The horror/comedy duo threat has seen plenty of films over the years to varying degrees of success. A personal favourite of mine was “Dracula: Dead and Loving It,” which made fun of the prince of darkness by disarming his menacing legacy. Enter 2023, and Renfield takes a bite at the Dracula horror/comedy formula with long-standing Hollywood icon Nicholas Cage baring the fangs this time around.

With such a well-known character that has been seen on the silver screen for close to a century or more, a fitting way to open the film came in a black-and-white homage. This introduction was narrated by Nicholas Hoult as Robert Renfield, the hopeful youngster that entangled himself in the legacy of Dracula as his familiar. While he may not be as well known as the Vampire himself, Renfield’s legacy is maintained with the promise of immortality in exchange for doing Dracula’s bidding,

The film was quick to portray Dracula’s manipulative nature and Renfield’s ongoing internal struggle to justify his journey, with a definitive point of no return well behind him. This brings the story to the present day after having to relocate to rebuild once again due to the increasing difficulty in hiding from the modern world. With Dracula tucked away in an abandoned Hospital, Renfield is sent out to bring back victims for his master to regain strength during his recovery.

Typically, the blood of the innocent is highly sort after, however, Renfield had a better plan, one which seemed to be an outlet for his guilt. A focus group for victims of abuse was his hunting ground as he sort out the abusers of the group members to feed to his master.

In his pursuit of the victims he deemed worthy, a clash with one of the city’s most notorious crime families exposes his unnatural ability to gain superhuman abilities through eating bugs – a nice little nod to his narrative legacy by the way. A chaos-endured performance by Ben Schwartz as a notable figure in the crime family bounced from his clash with Renfield, to the desperate to break-out character Rebecca, played by Awkwafina.

Rebecca, a police officer that is constantly overruled by the blatantly corrupt police force, is determined to take down the criminal syndicate. The overtly lacklustre police force’s moral compass made the comedic quips thrown around much easier to swallow as Rebecca continued to try and defy her oppressors. This notion to stand up to her superiors and the criminal family sparked hope for redemption in Renfield, and in a clash of blood splatter, dismembered limbs, and a mild massacre or two, the two manage to end up on a shared journey that could see both of their goals met.

Nicholas Cage stirred a rousing performance as his Dracula rose from the brink back to full strength despite his servant abandoning him. Being able to disarm Renfield’s newfound vigour for life with sarcastic retorts and demeaning comments paired with his expressive mannerisms was both menacing and hilarious.

I was never terrified by his presence but his character never felt out of place either, which was a testament to his performance. Renfield’s fish-out-of-water style humour helped build a connection to the character, and Rebecca’s confident and sarcastic wit was a perfect offset to Ben Schwartz’ chaotic and bumbling idiocy.

The action was well put together with plenty of bloodshed to be found, but with a more stylised gore effect that adopted an exaggerated tone. The inevitable room full of nameless henchmen that couldn’t hit the side of a building with their shots if they were two feet from it took its toll towards the end. While still suffering, neither Renfield nor Rebecca truly felt like they were ever going to bite the dust, and any shocking revelations didn’t take anyone by surprise, the overall feeling stayed true to the story at hand.

Renfield is a worthy Dracula tale that you can really sink your teeth into. Its comedic chops and bloody outing were fun from start to finish, and a little bit of a feel-good narrative helped to balance out the experience.

Written by: Shane Fletcher