Renfield

Summary

“I don’t ask for much Renfield…. Just the blood of a few dozen innocent people….””

Universal Pictures has recently released the vampire comedy Renfield on Blu-ray. Nicolas Cage has had yet another career renaissance in the last few years with his prominent midnight movies earning him a new fan base (Mandy, The Color Out of Space, Willy’s Wonderland) while delivering an excellent comedy (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) and a critically acclaimed dramatic performance (Pig.) As a fan of Nic Cage, especially in recent years, I was excited to see his new film Renfield in which he got the chance to sink his fangs into the role of Dracula to great comedic effect. Another reason to get excited for the film was a starring role for talented actor Nicholas Hoult. My wife and I really enjoy his television series The Great and I thoroughly enjoyed his performances in both The Menu and The Favourite. I wanted to see Renfield in the theaters when it was released, but unfortunately I missed it. I wasn’t the only one who missed the film in theaters. The film failed to make much of a dent at the box office, recouping just $26 million worldwide against an estimated $65 million budget, which is a shame. I am hopeful that the film will do well enough on digital and home video to eventually earn a profit for Universal, because I want them to continue to invest in offbeat comedies. When my copy of the film arrived to review, I eagerly checked it out.

Decades ago, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) was a real estate lawyer until he crossed paths with Dracula (Nicolas Cage) who made him his familiar (essentially his servant.) Their relationship is a toxic codependent relationship, with Renfield essentially feeling a need to stay with his master despite Dracula being quite clearly evil. Whenever Dracula murders the heroic men who inevitably come to kill him, Renfield and Dracula are forced to pack up and move to another city. Dracula is essentially the boss from Hell. In New Orleans, to deal with his dependency issues, Renfield attends group meetings for people in similarly poor relationships. He listens to their complaints of how badly they want to escape their relations, and then he takes matters into his own hands. He seeks out those mentioned as abusers, and beats them nearly to death. He brings these victims to Dracula for him to feed upon. Dracula gains his powers from human blood, whereas Renfield gains his power from eating bugs. Renfield listens to a woman from his group named Caitlin describe her terrible ska-loving boyfriend Mitch. Renfield decides to take him out. He interrupts Mitch and his friends as they attempt to distribute a large sum of stolen cocaine. Renfield subdues the three men, but an assassin (who has come for the three men) shows up and gravely injures Renfield. With his full strength, he punches the assassin’s head clean off, and it slams into the car of the assassin’s employer Tedward “Teddy” Lobo (Ben Schwartz.) Teddy, freaked out by the site of Renfield walking towards him, drives his car to a DUI checkpoint and makes a big scene by throwing cocaine bags at Officers Rebecca (Awkwafina) and Chris (Adrian Martinez.) As soon as Teddy Lobo is brought into the police station, he confesses to numerous crimes. He is then immediately let out against Rebecca’s protestations. Teddy’s mother Bellafrancesco (Shohreh Aghdashloo) runs the mafia in New Orleans and has powerful ties with the corrupt police in the city. Rebecca’s father was an incorruptible cop who was killed by the Lobo family, and her sister Kate (Camille Chen) is an FBI agent. As Rebecca begins to investigate the circumstances that led to apprehending Teddy, and why he was so frightened that he was wanting to be locked up, she ends up in the same bar as Renfield. When Renfield saves her life from some of the Lobos’ men, he befriends her just as he is feeling the courage to stand up against Dracula and turn a new leaf.

Renfield will certainly not be for everyone, but it is a tremendous amount of fun if you know what you are getting into. Written by Robert Kirkman (of Walking Dead fame) and Ryan Ridley, Renfield is one of the goriest and most violent action-comedies I have seen in a long time. The film does not hold back in any way from portraying ridiculous amounts of bloodshed, so if you are squeamish this film will probably not be your cup of tea. It is completely over-the-top, so the violence shouldn’t gross out audiences too much, but it might be a bit extreme for some viewers. That said, for those who have loved Nic Cage’s recent midnight movies, it is a blast to see him absolutely hamming it up in the role of Dracula. Cage puts every eccentricity in his toolkit into the role, and it pays off. The screenplay is clever and at times very funny. There is not an ounce of realism to be had in the film, but that shouldn’t turn off viewers unless they are expecting something more serious. The film’s plot reminded me of some of the Dark Horse comic books from the Nineties like The Mask, with its mixture of extreme violence and comedy. Given Robert Kirkman’s comic book pedigree, this maybe should not come as a huge surprise. The film is brought to life by director Chris McKay with help from cinematographer Mitchell Amundsen. The film is lensed to bring out the most colorful elements of the production design with a strong prevalence of green colors. The production design landed somewhere between the look of the John Wick films and Batman Forever. McKay does a solid job with the actors in the film, and the movie’s production design looks great. It is also worth noting that the film does a wonderful job of recreating the iconic look of the early Lugosi film for the origin story sequence which is told in black and white.

