Renfield (review)

Universal has been having a streak of sleeper hits these last few months and despite what everyone thinks, Renfield is not an exception even when it stars Nicholas Hoult, Akwafina, and THE Nicholas Cage. It may seem weird when Renfield seems like a Halloween season feature releasing in April, but it does deserve the attention it needs especially from audiences that enjoyed Megan and Violent Night. 

Following the point of view of poor Robert Montague Renfied's years as the servant of the oldest villain in the Universal Monster roster, the film modernizes the characters from Bram Stoker's classic in ways that appeal well enough. However, this narrative follows Renfield, seeing Dracula as an abusive boss while finally wanting to get out of this horrible job to live the normal life he deserves. In the process, the narrative shoves in a Mob Boss arc that involves Akwafina as a cop in order to have these two worlds colliding that would not be remembered even if you did enjoy the movie. 

Everyone will be flooding theaters to watch this for the sake of the zany performance of Nicholas Cage and Nick Cage is the zaniest he has ever been in years as Dracula. This might also be the most terrifying yet hilarious portrayal of the classic character that should have fans of the character happy as well. Looking past prosthetics and exquisite make-up work, Dracula has never been more fun than in this movie in a very long time. Nicholas Hoult, however, plays a familiar role as the helpless character who wants to evoke change, whether in his life or for the sake of others. Unlike his performance in the award-favorite The Great, his role is pretty much the same as what he did in X-Men or in Warm Bodies. However, there is one scene between the two Nicks that mould the film into cult classic status due to both of their performances. 

Akwafina is playing a female lead in this film which is surprising. Her character's relevance here works better as a romantic interest is definitely better than Katy's inclusion in the Shang Chi script. However, it is still hard to see Akwafina as a romantic lead due to her comedy chops and presence. But that can debatable considering Renfield is the only one invested in this possible relationship. the character as an individual, cliche or not, was compelling enough but did not work in certain areas if you paid close attention to the lesser gory scenes. 

Based on Universal Studios' current track record with movies in this vein, Renfield was unnecessarily violent but in a good way. The budget for this film may have been lacking (especially when it comes to the use of blood) Renfield does not seem to fake or cringe enough to forget how enjoyable this Halloween movie actually is. From music choices, setting, and crazy amounts of gore, you cannot help but wonder if it has too much to handle but it ties up its hour and slightly more than a half storyline that could allow audiences to not pay attention to any possible plotholes.