It’s considerably baffling when Renfield, a movie that includes Nicolas Cage as Dracula, introduces a criminal offense plot early on. Why does this film that’s centered on Dracula’s long-suffering “acquainted,” an immortal assistant granted a fraction of Dracula’s energy to raised serve the darkish lord, inform a criminal offense story centering motion set-pieces as an alternative of a horror story centering on suspense sequences? It’s a query I by no means got here up with a solution for, and the film doesn’t do a lot to elucidate that selection both, nevertheless it does a good job of justifying it.
The movie follows Dracula’s titular acquainted, Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), as he struggles with the codependent relationship, he’s trapped in with the prince of darkness and, by means of pure happenstance, turns into a vital a part of the investigation into New Orleans’ best crime household.
The primary half of that premise could possibly be fascinating if the movie had been prepared to dive into the homoeroticism inherent to Dracula and Renfield’s relationship and draw out the horror of abusive relationships. As an alternative, the movie sidesteps what might have been an thrilling new exploration of their relationship to hit on a one-note joke that’s additionally someway the movie’s emotional crux. Fortunately, the crime plot, which isn’t within the least unique, delivers some delightfully bloody and over-the-top motion sequences.
You Can’t Have Abuse Cake and Eat It Too
The movie opens with Renfield at a help group assembly for individuals scuffling with codependency; he sits within the again, nodding his head together with a girl telling an all too actual story of abuse. It’s a daring concept to think about Dracula and Renfield this manner, as a long-term relationship not solely of supernatural domination but in addition psychological and emotional. And it might make for a unbelievable premise for a genuinely scary and affecting horror film. However the movie can’t appear to determine whether or not it needs to take its interpretation of their relationship critically or mock the self-actualization strategies of this explicit help group.
The movie’s emotional coronary heart is actually the identical as a coming-of-age movie, because the immortal Renfield should tear himself away from Dracula’s management and develop his id. There’s a model of that story that works, however for that emotional arc to succeed, the movie must earnestly have interaction Renfield’s journey to self-actualize.
What the movie really does is seemingly level and snort on the ways in which Renfield makes an attempt to interrupt free. There’s a snideness to the scenes of Renfield and the remainder of the help group he visits saying their self-esteem-building affirmations. When Renfield makes an attempt to take away himself from Dracula and will get his personal condominium, he covers the partitions with the sorts of inspirational posters which have been meme-fodder for greater than a decade.
That undercutting can be disappointing however comprehensible if the movie totally dedicated to creating a joke of its emotional premise, nevertheless it appears to need it each methods. There are scenes of Dracula spouting traces which can be actually textbook abuse, together with that nobody else will look after Renfield and that it’s, the truth is, Dracula who’s the sufferer of their relationship. These scenes are uncomfortable not solely as a result of they could be triggering to anybody who has skilled this sort of abuse but in addition as a result of the film appears to be taking the issue of abuse critically whereas mocking a potential resolution.
Blood, Guts, and Weapons
These points apart, which some audiences might pretty not be capable of put aside, there’s a respectable by-the-numbers motion crime comedy on this film, ostensibly about Dracula. The crime narrative follows New Orleans cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), who’s determined to take down the reigning crime household within the metropolis after they killed her father. Destiny brings her and Renfield collectively when the household’s son assaults her and refuses to acquiesce to his calls for, regardless of a gun in her face, inspiring Renfield to face as much as Dracula.
The story performs out in methods we’ve all seen earlier than, as Dracula and the villainous people type an alliance whereas Renfield and Quincy should group as much as take them down. However the surprisingly frequent motion scenes are joyously gory enjoyable. They ship on choreography that’s much better than one would count on from a studio motion comedy and high that choreography with what can be buckets of blood if it weren’t computer-generated. Right here that computer-generated blood works because it overwhelms the display in literal explosions of purple, providing pleasure on affect greater than any texture to the combatants as their fights go on.
Style Bother
Renfield succeeds nicely sufficient as an motion comedy, nevertheless it’s at odds with its supply materials (if it may be referred to as that). Cage’s Dracula is rarely scary, as an alternative opting to be foolish the whole time, which Cage relishes. However even that silliness doesn’t fairly work; his efficiency feels extra like Mike Myers enjoying an Austin Powers villain than Nicolas Cage as Dracula. It leads the film right into a quagmire the place Cage is concurrently underused (he’s relegated behind the crime story) and doesn’t favorably examine to his earlier vampiric efficiency in Vampire’s Kiss when he’s on display.
Renfield by no means delivers on both the promise of a comedy starring Nicolas Cage as Dracula or a horror movie about essentially the most well-known vampire of all time and whereas that’s alright in itself, it’s definitely disappointing.
SPECS: 6/10 SPECS
Renfield releases in theaters nationwide on April 14.
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This text was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Kyle Logan is a movie and tv critic and normal popular culture author who has written for Various Press, Cultured Vultures, Movie Tales, Looper, and extra. Kyle is especially all for horror and animation, in addition to style movies written and directed by queer individuals and ladies. Together with writing, Kyle organizes a Queer Movie Problem on Letterboxd.
