Renfield is a 2023 comedy horror film directed by Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie, The Tomorrow War) from a screenplay by Ryan Ridley, based on an original idea by Robert Kirkman, who is best known for creating The Walking Dead and Invincible for Image Comics. It is a reboot of Universal's Dracula series. The film stars Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Menu) as the titular character, alongside Nicolas Cage (Kick-Ass, National Treasure), Awkwafina (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, The Farwell), Ben Schwartz (Sonic the Hedgehog, Parks and Recreation), and Adrian Martinez (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty).

Having grown sick and tired of his centuries as Dracula’s (Cage) lackey, Renfield (Hoult) finds a new lease on life — and maybe even redemption — when he falls for feisty, perennially angry traffic cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina).

Renfield made its debut in theaters on April 14th, courtesy of Universal Pictures.

THE GOOD

Renfield snuck up on me, especially considering the fact that it is a comedy horror that features the great Nicolas Cage as Dracula. I mean, I don’t even need to know who else is in the movie, I’m already in. As we got closer to the release and a full-length trailer dropped, I was pretty damn excited. I loved the What We Do in the Shadows vibe, and I was digging the style of the film. Plus considering the talented Nicholas Hoult was co-starring, my expectations were fairly high. So, was Renfield worth a trip to the theater, or should you just wait for the VOD release? Keep reading to find out!

Renfield was a damn blast, plain and simple. I thought the cast was fantastic, the feel of the film kept the energy level high, it was funny throughout, and more than anything else I could not get enough of the style and the action sequences. They were just so much fun, and I really liked the emphasis on the smooth balance between comedy and horror which somehow played homage to two genres simultaneously. At just over an hour and a half long, Renfield flew by and kept me entertained from start to finish. Plus, Nicolas Cage as Dracula, enough said.

The cast was easily the biggest sell for me originally, mainly because at this point and time I will watch anything Nicolas Cage does. Whether it is the incredible artsy drama Pig (Andrew’s full review here) or the groundbreaking action comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (our full review here), the legendary actor continues to churn out quality films. So of course the opportunity to experience him as Count Dracula was something I refused to miss out on, and he did not disappoint. Starring alongside Cage is the talented former Warm Bodies actor Nicholas Hoult, and he was fantastic. Hoult plays a perfect emo character who seeks out a support group for people in abusive relationships because Dracula has whittled him down to a shell of himself.

I thought comedian turned-actress Awkwafina was hilarious alongside her equally ridiculous partner played by Adrian Martinez. I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed Ben Schwartz in the film, who plays the entitled son of a mob family who miraculously gets away with committing every crime in the book thanks to a corrupt police department. I thought his over-the-top character was hilarious and added a ton of value to the film. The entire supporting cast, including everyone in the support group, was great.

Aside from the cast, the special effects and action sequences are the bread and butter of Renfield. The best way I can describe some of these crazy sequences is a John Wick film with a supernatural element blended with a collection of Mortal Kombat finishing move kills. Sounds awesome right?! Trust me, you need to experience it for yourself. Just make sure you don’t have an issue with lots of blood and the constant and brutally violent removal of body parts. I was also blown away by the make-up and costume design in the film, especially Cage early on when he is frail and grotesque as he works his way back to full strength.

The film does such a nice job of establishing a unique identity and running with it, making for a film that is hilarious in a goofy way but not too goofy, and also incredibly violent. That is not an easy balance when you think about effective execution, and to say the kill count is impressive would be an understatement. So yeah, kudos to the special effects team for bringing their A-game, but also a well-deserved shoutout to Marco Beltrami for a banging soundtrack to supplement the non-stop action, and cinematographer Mitchell Amundsen for helping to create this immersive world where Dracula is among us.

Plus for how goofy the film is, they still somehow managed to create a gritty crime thriller vibe which helped to tie everything together. Director Chris McKay, who recently directed the sci-fi action drama The Tomorrow War (2021) (our full review here), deserves his due as well. And even though the overall story is a bit of an afterthought because of the cast and superb special effects, Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead fame deserves credit for the original idea, along with Ryan Ridley for putting together the screenplay. I mean you can pick and choose what you felt made Renfield as enjoyable as it is, but what matters is it all came together to create a final product that I can’t wait to see again, and again.

THE BAD

I’m not going to sit here and say Renfield is a perfect film, because it is a far cry from anything that you will see taking home an Oscar anytime soon, aside from perhaps make-up and costume design, or special effects of course. The screenplay in itself is ridiculous, feeling in many ways like an extension or spin-off of What We Do in the Shadows, but is that really a bad thing? The story really doesn’t matter here, because if you can’t appreciate the wackiness, over-the-top violence, and blood and gore you will hate the movie either way. Renfield feels like a genre film created to appeal to a fairly specific fanbase while still spreading its genre wings a bit, which is more than okay with me. If you go in expecting anything more, you will be disappointed.

THE VERDICT

An over-the-top action comedy horror that embraces and relishes the absurdity of the great Nicolas Cage as The Prince of Darkness, Renfield is 93 minutes of blood-soaked mayhem and I enjoyed every bit of it. This movie is a ton of fun, simple as that. For me, this is an example of a film that put together a fantastic team, from the director to the cast, right down to the background extras, because at the end of the day, it just works. The action sequences are wild and need to be seen to be appreciated. Renfield is never boring, and I still find myself smiling ear to ear when I think about the movie. Do yourself a favor and check this one out in theaters sooner than later.