Renfield (2023) - Review
In the last several weeks, I have been on a personal journey. I am on a mission to watch every film Nicolas Cage has ever starred in. There is no deeper meaning beyond the fact that I thought it would be a funny bit. On my Letterboxd profile, I saw Renfield was on my watchlist. In its honor, it’s the first Nic Cage film I will take the time to write about.
I watched Renfield from the comfort of my home, on the computer. I was in a Discord call, and the film was being streamed to my friends. I was excited to watch it, as the premise seemed amusing when I saw the initial trailers. I like vampires, I like Nic Cage, I like horror comedy, and I’m a sucker for some wicked gore. Renfield checks the boxes.
I have seen a staggering amount of Nic Cage films, and it’s still only about half of them. I think he is among the great actors of our time, but stop making him do accent work, I beg of thee. However, I have found an exception. Cage has played a vampire before (sort of) in Vampire’s Kiss (1988). He recaptures the same disturbed energy he is now famous for, but he dropped the Trump-esque accent he used in Vampire’s Kiss. In its place, he does a wheezing, tired voice for the majority of his lines as Dracula in Renfield. It’s a more toned-down Cage, but sometimes less is more. Cage has refined his vampiric skills, and it shows.
Viewer beware: Awkwafina is in this. Her character has a name, but let’s be honest – she’s just Awkwafina. She works well with Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), and I didn’t hate her inclusion in the film. But if I had realized she was in this before watching, I may have put it off for longer.
Renfield is going through changes, and he’s feeling rather emo about his life. A joke was made about him being a member of My Chemical Romance. To the surprise and delight of all my fellow viewers, one of their songs plays in a scene later in the film. That single moment was enough to elevate this film in my eyes.
The gore effects are vibrant and wildly excessive. After hearing My Chemical Romance on the soundtrack, I knew fellow nerds worked on this film. I looked up the director, and it was directed by Chris McKay. I was unfamiliar with the name, but he worked on a few seasons of Robot Chicken and he directed The Lego Batman Movie. Ha! Nerd. The gore and even the way it was animated screamed Mortal Kombat. If you’ve ever played the games, you will see it, too.
The plot is sadly lackluster despite its amusing premise, but it moves into action scenes before things get tedious. The breaks in action are the perfect length, and the comedy interspersed throughout is enough to keep things light and refreshing. The tone is well-executed, but don’t expect to walk away thinking anything deeper than “Hell yeah.”
TL;DR: I liked it quite a bit. 5/5
