There’s nothing wrong with shunting vintage villains into the modern world. Universal rightly made a killing with The Invisible Man, which set up a chilling contest between a gas-lighting control freak and and his one-timev victim. Renfield’s scriptwriter, Ryan Ridley, takes the same idea and milks it for laughs in this gory action comedy about minions and monsters. Nicolas Cage, in a very on-brand move, underwent a dental procedure so he could play Dracula. The end result, though, is ok, but no classic. Cage must be thinking, “I shaved my teeth for this?”
A fun prologue tweaks footage from Tod Browning’s 1931 horror masterpiece, Dracula, and makes clear that bumbling Brit, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), has spent decades propping up his toxically narcissistic and mendacious bloodsucker boss. Cut to a self-help group in 2023 New Orleans, and our co-dependent hero is realising he deserves better.
