Susan Granger’s review of “Renfield” (Universal Pictures)
For many years, Nicolas Cage refused to play Dracula, turning down major studio films but – now – he’s the legendary, bloodthirsty Count in “Renfield.”
He doesn’t star in this thriller/horror comedy. Instead, the grisly story revolves around Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), Count Dracula’s long-suffering servant – a.k.a. “familiar” – whose job is to bring the infamous Transylvanian vampire fresh victims while he keeps up his super-strength by eating insects.
Renfield first appears at a church group therapy session in present-day New Orleans. Coaxed by the support group’s leader (Brandon Scott Jones), he confesses, “I am in a destructive relationship.”
That’s followed by clips of Ted Browning’s black-and-white, 1931 iconic “Dracula,” starring Dwight Frye and Bela Lugosi, with Hoult and Cage recreating their respective roles.
As he builds up confidence to break away from his dysfunctional co-dependence, mumbling Renfield falls in love with vengeance-seeking Police Officer Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), who is determined to bring down the matriarchal Lobo crime family, bossed by Bellafrancesca (Shohreh Aghdashloo), whose tattooed ‘enforcer’ son is dubbed ‘Tedward’ (Ben Schwartz).
Convolutedly scripted by Ryan Ridley from an original idea by Robert Kirkman (creator of “The Walking Dead”), it’s directed with a plethora of gruesome, graphic dismemberment by Chris McKay (“The Tomorrow War”).
Not surprisingly, since he produced and edited “Shadow of the Vampire” (2000) about Max Schreck who starred in Murnau’s classic 1922 “Nosferatu,” wild-eyed Cage delivers an over-the-top, campy performance. But the R-rated result is abysmal.
FYI: In 1988’s low-budget “Vampire’s Kiss,” Cage was a New York literary agent who thought he was a vampire; this is the first time he’s played the real-deal.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Renfield” is an ultra-violent, frightful 4, playing in theaters.
