The marketing of RENFIELD with the supposed leaked set photos, comedic trailer, and the casting of Nicolas Cage left little to be desired. I’ll admit I had no intention of leaving my house to see this in the theater as it looked like it lacked any kind of substance. It played too much on the casting and didn’t promise much else. Dracula is a beloved character even if he’s had several missteps in cinema. It was easy to write off RENFIELD as one of those missteps. Fortunately, the Blu-ray landed at my door and the movie was a bit of an entertaining surprise.

This time around, our lead is the title character played brilliantly by Nicholas Hoult (The Menu),  a servant to Dracula now in modern times. However, he is over the power dynamic and realizes his dependent relationship is unhealthy, and no longer he wants to live this way. Renfield joins a support group where he learns the tools to begin a life on his own. There’s also a cop played by Awkwafina who is trying to take down a crime family that pretty much owns the city. She crosses paths with Renfield, and they turn out to have much more in common than they expected. All of this catches the eye of Dracula who utilizes Renfield’s vulnerability to get pure flesh to feast on as well as exert his dominance.

Cage truly sinks his teeth into the role and has the time of his life as the most famous cinematic of villains. His voice and body language make him believable as the Prince of Darkness and why it would be easy to be seduced by him. Hoult has that natural innocence to his onscreen presence ever since he was introduced in About a Boy. His performance as Renfield turns the character into a lovable, yet emotional hero that wouldn’t work with a different actor.

What really sold me in RENFIELD is the practical effects. Dracula is emphasized as a powerful monster and Renfield gains power of his own whenever he eats bugs. Between the two, there are plenty of sequences that drown the set pieces in blood and severed body parts. The movie is rated R and makes sure you are reminded of that. Everyone onscreen is having a blast and it’s so much fun to watch.

The Blu-ray release suffers from a lack of commentary tracks, but the multiple short features are interesting to watch. It’s clear that the crew behind the camera were excited to explore Dracula through a new lens. Cage has been a lifelong fan of the character and expresses how he approached the character. There’s substantial time spent on how a lot of the gore gags were put together which is what I enjoyed most from the disc.

RENFIELD isn’t here to change the face of Dracula but offers good escapism with the divisive horror-comedy sub-genre. Although it’s far from a perfect movie, RENFIELD manages to deliver memorable kills along with a Blu-ray release that will please fans.

RENFIELD is now available to own on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Follow Me

Jovy Skol

Jovy grew up loving all kinds of horror movies which is ironic because his parents hated them. CANDYMAN still scares the shit out of him and it doesn’t help that he lives in the Chicago suburbs. He loves venturing into lesser-known exploitation films of the 70s and being introduced to new movies. Along with movies, Jovy loves horror video-games and books, including comics. Some of his favorite franchises include SILENT HILL, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and the RESIDENT EVIL games.

Follow Me

Latest posts by Jovy Skol (see all)

• [Article] FRIDAY THE 13TH – Revisiting the Franchise’s Hits & Misses - October 13, 2023
• [Article] THE EXORCIST Franchise – How Each One Stacks Up - October 12, 2023
• [Series Review] CREEPSHOW Season 4 - October 6, 2023