take on the classic story something special.

It’s been well-documented how much star Nicolas Cage has wanted to play the famed vampire, making this the passion project of a lifetime. For all intents and purposes, Nicolas Cage was fantastic as the Transylvanian ghoul. The acting legend emulated Bela Lugosi’s original performance in the 1931 classic, magnificently recreating Lugosi’s debonair style and equally creepy way in which he carried himself. Furthermore, Cage added his own intensity and comic flair to the role to modernize it and to fit the vibe of this action comedy, while still managing to retain the heart of the character, balancing things well. He was acting circles around the rest of the cast and stood out like the star he was. In the opening sequence, we get this awesome black-and white-recreation of the original film, with Cage and Hoult in place of Lugosi and Dwight Frye to set up the action. It gives Renfield this little bit of extra motivation to make it feel special in the eyes of the audience, suggesting it’s a sequel of sorts. I wasn’t angered by the decision either, which could have been the case considering where the entertainment industry has taken us in recent years. It’s not controversial to admit how many nostalgic projects have been made in vain, purely to make money in the laziest way possible. However, Renfield is molded in the hands of people who respect the revolutionary film and pay homage to it. At the same time, they add a playful vibe to the story to keep things fresh and fun while doing so.

It should be no surprise that Cage came to play, but Nicholas Hoult also did a solid job in trying to emulate Frye’s role as well, especially in the beginning. Never did I think I could get behind such a lowly character, especially because Hoult is such an odd-looking dude himself, but he did a much better job than expected. Though I didn’t buy him as a fighter or action hero, I did buy him as a bug-eater and manservant to Dracula. As far as I’m concerned, nailing two thirds of the role is good enough. Him and Cage were a fun duo to watch interact. Actually, most of the highlights of the action were those two when they were separate from everyone else. The problem was that once it intertwined with the gangster storyline involving Ben Schwartz’s Teddy Lobo and his fight with Awkwafina’s Rebecca, it didn’t mesh as well as we would have liked.

The comedy was very much hit-or-miss. The ska callbacks were funny, Awkwafina has a few funny lines, mostly because she’s an excellent cusser, and the first scene where we see the revolting Dracula in his lair was very good. At this moment in time, Dracula isn’t at full strength, so he looks like a disgusting, bald, alien-like creature who is almost unrecognizable. It was a great scene to lay the groundwork for the rest of the film and its outrageousness. Watching Dracula trying to have this serious conversation with Renfield, while looking like this outlandish beast, was hard to keep a straight face through, especially when Cage started playing with it in his delivery and body language. He’s enjoying himself, and it translates to the audience well. You can’t help but laugh when he talks about how he doesn’t ask for much and how he just wants a decent number of humans to feed on. This scene gives us the best exchange of the film when he asks for nuns or a busload of cheerleaders to eat. When Renfield tries to protest and point out what the audience is thinking, Dracula quickly covers his tracks in annoyance saying, “Don’t make it a sexual thing”. He’s all about the purity and it could be women or men. Later, Renfield sees both groups at the bar and I was cackling. It’s little stuff like this that grab your attention early on, showcasing this movie’s comedic potential.

Oddly enough, the action kind of brings its potential down. Though some action was necessary considering the content of the premise and the characters, the humor still needed to be the focus. Unfortunately, after the attention-grabbing first act, Renfield loses its way when it becomes this violence-stuffed, action extravaganza. The gore was welcomed in a film like this, but Nicholas Hoult and Awkwafina being the one’s bringing the heat never clicked with me. The mismatched romance between the two also gave off a middling response. At first, it was an attractive conflict added because no one in their right mind would ever match these two up on paper, but it doesn’t reach the level the film needed to make us root for them against the iconic supernatural villain and the violent crime family terrorizing New Orleans. They are given the chance to make things as absurd as the material was calling for when Kate calls Rebecca when she’s at Renfield’s apartment, connecting Renfield to 70-80 years of murders and saying he may be the most prolific serial killer of all time, but it’s swept under the rug once they go into an action sequence. The conversational humor that could have stemmed from this could have been hysterical! If anything, this revelation should have happened much earlier, so Rebecca can try to fight this internally while dealing with her feelings for the good-natured, bug-eating assistant. This romantic comedy-like element may have saved the second act, but it’s never more than consistent flirting which is never funny enough for us to truly care. The movie either needed a funnier third party to the “good guy” group, playing the third wheel who makes things awkward or even crazier (which I thought was going to be Adrian Martinez’s role), or more needed to be added to the romance in general.

