Renfield follows the story of Dracula’s familiar and assistant, Renfield as he helps the vampire grow back to full power after Dracula was exposed to sunlight. In modern times, the two have few places left to hide so they settle into an abandoned hospital in New Orleans. Renfield is depressed. Tired. Bored of being in a codependent relationship with a boss who does not truly care about him. When he joins a support group for codependent survivors and befriends a police officer dealing with her department weighed down by dirty cops, Renfield realizes there is more to life than Dracula.
Nicolas Cage was born to play Dracula. He fully commits, not that he ever failed to do so before, but you can see how much fun he had playing the world’s most notorious vampire. He is what makes the film fun. Well, him and Awkwafina. Nicholas Hoult does wells as the depressed assistant, but it is the other two big names in the film that bring it to life.
This film is fun and heartfelt even as it doesn’t fully take the dirty cop part of the story seriously. The entire department, Awkwafina excluded, is in with the mob who apparently has the whole of New Orleans working for it. I would have liked to see the film set in one of my favorite cities really get into the location. For a city so steeped in voodoo and jazz and Mardi Gras, the film ignores this for the most part to its own detriment. On the upside, it does remake small parts of Universal’s 1931 Dracula film starring Bela Lugosi. I’m a sucker for the old black and white monster films so that was a nice addition.
If you’re up for a fun vampire film with CGI buckets of blood that doesn’t really take much thinking, then Renfield is your film. I found it to be a great way to pass the time in the theater on a rainy Saturday afternoon. And, as I said, Nicolas Cage is at the top of his game. He alone is worth showing up for.
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Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
Renfield follows the story of Dracula’s familiar and assistant, Renfield as he helps the vampire grow back to full power after Dracula was exposed to sunlight. In modern times, the two have few places left to hide so they settle into an abandoned hospital in New Orleans. Renfield is depressed. Tired. Bored of being in a codependent relationship with a boss who does not truly care about him. When he joins a support group for codependent survivors and befriends a police officer dealing with her department weighed down by dirty cops, Renfield realizes there is more to life than Dracula.
Nicolas Cage was born to play Dracula. He fully commits, not that he ever failed to do so before, but you can see how much fun he had playing the world’s most notorious vampire. He is what makes the film fun. Well, him and Awkwafina. Nicholas Hoult does wells as the depressed assistant, but it is the other two big names in the film that bring it to life.
This film is fun and heartfelt even as it doesn’t fully take the dirty cop part of the story seriously. The entire department, Awkwafina excluded, is in with the mob who apparently has the whole of New Orleans working for it. I would have liked to see the film set in one of my favorite cities really get into the location. For a city so steeped in voodoo and jazz and Mardi Gras, the film ignores this for the most part to its own detriment. On the upside, it does remake small parts of Universal’s 1931 Dracula film starring Bela Lugosi. I’m a sucker for the old black and white monster films so that was a nice addition.
If you’re up for a fun vampire film with CGI buckets of blood that doesn’t really take much thinking, then Renfield is your film. I found it to be a great way to pass the time in the theater on a rainy Saturday afternoon. And, as I said, Nicolas Cage is at the top of his game. He alone is worth showing up for.
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