Renfield

Unless you were born into generational wealth and currently ‘work’ for an immediate family member, chances are you’ve had at least one toxic boss. They take the term ‘subordinate’ to mean ‘someone on which to take out my insecurities about my shortcomings’, they expand your contracted duties to include running personal errands, their world falls apart when you take annual leave…few things in life are as yummy as the fantasy of finally leaving them and skipping merrily along to your next job. Unfortunately, such thoughts are further away for some than others and for the eponymous hero of Renfield, handing in his notice and ridding himself of his horrible boss is easier said than done. 

From Chris McKay, director of The Lego Batman Movie, Renfield stars Nics Hoult and Cage as Robert Montague Renfield and Count Dracula, a duo grappling with conflicting perspectives of their work relationship after about 100 years together. The Stoker boys have undertaken yet another relocation, settling this time in the vibrant city of New Orleans, where all sorts of crimes seem to go unnoticed. As the opening scene establishes, Dracula (Cage) goes a little too hard with the bloodlust and murder and ends up a shell of his former self, relying on Renfield to fetch him his daily supper until he regains his strength (and structural integrity to his face). But Renfield, having found a nice little support group in a local church and heard the stories of other subservient sufferers, begins to question whether the grass might be greener where the darkness can’t reach.

Memelord Nicolas Cage [courtesy Universal Pictures]

This supernatural set-up is not entirely without its perks for Renfield, having gained a small portion of Dracula’s power in exchange for his obedience. The only catch? He has to eat bugs in order to access it. Timon and Pumbaa’s argument over crunchy vs. slimy grubs springs to mind but at the very least, Renfield will be ahead of the game by the time modern agriculture has run its course and we’re all forced to exist off miscellaneous brown protein blocks.

Pushing Renfield further towards his aspirations of freedom is a run-in with Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), the stubborn cop daughter of a slain cop legend, whose shoulder carries a chip so large that it affects her gait. Witnessing Rebecca walk up to a local gangster (Ben Schwartz) and call his bluff by asking him to shoot her in the head, Renfield’s long dormant vim is revived. He discovers his inner martial artist, he withstands the urge to deliver nuns and cheerleaders to his hungry master, and he stops caring about his career performance and starts focusing on life outside his crusty CEO. But quiet quitting doesn’t really work in the underworld and Dracula decides to get ahead of the narrative via threats to his employee’s new friends and a strategic partnership with a well-dressed organised criminal (Shohreh Aghdashloo) who wields a power of her own.

Boss babe and son [courtesy Universal Pictures]

Renfield’s greatest strength as an insight is its greatest weakness as a film: it’s a beautifully simple idea that doesn’t quite stretch to a full feature. At its core, Renfield is about a worker realising he’s in a toxic relationship with an abusive narcissist and finally doing something about it, and while that’s a highly relevant topic for modern audiences, it’s not really enough to chew on for 90 minutes. The concept of taking a heavily established text and taking it off in a tangent previously unexplored is indeed a unique choice, but it’s one that would perhaps have worked better for a short-form medium. When the film ended, Alex said that it felt like a TikTok movie, and even as someone who spends very little time on the platform, I immediately knew what he meant.

Despite the film’s stretched nature, Renfield still has much to offer. Nicholas Hoult, to me at least, is still that little kid in About A Boy who you just want things to go well for. His optimism and charm as Renfield is palpable and he easily carries the film. Never is this more evident than in Renfield’s renovations (both personal and residential) and confrontation with Dracula, making excellent use of both Lizzo’s ‘2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)’ and Nicolas Cage’s brilliant face acting. Hoult was no doubt approached for this role due to Warm Bodies, another oddly tender comedy horror that uses his sad blue eyes to full advantage. While there’s little romantic chemistry between Renfield and Rebecca (and I’m not sure there’s supposed to be), their connection still feels genuine, like it’s from a shared understanding of what it’s like to be lost.

The impossibly cool Awkwafina, seconds before telling Kyle (circled) to “Shut the fuck up!” [courtesy Universal Pictures]

To not talk about Nicolas Cage in a vampire movie is to blaspheme and while I’m not superstitious, I am a little stitious. He’s underused in the film - that’s kind of by design due to the title - but when he is on screen, he’s savouring every minute of it. If the film feels like an excuse to let Cage do his rendition of every single Hollywood Dracula that ever existed, I won’t be the one to complain. His unbridled self-referential performance and line delivery nods to other vampire films (namely Gary Oldman’s performance in Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula) is absolute ecstasy for any Nic Cage fan, as are his subtle but unmistakable nods to cult classic Vampire’s Kiss. While the film’s practical effects leave much to be desired, they oddly pair quite well with Cage’s reckless abandon for naturalism.

As a vampire comedy, it’s hard for Renfield to stack up comedically against the likes of What We Do In The Shadows or, dare I say it, Mel Brooks’ misunderstood Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Its gory action can’t compete with Deadpool, its choreography doesn’t hold a candle to the John Wicks (particularly the last one) and it doesn’t take advantage of its New Orleans surroundings in the way that other recent films (like Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon) do. It does the best that it can with its premise and, as far as vampire movies go, it's miles better than Morbius. Make of that what you will.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

An interview with Nicolas Cage probes his thoughts on the script. “I thought it would give us a chance to play with a tone that I really admired ever since I saw An American Werewolf in London. If you can hit that bullseye of comedy and horror, you’ve got something quite special and delicious.” 

Renfield is the equivalent of a basket of bread at a restaurant: welcome, tasty and enough to tide you over, but where’s the rest of the meal?

Verdict:

Laura ☆☆☆

Alex   ☆☆½