Nicolas Cage’s Renfield Was The Best Version Of Last Year’s 2 Dracula Movies & It Should Be On Your Halloween Watchlist

2023 had two movies inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and between the two, Renfield was the less faithful yet more enjoyable movie to watch. The Last Voyage of the Demeter was the other 2023 Dracula movie, an expansion of one chapter from the source novel, “The Captain’s Log,” into a two-hour creature-feature film. Because it adheres so closely to the book, it does not add anything new to the genre. Conversely, Renfield is a unique blend of comedy and horror that brings a fresh take to the Dracula cinematic universe.

The Renfield cast is led by Nicolas Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as Robert Montague Renfield, Dracula’s servant. The movie is a loose sequel to Universal’s classic monster movie, Dracula, expanding on the relationship established in the original. The movie explores the dynamic between Dracula and Renfield after 90 years together, until Renfield‘s action-packed ending. But while the characters are familiar, the irreverent tone is completely unexpected. As a result, Renfield is a great addition to any Halloween movie checklist – much more so than The Last Voyage of the Demeter.

Renfield Is The Perfect Blend Of Horror And Comedy

Renfield’s Comedy Allows The Horror To Be More Gratuitous

Renfield shakes up the staid nature of a straightforward adaptation by leaning into the absurdity of some of the Dracula tropes. Renfield brilliantly merges horror and comedy. Dracula gets his power from human blood, but Renfield gets his powers from consuming insects, a comedic recurring bit featured on screen many times. Renfield realizes his relationship with his master is problematic while at a self-help group for people in codependent relationships. This is a wonderful blend of the story’s Gothic roots and the movie’s modern setting.

Contemporizing the setting also helps Renfield stay fresh. As it’s been nearly a century since Renfield lived among the living, there’s a lot of great fish-out-of-water comedy, including a makeover montage. Hoult and Cage are both actors who can handle dramas and comedies, and Renfield requires them to draw from both toolboxes. Cage is in his element, playing Dracula completely straight, which of course makes the exaggerated, Bela Lugosi-inspired performance even funnier. Hoult gets to showcase his action and fight experience from the X-Men movies.

Because Renfield has its comedic parts, it can push the violence as well, as the humor undercuts the gruesome action sequences. This version of Renfield has a fraction of Dracula’s power, so the fight choreography is beyond street-level. The comedy does not diminish the horror elements, but broadens the potential audience for Renfield. There is a long history of comedy-horror cult classic films: Shaun of the Dead, What We Do In The Shadows, and Beetlejuice – and Renfield will hopefully be added to this list in time.

Renfield Is A “Quasi-Sequel” To Universal’s 1931 Dracula Movie

Renfield Takes Many Adaptive Liberties (And Is Stronger For It)

Director Chris McKay has described Renfield as a “quasi-sequel” to Universal’s 1921 Dracula horror classic. The characters of Dracula and Renfield are meant to be the same characters as in the 1931 movie, but now 90 years into their toxic tango. Renfield opens with a black-and-white narrated montage of how Renfield came to be Dracula’s loyal servant that adheres to the events and styles of the 1931 movie. Cage insisted on recreating scenes from the original Dracula movie, adding to the sense of authenticity,

Of course, Renfield is not a direct sequel. Renfield directly retcons Dracula‘s ending as Renfield is killed by Dracula in the 1931 version. Similarly, the character in the novel consumes bugs as part of a delusion that it would give him powers, and the movie actually gives Renfield powers. This leads to some heightened action sequences where Renfield has supernatural abilities that allow him to leap up flights of stairs in a bound and rip people’s arms off like twigs. Renfield uses the 1931 movie as a point of inspiration but does not hold the facts or tone sacred, which makes the movie a welcome spin on well-known source material.

Why Renfield Disappointed At The Box Office (But You Should Watch It Anyway)

Renfield Can Still Find Its Place As A Cult Classic

Renfield was a box office bomb, grossing less than half of its budget. Due to its blend of genres, Renfield was a difficult movie to market. Renfield’s publicity did not lean into its connection to Dracula, the far better-known figure than the sidekick Renfield. Furthermore, because of its violence, Renfield was rated R, which is historically a box office hurdle.

Other factors behind Renfield‘s performance include the timing of its release. Despite being a vampire horror movie, Renfield was released in April instead of during the lead-up to Halloween. An April release put Renfield in direct competition with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which grossed over $1 billion, and John Wick: Chapter 4, which would siphon off some action fans. However, while Renfield did not find its audience in theaters, there is a history of horror-comedies becoming cult classics over time, particularly with annual Halloween rewatches. Renfield deserves to be added to the ranks of Hocus Pocus, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Jennifer’s Body.

In this horror comedy, Renfield, the lackey of Count Dracula, aids the famous vampire on his journey to the new world. Unfortunately, the long-suffering servant is committed to an insane asylum after being framed for the murder of several ship crew members on arrival. When given a second chance at life, he falls for a quirky and aggressive traffic cop named Rebecca Quincy.

Director

Chris McKay

Release Date

April 14, 2023

Distributor(s)

Universal Pictures

Writers

Ryan Ridley

Cast

Nicholas Cage , Nicholas Hoult , Awkwafina , Ben Schwartz , Adrian Martinez , James Moses Black , Caroline Williams , Brandon Scott Jones

Runtime

93 minutes

Budget

$86.2 million

Expand