The main roles are all cast well. Nicholas Hoult is very funny in the role of the permanently codependent Renfield. He plays the role with the right amount of anxiousness and powerlessness that brings the best out of the writing. Awkwafina is hilarious as the foulmouthed detective trying to clean up her city. She consistently made me laugh. Nic Cage is wonderful as the evil bloodsucking Dracula. He brings so much to the role, channeling all of the Draculas from before (Christopher Lee, Bella Lugosi, Max Schrek) through his own best impulses. This is a great showcase for Cage’s comedic instincts. Ben Schwartz is very funny as Tedward Lobo. Schwartz tends to make me laugh whenever he is onscreen, and it was fun to see him covered in fake tattoos and snorting massive amounts of cocaine. Shohreh Aghdashloo is similarly inspired casting for the role of the evil Bellafrancesca.

Overall – I really enjoyed Renfield. If you are a fan of the Dracula character and can handle an absurd amount of violence in a comedy, there is a lot of fun to be had watching the film. I would not be surprised to see this picture develop a cult fanbase in the years to come.

Video

Renfield has been released onto Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 in 1080p. The film was shot using digital film and Arri cameras using Panavision lenses in Redcode RAW 8K. The mastering of the film was performed digitally in 4K. Renfield looks fantastic. As has recently been the case with many of the studio Blu-ray releases, the film looks as good as it possibly can on the Blu-ray format. The cinematography by Mitchell Amundsen is very well done. Much of the film is draped in bold colors such as greens, blues, and reds. The colorful aspect of the cinematography amplifies the comic book silliness of the script, and I mean that as a compliment. There was obviously a lot of thought and care that went into the film’s production design and Amundsen brings the best out of the stunning sets. I would love to see this film on the UHD format one day, since it can be streamed in 4K, but as a physical media collector I am happy to have the film in such a handsome presentation on Blu-ray. 

Audio

The DTS-HD MA 7.1 track sounds fantastic. The track is incredibly active and immersive. It could only be improved by being an Atmos track, but realistically this track is so well made that it blows away some Atmos tracks I have heard for films with less impressive sound design. The surrounds are used effectively and often with exceptional highs and lows. The bass is impressive and this surround track is essentially demo quality.

Supplements:

• Deleted & Extended Scenes
• Alternate Takes
• Dracula Uncaged 
• Monsters & Men: Behind the Scenes of Renfield 
• Stages of Rejuvenation 
• Flesh & Blood
• Fighting Dirty
• The Making of a Deleted Scene: Renfield’s Dance! 
• Audio Commentary: Producer Samantha Nisenboim, Screenwriter Ryan Ridley, Post-Production Editor Noah Cody, Supervising Sound Editor Nancy Nugent, Supervising Sound Editor John Marquis, Digital Colorist Supervisor David Cole, Visual Effects Supervisor Jamie Price, and makeup effects artist Christien Tinsley lead an in-depth discussion of the film.

Overall Scores:

Video: 5/5

Audio: 5/5

Supplements: 4/5

Overall – 4.25/5

Renfield is a rollicking good time for fans of Dracula films who can handle an absurd amount of violence in an action-comedy. Nicolas Cage is wonderful as the prince of darkness boss from Hell, and Nicholas Hoult is perfectly cast as the codependent and abused Renfield. Awkwafina and Ben Schwartz are both very funny in the film. The script by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ridley has no intention of creating anything even somewhat realistic, essentially creating a darkly comedic comic book style universe in which to place Dracula and Renfield. I had a blast watching the film, and foresee this film becoming a cult comedy over time as more people discover it. As I mentioned, the degree to which this film will appeal to audiences will vary. Hopefully we will get a chance to own this film on 4K UHD in the future, but Universal’s Blu-ray release is an excellent way to own the film for now. The special features are pretty extensive for a studio disc with a solid audio commentary and over an hour worth of behind-the-scenes featurettes and numerous deleted scenes. I definitely recommend checking out this release if it sounds like a good time.