As it stands, the relationship between Rebecca and Renfield isn’t taken very seriously because of how different their paths are. They have some moments where they stare into each other’s eyes and they say nice things to each other, but it never progresses further than that. Usually, they’ll just be interrupted by a comedic moment of either Renfield saying something weird, Rebecca flipping out over something, or one of the characters leaving to jump back into their own personal arc. Because of the film’s high-spirited, non-serious vibe, this relationship works in some respects. However, in making this a much more complete movie worthy of a recommendation, this decision doesn’t work just as well.

Even during the unsatisfying epilogue, we still don’t get a big moment between the two.

Besides Awkwafina’s inclusion in the story, all the story elements revolving around the character of Rebecca never got off the ground. The drama surrounding the department was uneventful, the twist was fully expected, and Rebecca’s sister Kate was almost completely useless. Why was it like pulling teeth for her when Rebecca gave her evidence to look at? Why did Rebecca need to plead with her? She’s in the FBI! It’s her fucking job! There’s this big emotional moment where she practically begs Kate to help and she finally relents, but I couldn’t help but be confused because this should not be an issue. All she is doing is asking Kate to do her job! With this being said, I didn’t care about anything going on involving Rebecca. It was too pedestrian and too detached from Renfield’s story. Not enough was added to make any of Awkwafina’s scenes seem different from any other cop movie we’ve ever seen. The only remotely entertaining thing was her telling that one guy “Fuck you” all the time. Other than that, I was completely disinterested in the honorable traffic cop’s story. Ben Schwartz was god-awful too. I haven’t seen somebody fish for laughs this desperately in years. The material given to him was terrible, he tries to make up for it with extreme vulgarity, but it’s overdone to hell, and he just plain sucks. He mistakes being loud and energetic for charisma and it’s not funny, nor entertaining. It’s just there. He’s yet another example of a character we’ve seen played plenty of times before and done better by virtually all of them.

Do you know how happy I was when Renfield kicked him so hard he shit his pants?

His mother being the leader of the mob boss family was one character too many, and Shohreh Aghdashloo’s performance was basically the Victoria Leeds character in Baywatch but worse. A decision had to be made here to establish the antagonists of the film other than Dracula (who doesn’t need any help). You either give her more scenes to establish why she’s the leader of this crime family and why we should give a damn about her when we’re dealing with the more important Dracula simultaneously, or you get rid of her role entirely and strengthen the writing behind Schwartz’s Teddy Lobo by making him more of an unhinged man child with a lust for violence and blood. This way his character traits align with the needs and wants of Dracula even more, solidifying their partnership more than it already was in the film. Going along with this, Dracula touches on a potential world-domination plan, which leads to him teaming up with the Lobo family, but it never felt like the “Holy Shit” moment it should have been. There needed to be some sort of scene where Dracula discusses this plan with Teddy. This is where they could talk about how they intend on moving past New Orleans to take over the world and how both would benefit from such a partnership. Obviously, this would lead to Dracula manipulating Teddy anyway, but it could lead to an amusing moment where Dracula basically convinces Teddy to let himself be fed on. Can you imagine how funny this would be? Play up the sexual aspects of this and the awkwardness surrounding it for both characters and you have one of the most memorable scenes of the year!

The blueprint was there to make this a weirdo, “fireball” comedy on the verge of cult classic status, but they settled for a decent action comedy with some funny moments. This is what bothers me. I’m tired of these filmmakers failing Nicolas Cage! I don’t want to hear anyone blaming him for the box office performance of this one! The unrealized potential of this screenplay was the issue. It’s that simple. Dracula is great, Dracula together with Renfield are comedic highlights, Nicolas Cage is fantastic, and Nicholas Hoult is better than I thought. For horror fans, there’s also a lot of gory, bloody, violent fun to be had that never takes itself too seriously. However, the rest of what is crammed into Renfield to try and make it funny or remotely interesting, outside of our two main characters, fails to attract any interest outside of name value.