Director
Chris McKay
(THE TOMORROW WAR)

Starring
Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage and Awkwafina

Meet Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), the long serving familiar to none other than Count Dracular (Nicolas Cage). After more than 100 years of servitude, Renfield finds himself in New Orleans at a self-help meeting for persons in toxic, co-dependent relationships. It’s here Renfield realises that he too is trapped behind the needs and desires of his master. On a mission to find victims to feed Dracula and bring him to full strength following a near fatal slaying, Renfield encounters underworld figure Teddy Lobo (played ridiculously to perfection by Ben Schwartz). Soon Renfield is intertwined with the underworld, a cop trying to bring the Lobo family down (Awkwafina) and his own mission to try and save people from Dracula’s plan for world domination.

There’s a lot packed in to the conventionally short 93 minute run time, and thankfully not a single one of those minutes is wasted in this refreshingly vibrant comedy come horror. Nicholas Hoult is endearing as the downtrodden lead, and he is well supported by some of comedies biggest recent hitters. Awkwafina is somewhat subdued by her standards, but every line is delivered to perfection. The biggest achievement in Renfield though is the use of Nicolas Cage being, well, Nicolas Cage….but in some incredible costuming and makeup. One of the best things to happen to cinema in the last 5 years is Cage leaning fully into himself and not being afraid to almost be a caricature of his own persona. Following on from the strength of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Cage does everything that only he can do best, from the cartoonishly animated expressions, to the flamboyant mannerisms, he was born for this role, or this role was born for him.

The writers of Renfield should also pat themselves on the back. Decent comedy is hard to come by these days but there were numerous laugh out loud moments with this one. There were even subtle moments that reminded me of Mel Brooks (or maybe it was just the Dracula: Dead and Loving It vibes I was picking up) that made this feel familiar (pardon the pun) and a little bit wholesome…which is ironic given the extreme level of comical gore throughout the film, best summed up with the line “did you cut that guy’s hands off with a serving platter?”.  But overall, if you’re not at all squeamish, this is a pretty fantastic way to spend an hour and a  half in a cinema.

Renfield is in cinemas now.